ARSENAL, (from the Roman arthenal, a citadel), originally denoted exclusively a magazine of naval stores and warlike apparatus, giving probability to the etymology which derives the word from the Latin ars navalis, a naval citadel. Now, however, the term is applied to a repository of warlike stores, whether for land or sea service. The naval arsenals are, however, still the more numerous, and will be found described at length under the article DOCKYARDS.
The great arsenal of Britain (if we except the Tower) is that of Woolwich, where all warlike stores and apparatus are not only preserved, but manufactured in the immense buildings devoted to the purpose. (See WOOLWICH.) Deptford, Chatham, Sheerness, Portsmouth, and Plymouth, are the great naval arsenals. In France, there are military arsenals at Paris, Strasburg, Metz, Lille, &c., and five great maritime arsenals, the chief of which are those of Brest, Toulon, and Rochefort; next to them L'Orient and Cherbourg. There are also inferior arsenals at Dunkirk, Havre, Saint Servan, Nantes, Bordeaux, and Bayonne. The other principal naval arsenals in Europe are those of Russia, at St Petersburg, Cronstadt, and Sebastopol; of Holland, at Anvers, Flushing, Helvoetsluys, and the Texel; of Prussia, at Danzig; of Hamburg; of Denmark, at Copenhagen; of Turkey, at Constantinople; of Italy, at Genoa, Villa-franca, Livorno, Spezzia, Civita Vecchia, Naples, Ancona, Venice, and Trieste; of Spain, at Cadiz, Carthage, and Barcelona, and the British one at Gibraltar; of Portugal, at Lisbon; of Britain, at Malta and Corfu, &c. The principal naval arsenals of the United States are at New York, Boston, and Baltimore; of Brazil, at Rio Janeiro and Bahia; of La Plata, at Buenos Ayres and Monte Video; of Chili, at Valparaiso; and of Mexico, at Vera Cruz.