Smiths Dock Company

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Smiths Dock Company , mostly abbreviated to Smiths Dock , sometimes also called Smith’s , was a British shipbuilding company best known for designing the Flower-class corvettes .

history

Start time

The company's history began in 1810 when Thomas Smith, the William Rowe's shipyard in St. Peter's in Newcastle upon Tyne and William Smith & Co. renamed. In 1851 a dock operation was opened in North Shields . One of the first ships in the yard was the Termagent in 1852. In 1891 the name was changed to Smith's Dock Co.

South Bank until World War I.

The shipyard in South Bank, Middlesbrough on the south bank of the River Tees in North East England became famous , where it began operations in 1907.

As early as 1909, the business in North Shields was closed and the business on Tees was concentrated in one operation. In 1910 the first suction dredger , the Priestman , was delivered, followed by around 20 small trawlers and other fishing vessels, a whaler , two tugs , two barges and three coastal vessels. In the following year 55 small trawlers, whalers and other fishing vessels were built and the manufacture of ship engines began. By the First World War , 160 vehicles were built with the minesweepers that were still being produced .

First to Second World War

Between 1920 and 1922, in addition to riveting , arc welding began to be used in shipbuilding . Until the 1930s, whalers , necklaces , tramp ships and freighters were mainly produced for liner service. In 1925 Smiths took over the traditional shipyard Ropner Shipbuilding . Although there were still a few orders in the shipyard's order book in the looming global economic crisis , the Ropner shipyard was closed in 1931 and, in the worst year of 1932, only a single motor trawler was launched at Smiths. In 1937 the old Smiths Dock Company docks were sold to John Readhead and Sons . From 1938, the focus was on building large tankers . Based on the hull of the whaler Southern Pride , Smiths Dock designed and built the Flower-class corvette from 1939 in collaboration with the Royal Navy, which is relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture . 19 Flower-class corvettes followed at Smiths Dock, and over 200 more from other shipyards in Great Britain and Canada.

Smiths Dock, however, completed whalers under construction as Lake-class coastal patrol boats as the first shipment to the Royal Navy for Norwegian account during World War II , before 19 Flower-class units, known as anti-submarine escorts, and a large number of trawlers requisitioned by the Admiralty to armed trawlers for the Royal Naval Patrol Service . The HMT Amethyst and especially the HMT Arab , on the Lt. Richard Been Stannard earned his merits for being awarded the Victoria Cross . Four of the Flower corvettes were started for the French Navy . In 1940, a number of shipyard workers were killed when the French corvette La Bastiase was lost during its first sea trial when it was hit by mines . Another six had been ordered by the French, whose orders the Royal Navy took over after the surrender of France in 1940, like the three unfinished boats. In the same year a last crate oil transporter was built at the shipyard.

With the frigate HMS Rother of the River class , the first larger fleet unit was completed in April 1942. The first corvette of the Castle class followed in September 1943 and, in October 1944, the shipyard's first Loch Class frigate, the HMS Loch Eck .

  • The Flower class corvette HMS Samphire

  • River class HMS Fal

  • Castle-class HMS Hadleigh Castle

  • HMS Loch Eck of the Loch class

Post-war period until closure

In the post-war years 1946 to 1962, 41 tankers were built at Smiths Dock. But whalers were also rebuilt and Corvettes of the Flower class were converted into whalers. In 1965, some oil rigs were rebuilt, with the Ocean Prince platform torn loose by strong winds and when it was driven over two miles, some tankers were damaged and high-voltage lines tore off. In 1966, Smith's Dock was merged with Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson to form Associated Shipbuilders , which in the same year became the Swan Hunter Group .

In the 1970s, 15 freighters with cooling systems were built, including a number of licensed buildings of the Norwegian Drammen type . On July 1, 1977, the shipyard was incorporated into the state-owned British Shipbuilders Corporation . Under the aegis of British Shipbuilders, Smiths Dock had major problems with malfunctioning technical equipment on board, non-compliance with agreed minimum speeds and delayed delivery of newbuildings, which in some cases led to non-acceptance of the ships. The 1980s were again the focus of the construction of large tankers and fruit ships, as well as some standard freighters of the type SD-14 . The exception was the complex construction of the British Argyll , which could be used as an oil rig supply , anchor pulling and diving support vehicle. Regular operations were closed in 1987. The dry dock remained in operation and the former shipyard is still used by North Sea oil companies.

Trivia

Smith's Dock's best-known product, the Flower-Class Corvette, was immortalized in the 1952 film The Great Atlantic .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c From bustling docks to a new community , The Evening Chronicle on February 13, 2007 (English)
  2. ↑ The Sound of Silence , The Evening Gazette on April 18, 2002 (English)
  3. ↑ Royal Navy Ship may bring work for 100’s , The Evening Chronicle on August 30, 2008 (English)
  4. ↑ Fears for Tyneside tradition as Swan Hunter ship is towed to Govan for completion , The Guardian on July 15, 2006 (English)

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