Richards (Shipbuilders) Ltd was a

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

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 ...

, Suffolk and

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

, Norfolk

History

The precursor to the yard was started in 1876 by Samuel Richards (as S. Richards and Co), with a boatyard on the south side of the inner harbour at

. After Samuel died in 1919, his sons took over the yard, building drifters,

trawlers Trawler may refer to: Boats * Fishing trawler, used for commercial fishing * Naval trawler Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the World War I, Fir ...

and

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine driving paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, whereby the first uses were wh ...

s. The yard closed from 1926 to 1930. Bought by W. F. Cockerell of the East Anglian Ice and Cold Storage Co in the 1930s, the company was renamed Richards Ironworks. Ship repairing continued but they did not resume shipbuilding until 1935. During the Second World War, they built 85 small ships including

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

s, 24 motor fishing vessels, a torpedo recovery ship, eight standard coasters and six Victualling Inshore Craft, a Royal Navy auxiliary vessel based on " Clyde puffers". They escaped any serious bombing and repaired many other vessels. The company expanded in 1954 by taking over an adjoining shipyard. The new owners, the United Molasses Co, spent £250,000 modernising the facilities and renamed the yard, Richards (Shipbuilders) Ltd. During the 1950s, they predominantly built coastal tankers to carry

molasses Molasses () is a viscous byproduct, principally obtained from the refining of sugarcane or sugar beet juice into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, the method of extraction, and the age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is usuall ...

. In the 1960s, the yard returned to its mainstay of motor trawlers and drifters, along with ten wooden

Ton-class minesweeper The Ton class were coastal minesweepers built in the 1950s for the Royal Navy, but also used by other navies such as the South African Navy and the Royal Australian Navy. They were intended to meet the threat of seabed naval mine, mines laid i ...

s and seaward defence boats. In 1969, United Molasses purchased Fellows Yard in

and began a period of expansion to allow them to accommodate larger ships. During the 1970s, they built coastal tankers,

offshore supply vessel A platform supply vessel (PSV) is a ship specially designed to supply offshore oil and gas platforms and other offshore installations. They typically range from in length and are distinguished by the large open deck area used to store supplies ...

s, tugs and trawlers. Escaping nationalisation in 1977, the yard contributed a number of innovative designs to the industry. During the 1980s, the yard built a variety of vessels, including the 12

River-class minesweepers River class may refer to: Destroyers * , ships of the Royal Navy (UK) built in the early 20th century that served in World War I * , ships of the Royal Canadian Navy that served in World War II * , frigates built for the Royal Australian Navy post ...

, but demand dropped and the Yarmouth yard closed in the late 1980s, with the Lowestoft yard following in 1994.

References

* {{cite web, url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Richards_(Shipbuilders), title=Richards (Shipbuilders), publisher=Grace's Guide to British Industrial History, accessdate=8 December 2020

History

References

Further reading