I chanced across this account of the HMS Sussex incident tonight (after landing in the text while chasing another event), which seems to answer some of the queries raised earlier, and also reveals that the 'bomb down the funnel' was probably related to another vessel, brought into dock at the same time:
HMS SUSSEX INCIDENT
This story concerns the cruiser Sussex. When an air-raid warning sounded, the procedure recommended by the authorities was for people in the upper floors of tenements to make their way either to a shelter, remain on the ground-floor in one of the houses, or stay in the common close. The close was regarded as being the safest place in the event of a direct hit, but that really only applied if the close itself was protected with bracing. During the night in question, early on the morning of the 18th of September 1940, the sirens hadn't sounded when we heard noise of AA gunfire, which seemed nearby, and were wondering what to do. Was it a practice shoot or a false alarm? Or was it the real thing? Then after a while we heard the sound of a plane and bombs falling. I recall the noise quite clearly. There were two distinct whooshes which came close together, but strangely the explosions were quite muffled, and although the sirens did sound the warning as we made our way downstairs soon after, there were no further frights that night. It was one of the occasions when my father refused to leave his bed. He maintained that if he was going to die, he preferred to do so in comfort!
What had happened was that the cruiser SUSSEX, berthed about a mile away in Yorkhill dock, had just finished loading ammunition and was ready to leave. A stick of four 250lb bombs (numbers 17 to 20 on the SRO list) plus two incendiaries, were dropped (which doesn't square with the two whooshes heard). One landed on Hayburn Street/Beith Street bowling green and broke through both Corporation Transport underground railway tunnels. This caused water from the nearby river to flood in which put the system out of use until the end the following January. The second bomb landed to the south of Castlebank Street, while another hit Yorkhill Quay. But it was the fourth (probably number three in the stick) that caused the greatest upheaval. While the SRO list does not indicate this, it says simply Yorkhill Basin. The bomb crashed through the cruiser's decks near a fuel vent and lodged low down in the hull, but failed to explode. If it had gone off the load of ammunition would probably have been set off as well, causing immense damage over a wide radius. It did however start a fire in the bowels of the ship which threatened to get out of control, and it was obvious to those in charge that unless it could be stopped from spreading it would certainly reach the munitions. Fortunately the order to open the seacocks was given in time, flooding the ship and causing it to settle on the bottom. This helped put the fire out which saved many unknowing lives. Of course the event was hushed up at the time but we did hear a story about a bomb falling down the funnel of a ship at Yorkhill, and oddly enough the subway was shut down just then, which indicated to us that something unusually serious had happened in the Yorkhill area.
The details of the above story were gathered from various sources over succeeding years, but a book encountered fifty seven years after the event gives a much more authoritative account. In CLYDE BUILT by John Shields, published in 1947, chapter 12 page 84, in a brief history of ALEXANDER STEPHEN and SONS, he relates that it was an incendiary device which penetrated a trunkway to the fuel tank of the County class cruiser HMS Sussex. This was probably a vent to atmosphere rising above the superstructure for bunkering. The incendiary started the fire from which the events related above followed. The account goes on 'when she was refloated it was found that the fire had caused so much damage that everyone expected the cruiser to be scrapped; but the nation was in desperate straits for naval tonnage, and it was decided to repair it. Stephen and Sons were given the job, and after many months the cruiser was once again put back in service as a unit of the Royal Navy'.
Another event which occurred shortly after the above, was seeing a cargo ship of medium size, being brought into Merklands Quay with a spectacularly damaged superstructure. A story circulated that a bomb had fallen down the funnel. The ship lay there for a few days then disappeared, probably taken elsewhere on the river for repair. Those two events taking place so close together produced a confused story of mixed details, a tale that was taken for the truth, until later reading brought for the true story of what happened to HMS Sussex. But I never found out what became of the ship with the crumpled funnel.
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The above (and much, much more) courtesy of George Rountree - In 1993 my first book of childhood memories entitled A GOVAN CHILDHOOD - the 1930s was published by John Donald of Edinburgh. The above is an extract from the second book, the as yet unpublished continuation.
The rest of this particular text is at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stor ... 0003.shtml