Yarrow Shipbuilders
Yarrow Shipbuilders , usually abbreviated as Yarrows , is a shipyard based in Scotstoun , Glasgow on the River Clyde in Scotland . The shipyard was best known for the Yarrow boilers and the construction of numerous destroyers .
history
Start time
The shipyard was founded in 1865 as Yarrow & Hedley by Alfred Fernandez Yarrow and a Mr. Hedley. Together they raised a sum of £ 1,000 and founded a ship repair business called "Folly Shipyard" in Folly Wall, Isle of Dogs , Poplar , London on the Thames , on which they soon built, among other things, "steam launches", small steam-powered boats, the larger with longer trips on deck vehicles were lifted and towing free with no wind and to translate on the roads used. Around 150 steam launches were made between 1868 and 1875. The income from this put the young company on a solid financial basis, with which the Folly Public House could soon be acquired, which later housed the drawing office. From 1871 torpedo boats were designed , of which 350 were built over the next seven years. In the period from 1877 until the move to Glasgow, another 65 torpedo boats were manufactured and, in addition to paddle steamers of all kinds, tunnel propeller ships were also developed .
After ten years, Mr. Hedley left the company, which from then on traded as Yarrow & Co. and in 1897 became the limited company Yarrow & Co. Ltd. was converted. In 1876 a stern wheel steamer was built for South Africa , in 1888 four gasoline-powered steam launches were made and in 1890 gunboats for use on the Zambezi and the Shire followed . In addition to other innovations by the Yarrow & Co. shipyard, aluminum was first used worldwide in the construction of ships in 1895. In 1897 it was converted to a Limited Company and renamed to Yarrow Company Limited. Starting in 1892, with the construction of the HMS Havock and the HMS Hornet that followed in 1893, initial experience was gained in the construction of torpedo boat destroyers , which was followed by around 30 more destroyers at the Folly shipyard, which later became an advantage during the series production of warships in the First World War should prove. In 1904 an "Inverted Vertical Rotative Engine" was manufactured for the Wanstead Station of the Metropolitan Water Board. As early as the turn of the century, the first considerations about moving to another location followed, as there was unrest among the workers and, as Yarrow justified the later move, the material costs in London were too high. In 1906 the contract for the acquisition of the new shipyard in Scotstoun was concluded.
Relocation and World War I
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Between 1906 and 1908 the company gradually moved to Scotstoun, Glasgow, the machinery and materials were shipped north and the old Folly shipyard closed in 1908. With the move, around 300 employees of the Folly shipyard also came to Scotstoun. Since the workers did not like the apartments offered, Yarrow had the so-called Yarrow Cottages built as company apartments . On the occasion of the first Christmas after moving, Yarrow paid all London workers a trip to their previous home and also paid for the losses his workers suffered in the sinking of a steamer on that trip to London.
The motor yacht Felicitas was built in 1911 . At the beginning of the First World War , people were particularly familiar with the production of fast propeller vehicles such as torpedo boats and torpedo boat destroyers, but also very flat-moving vehicles for naval and civilian use.
The specialty of the company were the so-called "Yarrow-Type" water tube steam boilers . During the war, with up to 2,000 employees, 29 destroyers, 16 gunboats, a submarine, three hospital ships and a workshop ship were built for the Royal Navy . In 1916, Alfred Yarrow was ennobled as a hereditary baronet , of Homestead.
1918 to 1945
Immediately after the First World War , cargo ships, coastal ships and yachts were built again , but also a series of river steamers for China . Due to the subsequent lack of orders, the company was dissolved in 1921, only to be reopened in the following year by Alfred Yarrow's son, Harold Edgar Yarrow, as a stock corporation under the same name and initially to build steam boilers for farms with 24 employees. Only later in the 1920s could the first shipbuilding orders be won again. With a series of orders from the British Admiralty to build more destroyers and gunboats, the shipyard revived. In 1926 the name was changed to Yarrow Shipbuilders and during the next 1930s the order book was filled with orders from the Royal Navy. In the late 1930s, Yarrows operated two other shipyards in British Columbia and Yugoslavia .
During the Second World War , 18 destroyers, eight sloops and two river cannon boats were built. In 1941 the shipyard was badly damaged by a German bombing raid, killing 47 shipyard workers.
post war period
After the Second World War (1946) the Yarrow Admiralty Research Department (Y-ARD) was established at Yarrows. However, they were busy building merchant ships for the following decade. They also made CKD kits of flat-going vehicles for customers all over the world. It was not until the 1950s that naval shipbuilding was resumed on a larger scale and frigates and coastal defense ships were produced, which increased the number of employees to 2,500.
In the 1960s, the focus was on nuclear ship propulsion. In 1962 Sir Harold Yarrow died. In 1966, Yarrow took over the Blythswood Shipbuilding Company and the shipbuilding company was continued under the name Yarrow (Shipbuilders) Ltd as a subsidiary under the umbrella of the holding company Yarrow & Co Ltd. In addition to the production of merchant ships, the construction of three research ships and later the Leander- class frigates also took place during this period . In 1968, based on the recommendations of the Geddes Report , Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd merged with Fairfield Shipbuilders in Govan , Alexander Stephen and Sons in Linthouse , Charles Connell & Company in Scotstoun and John Brown & Company from Clydebank to form Upper Clyde Shipbuilders . The shipbuilding group became insolvent after just three years . The Tory government, under the leadership of Edward Heath , did not grant required loans of a further six million pounds, whereupon instead of the expected protests and strikes, the historic "work-in" took place, a kind of "protest by continuing to work". The unusual strategy of the trade unions won the sympathy of large sections of the population and finally managed to persuade the government in February 1972 to partially give in. Yarrows and Fairfields were merged into Govan Shipbuilders and put back into regular service. In 1975 the shipyard took over the docks from Barclay Curle & Co Ltd in Glasgow.
On July 1, 1977, Yarrows was incorporated into the state-owned British Shipbuilders Corporation . The shipbuilding business continued with the production of a large series of 22 frigates (until 1994). In 1985 it was sold to GEC-Marconi and re-privatized under the name Marconi Marine (YSL) . BAE Systems was born when Marconi Electronic Systems was sold to British Aerospace in 1999 . Marconi Marine (YSL) became BAE Systems Marine (YSL) . Since 2008, the traditional Yarrows shipyard has been operated as part of BVT Surface Fleet , a joint venture between BAE Systems and the VT Group , formerly Vosper Thornycroft .
See also
literature
- Eleanor C. Barnes: Alfred Yarrow: His Life And Work . 1st edition. Kessinger Publishing, Whitefish 2005, ISBN 1-4179-5263-6 .
- The Tories stay tough . In: Die Zeit , No. 8/1971
- Inflation is faster . British shipyards in distress. In: Die Zeit , No. 18/1971
Web links
- Shipyard description , accessed August 6, 2009
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 55 ° 52 '43.6 " N , 4 ° 21' 38.8" W.