The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a
civil defence organisation which operated in the United Kingdom between 29
October 1925 and 31 December 1995, when the Corps' civilian volunteers were
stood down.
Many of the ROC were volunteers who gave their spare time to the cause. They
wore an RAF style uniform and eventually came under the administrative control
of RAF Strike Command and the operational control of the Home Office.
They were trained and administered by a small unit of professional full-time
officers under the command of the Commandant Royal Observer Corps.
The Cold War (quoted from the Wiki)
In 1957, the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO) was
established under Home Office control. It was intended that the UKWMO would
provide both civil and military authorities in the UK with essential information
during a nuclear attack, with the ROC providing primary data on the position and
magnitude of atomic weapons detonated during any such attack. This data would be
used by the UKWMO, in conjunction with weather information provided by the
Meteorological Office, to produce a forecast of radioactive fallout. Fallout
would be monitored as and where it occurred, with its actual location and
strength mapped using data obtained from instrumentation at ROC posts. Such
information when combined with ROCMet, (data concerning actual wind speed and
direction obtained from cluster Master Posts equipped with wind anemometers and
other basic meteorological instruments), would permit the dissemination of
accurate forecasts predicting the distribution and strength of nuclear fallout.
There were many ROC posts constructed around the UK, at it's peak the ROC
boasted 1,559 underground monitoring posts and 31 Group Controls (operations
rooms) manned by 17,500 part-time volunteers and a small cadre of whole-time
officers and civilian staff.
As a direct result of the Home Defence Review in 1968, the number of underground
monitoring posts was reduced from 1,559 to 872, and the Group Controls from 31
to 25 (this post was one of those closed in 1968).
The Nuclear threat has been deemed to diminish over the years the decision was
taken to stand down the remaining element of the Royal Observer Corps with
effect 31 December 1995, with all remaining posts closing.