Appledore Shipbuilders is a

shipbuilder Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

Appledore, North Devon Appledore is a village at the mouth of the River Torridge, about 6 miles (10 km) west of Barnstaple and about 3 miles (5 km) north of Bideford in the county of Devon, England. It is the home of Appledore Shipbuilders, a lifeboat slipw ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

History

Bulbous Bow of HMS Queen Elizabeth MOD 45157100

The Appledore Yard was founded in 1855 on the estuary of the

River Torridge The River Torridge is a river in Devon in England; it rises near Meddon. The river describes a long loop through Devon farming country where its tributaries the Lew and Okement join before meeting the Taw at Appledore and flowing into the Bristol ...

. The Richmond

Dry Dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

was built in 1856 by William Yeo and named after Richmond Bay on the north coast of

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

in Canada, where the Yeo family's shipping fleet was based. The business was led by Philip Kelly Harris during the early part of the 20th century and known as P.K. Harris & Sons until 1963, when it became Appledore Shipbuilders. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, P.K. Harris & Sons built a variety of small vessels for the Royal Navy, primarily coastal craft. These included

Fairmile B motor launch The Fairmile B motor launch (often abbreviated to 'ML') was a very numerous class of motor launch produced in kit form by British boatbuilder Fairmile Marine, and then assembled and fitted out by numerous boatyards during the Second World Wa ...

es ''ML 128'', ''ML 152'', ''ML 184'', ''ML 233'', ''ML 263'', ''ML 279'', ''ML 304'' and ''ML 451''; Fairmile D motor gun boats (later re-classed as motor torpedo boats) ''MGB 618'', ''MGB 627'', ''MGB 642'', ''MTB 665'', ''MTB 687'', ''MTB 702'', ''MTB 723'', ''MTB 757'', ''MTB 788'' and ''MTB 5021''; and (armed) motor fishing vessels ''MFV 794'' and ''MFV 795''. In 1964 the company was acquired by

Court Line Court Line was a 20th-century British Tramp trade, tramp shipping company that was founded in 1905. In the 1960s it diversified into shipbuilding and Air charter, charter aviation. Its merchant shipping interests were based in Port of London, Lo ...

, a shipping and airline business.James Venus: Obituary
''The Independent'', 2 September 1992 A new shipyard was built on a

greenfield site Greenfield land is a British English term referring to undeveloped land in an urban or rural area either used for agriculture or landscape design, or left to evolve naturally. These areas of land are usually agricultural or amenity properties ...

in Appledore at a cost of about £4m, opening for business in 1970. Court Line collapsed in 1974 and Appledore Shipbuilders was

nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with ...

, subsequently being subsumed into

British Shipbuilders British Shipbuilders (BS) was a public corporation that owned and managed the shipbuilding industry in Great Britain from 1977 through the 1980s. Its head office was at Benton House in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. History The corporation wa ...

. By the late 1980s the only yards still held in state ownership were the smaller Appledore and Ferguson yards. In 1989, Appledore Shipbuilders was sold to

Langham Industries Langham Industries is a British company that owns Portland Port and formerly owned Appledore Shipbuilders. Early history and description Langham Industries was founded by John Langham (1924 ''–'' 2017) in 1980 through the acquisition of prope ...

. In the late 1990s the two

square-rigged Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which a sailing vessel's primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars that are perpendicular (or square) to the median plane of the keel and masts of the vessel. These sp ...

sail training From its modern interpretations to its antecedents when maritime nations would send young naval officer candidates to sea (e.g., see Outward Bound), sail training provides an unconventional and effective way of building many useful skills on a ...

ships of the Tall Ships Youth Trust, the ''

Prince William William, Prince of Wales (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982), is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales. William was born during the reign of his p ...

'' and the , were completed at Appledore, by performing substantial modifications to two bare hulls begun in Germany. Appledore built two ''Róisín''-class

patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval ship, naval vessel generally designed for Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence, Border control, border security, or law ...

s for the

Irish Naval Service The Naval Service () is the maritime component of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Defence Forces of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and is one of the three branches of the Irish Defence Forces. Its base is in Haulbowline, County Cork. Though prece ...

: was completed in 1999 and in 2001. In 2010, Ireland ordered a further two, ,

offshore patrol vessel A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and th ...

s from Babcock with an option for a third, to be built at Appledore. The first s was commissioned in May 2014. In June 2014, the Irish government took up the option for the third ship to be built at Appledore (delivered in 2016) and ordered a fourth in 2016 (delivered in 2018). In October 2003, the Appledore shipyard went into receivership, and in early 2004 was acquired by DML, the operators of Devonport dockyard. The company was reconstituted as Appledore Shipbuilders (2004) Limited and was run by the DML subsidiary DML Appledore. During this period the yard's main activity was the installation of machinery packages and other systems for luxury yachts for Devonport Yachts Ltd. In June 2007,

Babcock International Group Babcock International Group plc is a British aerospace, defence and nuclear engineering services company based in London, England. It specialises in managing complex assets and infrastructure. Although the company has civil contracts, its main b ...

acquired DML, including its operations at the Appledore Shipyard, renaming them Babcock Marine Appledore. A Royal Navy contract secured 300 jobs in Appledore until 2015. The Appledore yard constructed elements of the two s. Bow sections for were completed in April 2010 and were barged to

Rosyth Dockyard Rosyth Dockyard is a large Royal Navy Dockyard, naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which formerly undertook refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels and submarines. Before its privatisation i ...

for integration with other modules. The yard then built flight deck

sponson Sponsons are projections extending from the sides of land vehicles, aircraft or watercraft to provide protection, Instantaneous stability, stability, storage locations, mounting points for weapons or other devices, or equipment housing. Watercra ...

s and centre blocks for ''Queen Elizabeth''. From 2012, Appledore built similar sections for ''Queen Elizabeth''s

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

. Babcock announced in November 2018 that it had no future for the shipyard, which closed on 15 March 2019. The last vessel to be built at the yard was the , an Irish Naval Service vessel. In August 2020, InfraStrata (owners of Belfast shipyard

Harland and Wolff Harland & Wolff Holdings plc is a British shipbuilding and Metal fabrication, fabrication company headquartered in London with sites in Belfast, Arnish yard, Arnish, Appledore, Torridge, Appledore and Methil. It specialises in ship repair, ship ...

) bought the dormant shipyard for £7 million. The deal saw the shipyard renamed H&W Appledore. In July 2022, the shipyard won a £55 million contract to refit former Royal Navy mine-hunting ship which is expected to be passed to the

Lithuanian navy The Lithuanian Navy (; formally: ''Lithuanian Naval Forces'') is the navy, naval arm of the Military of Lithuania, Lithuanian Armed Forces. Though formally established on 1 August 1935 its roots stretch back as far as naval engagements on the Ba ...

in 2024.

Ships built at Appledore

The company built more than 350 vessels, including small and medium-sized military craft,

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially naval architecture, designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo—such as Grain trade, grain, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement—in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrie ...

LPG carrier LPG may refer to: Science * Liquefied petroleum gas, a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases * Lipophosphoglycan, a class of molecule found on the surface of some eukaryotes, in particular protozoa Music groups * LPG (Dutch band), a Dutch indie ...

superyacht A superyacht or megayacht is a large and luxurious pleasure vessel. There are no official or agreed upon definitions for such yachts, but these terms are regularly used to describe professionally crewed motor or sailing yachts, ranging from to ...

s, ferries, and oil-industry support vessels. Specific ships include:

References

{{British Shipbuilders evolution Companies based in Devon Shipbuilding companies of England Former defence companies of the United Kingdom 1855 establishments in England 2019 disestablishments in England Industrial archaeological sites in Devon Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 2019 Manufacturing companies established in 1855 British Shipbuilders