History of Ammo Storage in Singapore

[halsey02]

Anyone attached to the Sembawang Ammo Depot, a.k.a Attap Valley Bunker?

Did they have an ammo Bunker there?.....Attap Valley Road?.....gee!, they last time I went down the road, they were constructing the power plant..

 

[Papsmearer]

I read somewhere that US soldiers were falling like pins in firefights during the initial transition from M14s to M16s. Many of the fallen were found with their cleaning kits out. Investigations found that the bullet chambers were clogged with carbon. The situation was rectified initially by procuring rounds from CIS and later chroming the chambers. Back to the point. Once during reservist training, a cock up resulted in an over drawing of 400 rounds per man above the standard 90. We ended up shooting it all into the Poyan Reservoir. Yup! That's reloading 80 times and cocking it 400 times.......Above the standard 90!

I am not too sure about this. I know the US Army used the cheaper ball powder for the M855 cartridge for the M-16. This caused a lot of fouling issues. Later rounds used IMR propellant. But the M-16 was introduced into the US Army in 1962 and used in Vietnam, where you noted they had serious problems with fouling. By 1967, the original M-16 has already been upgraded to M-16A1, where the fouling problems were taken care of. The SAF did not adopt the AR-15 until the late 1960s, which would have meant CIS only started manufacturing the 5.56mm ammo in the lat 1960s. By then, the issues were supposed to have been largely solved with the M-16. The US Army would have been procuring rounds from CIS in the mid 1960s to rectify the problem they had, but CIS did not start making them till the late 60s. Can someone confirm the time line? MAybe a former Chartered Industry staff? Or WHore Jinx?

 

[ablekid]

In the old days, the main ammo dumps were located at:

Alexandra
Rifle Range Road
Seletar Camp
Sembawang with it's own harbor

These camps had deep bunkers dedicated to storing explosives & ammo, and not the small amounts stored for standby use with active units. Back then I heard that Spore only had enough ammo stored for 3 days of hostilities? With the congestion in Spore I doubt there is enough storage space in Spore for storing more for a prolonged war.

Many of them were set up by the British. I'm sure that some of them are now gone like the one at the Seletar camp which has become repurposed for civilian use, & probably the one at Alexandra, ...

In any war you need lots of ammo & for a small country like Spore which has plans for a population of 10 million, it's just not practical.

Not forgetting Kranji ammo dump at Stagmont Ring Road. The camp surrounded by sugar cane farm and lot of house flies in the cook house.
it is also the camp that has a vegetable farm.
It was started by the OC who was so on he ball that he cant stand to see those GD men idleing around ,he started the first "hydrophonic' farm in Singapore.
It was so successful, it even supplied all the vegetables to 5 or 6 camps cook house every day.He was promoted to Captain and posted to Ammo base HQ in Riffle Range Road..

 

[halsey02]

Not forgetting Kranji ammo dump at Stagmont Ring Road. The camp surrounded by sugar cane farm and lot of house flies in the cook house.
it is also the camp that has a vegetable farm.
It was started by the OC who was so on he ball that he cant stand to see those GD men idleing around ,he started the first "hydrophonic' farm in Singapore.
It was so successful, it even supplied all the vegetables to 5 or 6 camps cook house every day.He was promoted to Captain and posted to Ammo base HQ in Riffle Range Road..

Only a captain....so poor thing.... he helped save so much money on food...should at least be a BG...

 

[johnny333]

Did they have an ammo Bunker there?.....Attap Valley Road?.....gee!, they last time I went down the road, they were constructing the power plant..

Yes there was a very big ammo depot there. Even the Malaysian navy stored some ammo there

The place had a jetty with cranes. I heard the british opened the place way back before WW1.

 

[johnny333]

Not forgetting Kranji ammo dump at Stagmont Ring Road. The camp surrounded by sugar cane farm and lot of house flies in the cook house.
it is also the camp that has a vegetable farm.
It was started by the OC who was so on he ball that he cant stand to see those GD men idleing around ,he started the first "hydrophonic' farm in Singapore.
It was so successful, it even supplied all the vegetables to 5 or 6 camps cook house every day.He was promoted to Captain and posted to Ammo base HQ in Riffle Range Road..

Forgot about Kranji ammo base:o

Is the ammo base at Riffle Range still there It sits on valuable land that could be used for condos or golf courses. Many elites stay around that area & it would be a disaster if something happened to them

 

[johnny333]

...Can someone confirm the time line? MAybe a former Chartered Industry staff? Or WHore Jinx?

I heard a story which is probably true.
Someone who worked there resigned & when he left the country they strip searched him to male sure he wasn't carrying any secrets

 

[Victory2016]

When PIE was constructed, they stumbled upon old WW2 Ammo dumps.......

I wonder how many WW2 bombs and shells are still hidden away..... sometimes beneath your feet......

And British army Mustard Gas shells were kept in Labrador during WW2. These were thrown into Keppel Harbour upon the British surrender. Some were recovered after WW2. Some British officer did say he would never want to swim in the waters off Labrador.....

And of course, the British kept their nuclear bombs at Tengah Air base.......

 

[Papsmearer]

I heard a story which is probably true.
Someone who worked there resigned & when he left the country they strip searched him to male sure he wasn't carrying any secrets

I wonder when Whore Jinx left CIS, did they strip search her too? hehehehe. Did she enjoy it?

 

[Papsmearer]

When PIE was constructed, they stumbled upon old WW2 Ammo dumps.......

I wonder how many WW2 bombs and shells are still hidden away..... sometimes beneath your feet......

And British army Mustard Gas shells were kept in Labrador during WW2. These were thrown into Keppel Harbour upon the British surrender. Some were recovered after WW2. Some British officer did say he would never want to swim in the waters off Labrador.....

And of course, the British kept their nuclear bombs at Tengah Air base.......

The nuclear bombs at Tengah, I knew about that. Did not know about the mustard gas. I did not know the Brits stockpiled them at all.

 

[Papsmearer]

And why didn't the british used them(nuclear bomb) when it is available?

Who are they supposed to use it on? Who is their enemy in SE Asia?

 

[ablekid]

Only a captain....so poor thing.... he helped save so much money on food...should at least be a BG...

Too bad lor he only Cambridge Cert (O level). later part he was seconded to civil defence and was a major.
He was my OC then promoted to CO in Rifle Range ammo base

 

[Victory2016]

Mustard Gas was kept in Singapore because the Japs had used it in their attack in China. The British were prepared to use chemical warfare if the Japs used gas in Malaya and Singapore. Good thing the Japs did not. The chemical weapons were all disposed of by chucking them into the nearest seafront...... the channel into Keppel Harbour.......

See reference to 12,000 Mustard Gas bombs and Shells kept in Singapore (from Singapore Burning):
https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=LvPjNAMacDsC&pg=PT231&lpg=PT231&dq=singapore+mustard+gas&source=bl&ots=LFNuvJVdfb&sig=XgcD_THKJA3SWwzbrqzE_Mcx7rM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiHs4_T1OfLAhUVTo4KHUuZB5MQ6AEIQzAH#v=onepage&q=singapore%20mustard%20gas&f=false

 

[Victory2016]

I believe some of the 12,000 Mustard Gas shells were not recovered from the sea after the war. Anyway, it was an impossible task. For a long time, the Labrador area was home to a Naval camp. I wonder if this has anything to do with the old ammo under the sea. Up till today, the old WW2 structures in Labrador remains out-of-bounds to visitors. Only the old pre-WW2 structures in the park is open to visitors......

One fine day, some of the old shells may just corrode through, poisoning the waters off some beautiful seafront Condos in the area.


More on the structures in Labrador : http://sgurbex.blogspot.sg/2014/06/labradors-forgotten-relics.html

 

[halsey02]

Yes there was a very big ammo depot there. Even the Malaysian navy stored some ammo there

The place had a jetty with cranes. I heard the british opened the place way back before WW1.

I went down that road ( Attap Valley Road) this was some many years ago, when the power plant was under construction to see a Major Japanese Contractor. There were some leftovers British days buildings there...did not think much of it...AMMO DUMP...wow!. This was so long ago & I have not been down that road since then...

 

[Papsmearer]

I went down that road ( Attap Valley Road) this was some many years ago, when the power plant was under construction to see a Major Japanese Contractor. There were some leftovers British days buildings there...did not think much of it...AMMO DUMP...wow!. This was so long ago & I have not been down that road since then...

What do the Brits know that the SAF scholar generals don't? It appears the Brits spread out all the ammo dumps all over the island. yet, the Scholar generals have deemed it necessary to consolidate all the ammo dumps into one large one. is that what the article is saying?