Loch Striven

Loch Striven is a narrow sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It stretches about eight miles inland from the Firth of Clyde, cutting deep into the Cowal Peninsula. The loch meets the Kyles of Bute between Strone Point and Ardyne Point, just north of the Isle of Bute. At its head sits the hamlet of Ardtaraig, reached by the B836 road. Minor roads follow the loch’s east and west shores, but the north end has no road access beyond Inverchaolain. The loch’s secluded waters and deep channels have long made it useful for maritime work. During the Second World War the upper loch became a secret base for midget submarine training. HMS Varbel, directed from the requisitioned Kyles Hydro Hotel in Port Bannatyne, oversaw X-craft operations including the attack on the Tirpitz. Ardtaraig House served as HMS Varbel II, a support base for the 12th Submarine Flotilla. The loch also hosted trials of the Highball bouncing bomb, with dummy bombs dropped from Mosquitoes based at RAF Turnberry. Two recovered bombs now sit in museums, one at Brooklands and one at the de Havilland Aircraft Museum. Later the loch became home to an oil fuel depot at Knockdow, supplying diesel and aviation fuel to NATO ships. A construction yard at Ardyne Point built three concrete oil platforms between 1974 and 1978, including Cormorant Alpha for the North Sea. In quieter times the sheltered waters anchored laid-up ships such as LNG carriers Gastor and Nestor for fifteen years. At the head of the loch the Striven hydro-electric station, opened in 1951, still generates eight megawatts from a single turbine.