Grace's Guide

Cammell, Laird and Co

From GracesGuide

of Birkenhead, Cheshire and Cyclops Steel and Iron Works, Sheffield

Cammell, Laird and Co. was formed in 1903 when the Laird Brothers amalgamated their company with Charles Cammell and Co This enabled the new company to manufacture armoured warships within its own jurisdiction, which was an arrangement favoured by the Royal Navy at the time. It continued trading until 1953.

• 1824 Company founded.

• 1837 Company established.

• 1864 Founded (according to DnB). Charles Cammell and Co, iron and steel founders, was established and incorporated as a Limited Company.

• 1898 Became a public company as Charles Cammell and Co. The company was re-registered on 4 January in connection with a reconstruction of the capital.

• 1903 Company name changed. The business of the Mullinger-Wigley Co was acquired, and later this year, the business of shipbuilders and engineers, Laird Brothers of Birkenhead, was purchased and the name was changed to its present title. ^[1]

• 1900s After establishing itself, the new company set out on a programme of modernisation. More land was acquired at the Southern end of the Birkenhead yard. The area of the yard was increased to 98.5 acres and it had the largest private wet dock in Britain. However, this period of expansion also happened at almost exactly the same moment as the freight slump. Consequently, only small ships were built at this time. Financial losses were made on all ships up to 1909. William, John and Henry Laird had died, and the company was now managed by their sons J. Macgregor Laird (son of John, senior partner), Roy M. Laird and J. W. P. Laird. Ratsey Bevis was also a fourth director. ^[2]

• 1909 The yard completed the largest sand pump dredger in the world: Leviathan. From here onwards, the yard made longer passenger/cargo liners mainly for South American companies. Later, passenger liners were made for Norwegian-Amerika line.

• 1914 Manufacturers of all kinds of Steel, Files, Tyres, Axles, Springs, Buffers, Rails and Accessories, Forgings and Castings for all purposes, Armour and projectiles. Engineers and Boilermakers. Shipbuilding in all its branches.^[3]

• WWI During the War, the yard made U-Boats as well as liners and continued manufacturing ships for Norway (who were neutral during the War and therefore exempt from the British Governments restriction on manufacturing for other countries). In addition five light cruisers of "C" class, six destroyers, two escorts and eight submarines were built during the war.

• 1912 The largest floating dock in the world was completed for the Admiralty in 1912. It was 640 feet long and weighed 32,000 tons. By 1912, there were no longer any members of the Laird family on the board, the Chairman became William Lionel Hitchens who remained in post until 1940.

• 1914 - The train ferry Leonard was launched on 17th January and was unusual in that it served as a floating bridge for the crossing of the Lawrence River and Quebec by the National Transcontinental Railway Company of Canada. The bridge itself was completed in 1920 and Leonard became redundant, being later converted into a tanker.

• WWI During the War, the Birkenhead yard refitted and converted several steamers for war service, the yard also made seaplane carriers, and repaired over 500 ships. In addition, three "WAR" standard tramps were completed towards the end of the war along with two "AO" type tankers.

• 1920s The vessel Fullagar was one of the first to use new welding techniques in its construction. There are articles and illustrations of this engine in The Engineer in Jan & Feb. ^[4]

• In the early 1920s the yard won a number of contracts to build battleships, destroyers and liners. Most of the work carried out by the yard at this time was for the Admiralty.

• Between 1920 and 1930 over 44 passenger/cargo liners, banana ships and cargo ships were completed too.

• 1924 Advert says they are steelmakers, shipbuilders, engineers, railway carriage and wagon makers. Works at Sheffield, Nottingham, Penistone and Birkenhead. ^[5]

• 1927 See Aberconway for information on the company and its history

• 1927 Also see Aberconway for information on the company and its history

• 1927 Also see Aberconway for information on the company and its history.

• 1927 Robert S. Johnson, who had previously been a director of Workman, Clark and Co was appointed Managing Director following the death of Sir George Carter. He remained in control of the Birkenhead yard upon becoming chairman in 1942 until his death in 1951. Johnson's son Robert W. Johnson was then appointed as Managing director and maintained control over the into the 1960s.

• 1929 Their railway business was merged with Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Wagon Co to form Metro Cammell.

• 1930s The yard made a wide variety of ships during the 30s including tankers, ferries, Great Lakes traders, deep sea tankers and a coastal tanker. However, as with many other companies, the yards closed for two years between 1931-33 and it was only thanks to the Admiralty bringing some orders forward that it was able to reopen again. The Depression hit the yard badly, and in 1932 the company's capital had to be reduced by £3.5M. However, things picked up again from 1934/5 when a number of Admiralty orders re-stimulated the market. One of these orders was the Ark Royal, the largest vessel ever launched from the yard at a cost of £3M in 1937. From 1935-39 the Birkenhead yard completed over 20 merchant ships. On 1st June 1939 the yard's new "T" class submarine Thetis sank and 99 naval and yard workers were killed.

• WWII - The yard made a number of battleships, destroyers, sloops and submarines, in total 106 ships were manufactured during the war. This amounted to a warship every 20 days during the six and a half years of war. The repair yard also repaired over 2000 vessels of varying types.

• 1950s In the post-war years, the yard mainly made tanker and cargo-liner/bulk carriers although it did also make an aircraft carrier and a passenger liner too. From 1947-1982, the yard made over 60 tankers. Other important output included 39 cargo-liners (1946-66) and 15 ferries (1946-68). Finally, the yard had a consistent naval output for the twenty years of 1950-70.

• 1953 Private Company.

• Cammell Laird and Co split into two different companies in 1965. Cammell Laird (Shipbuilders and Engineers) became a dedicated shipbuilder whereas Cammell Laird (Shiprepairers) Ltd. focused on ship repairs. The company was based at Birkenhead on the Mersey in England.

• 1960s The new ship repairing company constructed a new large dry-dock which enabled it to keep in the forefront of repairing. There was a brief financial crisis in the late 1960s but this was averted thanks to intervention from the then Labour Government, who took a 50% share in the company who were then renamed Cammell Laird Shipbuilders. The Laird Group retained the other 50% but by this stage, the yard’s customers were edgy about ordering from them.

• 1961 Employed 12,000 persons. Holding company for two subsidaries engaged in steel manufacturing, shipbuilding and engineering. ^[6]

• 1961 Shipbuilders and engineers, undertaking important contracts for the British, Dominion and Foreign Governments. 12,000 employees. ^[7]

• 1970s The shipbuilding arm of the company offered six standard designs: two cargo liners, two bulk carrier and two tanker sizes which were known as StaT32 and StaT55.It went on to build a number of these for Norwegian, South American and Dutch companies. On 1st July 1977 Cammell Laird Shipbuilders became a member of British Shipbuilders

• 1980s The yard moved away from building tankers and towards constructing oil rigs and warships in the 80s. There was a "sit in" by workers at the yard which led to the whole of the workforce being laid off and the yard was effectively closed. There was a split in the workforce between those on strike and a group of "back to work" committee members who marched into the yard everyday. Work at the yard began building up again in the mid 80s. In 1985 the yard was merged with the Barrow yard of Vickers. It was then privatised later in the same year and became a subsidiary of VSEL.

• 1990s The last ship to be launched at the yard was Unicorn. Vickers decided to close the yard in October 1990 and this came into effect on 30th July 1993 when the yard was then placed on a "care and maintenance" basis. In 1994, the dry-docks came under new ownership and are back in operation again.

[edit] Sources of Information

1. ↑ The Stock Exchange Year Book 1908
2. ↑ British Shipbuilding Yards. 3 vols by Norman L. Middlemiss
3. ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
4. ↑ The Engineer of 6th Feb 1920 p142 and others
5. ↑ 1924 Naval Annual Advert page xxxv
6. ↑ 1961 Guide to Key British Enterprises
7. ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE