British Shipbuilders (BS) was a public corporation that owned and managed the

shipbuilding industry Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

from 1977 through the 1980s. Its head office was at Benton House in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, England.

History

The corporation was founded as a result of the

Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977 The Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that nationalised large parts of the UK aerospace and shipbuilding industries and established two corporations, British Aerospace and British S ...

, which

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 usually refers to p ...

27 major shipbuilding and marine engineering companies in Great Britain. A further 6 ship repair companies and a further shipyard were also acquired by the corporation, with British Shipbuilders initially comprising 32 shipyards, 6 marine engine works and 6 general engineering plants. Collectively, British Shipbuilders accounted for 97% of the UK's merchant shipbuilding capacity, 100% of its warship-building capacity, 100% of slow speed diesel engine manufacturing and approximately 50% of ship-repair capacity.

Harland & Wolff Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the W ...

, the only shipbuilder based in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

was deemed to be a special political case and remained out of the control of the British Shipbuilders' management, despite it also being in state ownership from 1977. The same act nationalised the three large UK aerospace companies and grouped them in an analogous corporation,

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...

Leadership and organisation

The first Chairman of British Shipbuilders, serving from 1977 to 1980, was Admiral Sir Anthony Griffin. He was succeeded by Sir Robert Atkinson, who in turn was succeeded by

Graham Day Sir Judson Graham Day, (born 3 May 1933) is a British-Canadian business executive, lawyer and corporate director who now lives in Hantsport, Nova Scotia. Early life and education Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he graduated from Dalhousie Law ...

in 1984, Phillip Hares in 1986. The final operational chairman, John Lister, took office in 1987, continuing until 1989.Obituary: Admiral Sir Anthony Griffin
The Independent, 22 October 1996 The company was initially organised into four operating divisions: Merchant, Naval, Ship-repair, Marine Engineering and General Engineering. This was restructured into five trading divisions in 1980: Merchant Shipbuilding, Warship-building, Engineering, Ship-repair and Offshore.

Privatisation

By the end of 1982, British Shipbuilders had closed half of its shipyards in an effort to reduce over-capacity. The terms of the

British Shipbuilders Act 1983 British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

then required the company to begin a process of privatising its remaining assets. The various divisions that had remained under integrated nationalised ownership were divested throughout the 1980s as the company wound up operations. The profitable warship-builders were sold off initially, with the merchant shipyards sold off or closed on a piecemeal basis, culminating in the sale of

Govan Shipbuilders Govan Shipbuilders Ltd (GSL) was a British shipbuilding company based on the River Clyde at Glasgow in Scotland. It operated the former Fairfield Shipyard and took its name from the Govan area in which it was located. History The company wa ...

Kværner Kværner was a Norwegian engineering and construction services company that existed between 1853 and 2005. In 2004, it was amalgamated to the newly formed subsidiary of Aker ASA - Aker Kværner, which was renamed Aker Solutions on 3 April 2 ...

in 1988 and Ferguson Shipbuilders to the privatised marine engine builder, Clark Kincaid, in January 1989. British Shipbuilders finally ceased active shipbuilding operations in 1989, with the closure of its last shipyards: North East Shipbuilders Ltd.'s Pallion and Southwick Shipyards at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. The remaining assets of North East Shipbuilders Ltd. were then privatised.

Abolition

British Shipbuilders continued to exist as a

shell corporation A shell corporation is a company or corporation that exists only on paper and has no office and no employees, but may have a bank account or may hold passive investments or be the registered owner of assets, such as intellectual property, or s ...

in statute, in order to be accountable for any liabilities incurred during its operational history, until it was abolished in 2013 as part of the Government's 2010 public bodies reforms. From March 2013 any remaining liabilities of British Shipbuilders passed to the

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills , type = Department , logo = Department for Business, Innovation and Skills logo.svg , logo_width = 200px , logo_caption = , picture = File:Лондан. 2014. Жнівень 26.JPG , seal = , se ...

Assets subsumed by British Shipbuilders

The assets of the following companies vested in British Shipbuilders on 1 September 1977.SI 1977/540, art.2
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Shipbuilders and ship repairers

Ailsa Shipbuilding Company Ailsa Shipbuilding Company was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Troon and Ayr, Ayrshire. History The company was founded in 1885 by the 3rd Marquess of Ailsa along with Peter James Wallace and Alexander McCredie. In 1902 the Ailsa yard ...

Troon Troon is a town in South Ayrshire, situated on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland, about north of Ayr and northwest of Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Troon has a port with freight services and a yacht marina. Up until January 2016, P&O ope ...

(acquired in 1978, merged with Ferguson Shipbuilders in 1981 to form Ferguson-Ailsa) *

Appledore Shipbuilders Appledore Shipbuilders is a shipbuilder in Appledore, North Devon, England. History The Appledore Yard was founded in 1855 on the estuary of the River Torridge. The Richmond Dry Dock was built in 1856 by William Yeo and named after Richmond ...

, Appledore (merged with

in 2020 to form Harland & Wolff (Appledore)) *

Austin & Pickersgill Austin & Pickersgill is a shipbuilding company formed in Sunderland in 1954. History Corporate history Austin & Pickersgill was formed in Sunderland in 1954 by the merger of S.P. Austin & Son Ltd (founded by Samuel Peter Austin in c.1826) and ...

* Brooke Marine,

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the List of extreme points of the United Kingdom, most easterly UK se ...

* Cammell Laird Shipbuilders,

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liv ...

Clelands Shipbuilding Company Clelands Shipbuilding Company was a leading British shipbuilding company. The Company was based in Wallsend was nationalised by the British Government. It was founded in 1864 by John and Thomas Cleland, and operated until it was acquired by Swa ...

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This ...

Falmouth Docks Company Falmouth may refer to: Places Antigua *Falmouth, Antigua and Barbuda *Falmouth Harbour, Antigua Australia * Falmouth, Tasmania, a locality in North-east Tasmania Canada * Falmouth, Nova Scotia, a community in Hants County *Upper Falmouth, Nova ...

, Falmouth * Ferguson Shipbuilders,

Port Glasgow Port Glasgow ( gd, Port Ghlaschu, ) is the second-largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19,426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16,617 persons. The most rece ...

(initially a subsidiary of

Scott Lithgow Scott Lithgow, Limited was a Scottish shipbuilding company. History The Company was formed in 1967 by the merger of Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company and Lithgows. Scott Lithgow was based in Port Glasgow and Greenock on the lower Cl ...

, merged with Ailsa in 1981 to form Ferguson-Ailsa, then with Appledore Shipbuilders in 1986 to form Appledore-Ferguson) * Goole Shipbuilding & Repairing Company,

Goole Goole is a port town and civil parish on the River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town's historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire. According to the 2011 UK census, Goole parish had a population of 19,518, an increa ...

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south b ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

(incorporating

Scotstoun Marine Ltd {{more citations needed, date=May 2008 Scotstoun Marine Ltd was a shipbuilding company in Glasgow, Scotland, on the River Clyde, formed in 1972 to operate the former shipyard of Charles Connell and Company following the collapse of Upper Clyde S ...

) *

Hall, Russell & Company Hall, Russell & Company, Limited was a shipbuilder based in Aberdeen, Scotland. History Brothers James and William Hall, Thomas Russell, a Glasgow engineer, and James Cardno Couper founded the company in 1864 to build steam engines and boile ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

* River Thames Ship Repairers, Blackwall (later renamed Blackwall Engineering) *

Robb Caledon Shipbuilders Henry Robb, Limited, known colloquially as Robbs, was a Scottish shipyard, shipbuilding company based at Leith, Leith Docks in Edinburgh. Robbs was notable for building small-to-medium sized vessels, particularly tugboat, tugs and dredgers. Hist ...

, (comprising

Henry Robb Henry Robb, Limited, known colloquially as Robbs, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based at Leith Docks in Edinburgh. Robbs was notable for building small-to-medium sized vessels, particularly tugs and dredgers. History The company was fo ...

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

and

Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company The Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Limited was a major Scottish shipbuilding company based in Dundee, Scotland that traded for more than a century and built more than 500 ships. History W.B. Thompson CBE (1837 - 1923) founded th ...

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

) *

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowland ...

(comprising

Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited, often referred to simply as Scotts, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Greenock on the River Clyde. In its time in Greenock, Scotts built over 1,250 ships. History John Scott fo ...

Lithgows Lithgows Limited is a family-owned Scottish company that had a long involvement in shipbuilding, based in Kingston, Port Glasgow, on the River Clyde in Scotland. It has a continued involvement in marine resources. History Founding The Company w ...

) *

Smiths Dock Company Smith's Dock Company, Limited, often referred to simply as Smith's Dock, was a British shipbuilding company. History The company was originally established by Thomas Smith who bought William Rowe's shipyard at St. Peter's in Newcastle upon Tyn ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

Sunderland Shipbuilders William Doxford & Sons Ltd, often referred to simply as Doxford, was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British shipbuilder, shipbuilding and marine engineering company. History William Doxford founded the company in 1840. From 18 ...

(incorporating William Doxford & Sons,

Pallion Pallion is a suburb and electoral ward in North West Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, England. Most of the buildings in the area were built during the Victorian Era and consist of large terraced houses built for shipbuilders, but also smaller one-s ...

) * Swan Hunter Shipbuilders Limited,

(later renamed Swan Hunter) - also incorporating

John Readhead & Sons John Readhead & Sons was a shipyard on the River Tyne in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England. History John Readhead and John Softley founded the business in 1865 in South Shields as Readhead and Softley. The first ship they built was a small ...

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

Wallsend Slipway and Engineering Company Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company Ltd was formerly an independent company, located on the River Tyne at Point Pleasant, near Wallsend, Tyne & Wear, around a mile downstream from the Swan Hunter shipyard, with which it later merged. History ...

and Grangemouth Dockyard Company * Vickers Limited Shipbuilding Group,

Barrow in Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 th ...

(renamed Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited - VSEL) *

Vosper Thornycroft VT Group is a privately held United States defense and services company, with its origins in a former British shipbuilding group, previously known as Vosper Thornycroft. The British part of VT Group was integrated into Babcock International in t ...

Woolston Woolston may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Woolston, Cheshire, a village and civil parish in Warrington * Woolston, Devon, on the list of United Kingdom locations: Woof-Wy near Kingsbridge, Devon * Woolston, Southampton, a city suburb in Ham ...

and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

* Yarrow Shipbuilders (YSL),

Scotstoun Scotstoun ( gd, Baile an Sgotaich) is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, west of Glasgow City Centre. It is bounded by Garscadden and Yoker to the west, Victoria Park, Jordanhill and Whiteinch to the east, Jordanhill to the north and the River Cl ...

Marine diesel engine manufacturers

* Barclay Curle and Company,

Whiteinch Whiteinch ( gd, Innis Bhàn) is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated directly north of the River Clyde, between the Partick and Scotstoun areas of the city. Whiteinch was at one stage part of the burgh of Partick, until that ...

* George Clark & NEM,

Hawthorn Leslie and Company R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, usually referred to as Hawthorn Leslie, was a shipbuilder and locomotive manufacturer. The company was founded on Tyneside in 1886 and ceased building ships in 1982. History The company was formed ...

Hebburn Hebburn is a town in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It governed under the borough of South Tyneside; formerly governed under the county of Durham until 1974 with its own urban district from 1894 until 1974. It is on the sou ...

* John G. Kincaid & Company,

* Scotts’ Engineering Company Limited,

Note:

Harland and Wolff Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the W ...

was state-owned but did not form part of British Shipbuilders.

Privatisation

*Scott Lithgow (Offshore Division) - 1981 - individual operating companies dissolved, sold to Trafalgar House in 1984, closed 1993. *Brooke Marine (Merchant Division) - 1985 - management buyout.Builders: Brooke Marine Ltd.
, National Historic Ships. Retrieved 2011-04-25.
''Hansard'', 2006-11-02,. Retrieved 2011-04-25. Ceased trading in 1992. *Vosper Thornycroft (Warship Division) - 1985 - management buyout, known as

VT Group VT Group is a privately held United States defense and services company, with its origins in a former British shipbuilding group, previously known as Vosper Thornycroft. The British part of VT Group was integrated into Babcock International in t ...

until 2008, now

BAE Systems Surface Ships BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...

. *Yarrow Shipbuilders (Warship Division) - 1985 - sold to GEC-Marconi as Marconi Marine (YSL) then to BAE Systems as part of BAE Systems Marine, now

. *VSEL (Warship Division) - 1986 - employee buyout, with Cammell Laird as a subsidiary. Acquired by GEC-Marconi in 1995 as part of Marconi Marine, then to BAE Systems as part of BAE Systems Marine, now

BAE Systems Submarine Solutions BAE Systems Submarines,BAE Systems Submarine Solutions was split out from BAE Systems Marine and operated as such until January 2012. It was named BAE Systems Maritime - Submarines until 2017 before it became BAE Systems Submarines. is a whol ...

. *Cammell Laird (Warship Division) - 1986 - as a subsidiary of VSEL, finished shipbuilding in 1993, continuing as ship-repair firm in different ownership. Cammell Laird resumed shipbuilding in 2012. *Ailsa Shipbuilders (Merchant Division) - 1986 - Ailsa split from merged BS subsidiary Ferguson-Ailsa and sold to

Perth Corporation Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

as Ailsa Perth Shipbuilders. Ceased shipbuilding in 1988. *Hall Russell (Warship Division) - 1986 - management buyout, later acquired by A&P Appledore International in 1989, closed 1992. *Swan Hunter (Warship Division) - 1987 - management buyout, entered receivership 1994, bought by

Jaap Kroese Jaap may refer to: * Jaap Sahib, Sikh prayer * Jaap (given name) Jaap is a Dutch given name that is short for Jacob or Jacobus (Jacob or James in English). People with this name include: Academics * Jaap R. Bruijn (born 1938), Dutch maritime h ...

. Ceased shipbuilding, 2006. *Govan Shipbuilders (Merchant Division) - 1988 - sold to

as Kværner Govan, to GEC-Marconi 1999 as part of Marconi Marine then to

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenue ...

as part of

BAE Systems Marine BAE Systems Marine Limited was the shipbuilding subsidiary of BAE Systems, formed in 1999, which manufactured the full range of naval ships; nuclear submarines, frigates, destroyers, amphibious ships. In 2003 BAE Systems Marine was split into ...

, now

. *Ferguson Shipbuilders (Merchant Division) - 1989 - demerged from Appledore-Ferguson sold to Clark Kincaid (HLD Group) in 1989. *Appledore Shipbuilders (Merchant Division) - 1989 - demerged from Appledore-Ferguson and sold to Langham Industries. *Clark Kincaid (Engineering Division) - 1989 - management buyout (HLD Group), later acquired by

in 1990. Kværner Kincaid sold to Scandiaverken in 1999 and ceased manufacturing in 2000.

References

{{Authority control Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United Kingdom Defence companies of the United Kingdom Former defence companies of the United Kingdom Defunct companies based in Tyne and Wear Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1977 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1989 1977 establishments in England 1989 disestablishments in England 2013 disestablishments in the United Kingdom British companies disestablished in 1989 British companies established in 1977