Grace's Guide

Swan Hunter

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of Wallsend Shipyard, Wallsend-on-Tyne

Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding company. ^[1]

Contents 1 1903 to 1919 2 1920-1945 3 1946 onward 4 Southwick 5 See Also 6 Sources of Information

[edit] 1903 to 1919

• Based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, the company is responsible for some of the greatest ships of the early 20th century — most famously, the RMS Mauretania which held the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic, and the RMS Carpathia which rescued the survivors from the RMS Titanic.

• 1903 C. S. Swan and Hunter (est. 1872) merged with Wigham Richardson (est. 1860) and Tyne Pontoons and Dry Docks Co (est. 1882) specifically to bid for the prestigious contract to build the Mauretania on behalf of Cunard. Their bid was successful, and the new company, Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson, went on to build what was to become, in its day, the most famous ocean going liner in the world. Covered 80 acres with river frontage of 4,000 feet. The company was registered on 15 June. ^[2]

• 1904 Output of two yards combined. Including two banana boats completed for Elders & Fyffes. Also Marina and Manistee both 3868 grt, as well as the Yacht Albion (1116/04) for Sir George Newnes. ^[3]

• 1904 Hopemount set up on 21st June with a subscribed capital of £12,000 with the objective of trading speculation ships built by the yard.

• 1904-07 Six cargo-liners completed for Hansa Company of Germany and further cargo liners for the Indo-China Steamship Company Ltd.

• 1906 RMS Mauretania was launched from Wallsend on Tyne on 20 September 1906 to the cheers of huge crowds. She left service in 1935

• 1909 a new design of train and passenger ferry completed for the Swedish Government. Drottning Victoria travelled between Sweden and Germany with room for 96 first class and 44 third class passengers as well as being able to carry trains. The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company of Canada also had a similar sized ferry built by the yard in the same year: Prince Rupert 3379/09 and then a larger ferry two years later Princess Alice 5099/11.

• 1911 Launch of Cunard liner 'Laconia'. ^[4]

• Hopemount 3300/05 was completed by the yard and was managed by Stamp, Mann and Company of Newcastle. She was a 5,000 dwt and a conventional “three-island” tramp with five holds of which No. 3 hold was the cross-bunker hold between bridge and engineer accommodation. The centre island was extended to include a no. 4 hatch and no.5 hatch was in the aft well deck.

• 1910/11 Hopemount made her greatest trading profit of £8711.

• 1911 to 1913 – Two liners completed for Cunard plus three others.

• 1912 Barclay Curle and Co taken over. The company had a good reputation for building cargo-liners.

• 1912 The Elderslie Dockyard at Scotstoun on the Clyde was taken over in May, with a 500 foot dry dock. The dock had been built earlier for John Shearer and Sons Ltd.

• 1912 – A new four berth yard was opened under the Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson name at Southwick on the Wear to take up excess orders for tramps, colliers and Great Lakes steamers.

• 1912 Largest floating dock ever completed for the Admiralty. The yard was now the world leader in floating gravity docks, it had a 33,000 ton lift for use at Portsmouth Dockyard. The yard completed pontoons and docks of all sizes to customers around the world.

• 1913 Tanker sizes increased from 10,000 dwt in 1903 to 15500 dwt in March 1913 - San Fraterno, the largest tanker in the world was launched by Lady Bowring

• 1913 Reina Victoria-Eugenia, a magnificent Spanish liner of 9726 grt was completed for Cia Transatlantica. 498 feet in length with room for 200 first class, 46 alternate first and second, 100 second class, 80 third class and 1642 emigrants. She was fitted with reciprocating engines and exhaust turbines on separate shafts.

• 1913-1914 Eight cargo liners with accommodation completed for the British India Steam navigation Company.

• 1914 Directory: Listed as Ship Builders of Southwick, Sunderland. ^[5]

• 1914 Shipbuilders and repairers, engine manufacturers and floating docks. Specialities: floating docks of every type, ships form plain cargo boats to the highest-class of passenger liner such as the Cunard SS "Mauretania". Construct warships and many kinds of vessels for special purposes, laying submarine cables, carrying oil in bulk, fruit, frozen meat, cattle, railway trains etc. Employees 6,000 to 7,000. ^[6]

• WW1 Twenty five large tankers were also completed by the yard before the outbreak of World War 1. They were also tramp owners at this time.

• WW1 55 warships with a total displacement of 100,000 tons were built including the cruisers Comus (1914), Coventry (1918), 28 torpedo boat destroyers, the monitor Roberts (1915) and 20 sloops and some submarines. During this period, merchant construction totalled 290, 599 grt and included a number of different ships, vessels and floating docks.

• 1918 Cunard liner Aurania 13936/17 with a capacity of 2022 passengers was torpedoed and destroyed on 4th February. Other customers included New Zealand Companies, Federal Steam navigation (Northumberland 12160/15) and Union Steamship Company of New Zealand (Armagh 12159/17). Clan Line Steamers Ltd (Clan Ross – 5897 grt), British Tanker Co. Ltd (British Admiral 6842/17 and British Empress 6847/17). Anglo-Saxon/Shell (Mytilus 5716/16 and Oliva 5694/16) plus others...

• 1918 The Shipping Controller took control of 18 ‘WAR’ standard cargo ships consisting of 10 ‘A’ and ‘B’ tramps of 8300 dwt one of which was completed as an ‘AO’ tanker, five ‘Z’ tankers of 8800 dwt, one ‘N’ type which was the first of 34 to be completed by British yards as War Climax on 28th September 1918 and one ‘C1’ coaster. The last of these ‘Z’ tankers was completed as the engines-aft War Krishna in November 1919, the only one of its type.

[edit] 1920-1945

• 1920 – the yard was fully occupied completing ‘B’ types. However a large liner called Giulio Cesare which had been ordered by Navigazione Generale Italiana of Genoa for service to South America, was launched on 7th February 1920 and completed in March 1922. This was a large liner of 22576 grt, with room for 2530 passengers (244 first class with deluxe staterooms featuring private baths, showers and oak parquet flooring and tiled luxury bathrooms. 306 second class,1800 third class passengers who had cabins and public rooms comparable with first class on other liners. She could reach a speed of up to 20 knots powered by geared turbines manufactured by Wallsend Slipway.) Other liners completed by the yard in the early 1920s included two for Cunard, and three others for French companies.

• 1922 The company extended its assets to include the North of Ireland Shipbuilding Co, Londonderry, shipbuilders Philip and Son, Dartmouth, the North British Engine Works (1922) Ltd, Glasgow and Stobcross Boiler Works, Glasgow along with iron and steel works in Glasgow and ship repairers in Swansea. This meant the company had the capability of producing many sets of steam turbines, Bauer-Wach exhaust turbines and triple expansion steam reciprocating engines both on the Clyde and at the Neptune Engine Works on the Tyne. Later both engine builders were to produce many sets of diesel and oil engines. The company also had a subsidiary salvage company called the Sunderland Salvage Company of Lindsay Swan, Hunter who undertook a number of major operations in the West Indies.

• 1920s Major customers were Ellerman Lines and British India Line owned by P&O: 13 liners were manufactured including:

• 1922 - City of Paris (10839/22) – 349 passengers; City of Canterbury (8431/23 – 178 passengers; Commonwealth and Dominion Line (later to become Port Line in 1936) also ordered five cargo liners. William Milburn also had five ships built by the Company (he had been a key customer in the 1880s) marking a shift to motor ships. Two French cargo-liners were also manufactured and a variety of vessels were made for France, Holland, Indo-China. A pair of motor driven cargo-liners were placed by Silver Line: Silverpine and Silverlarch (both 5122/24) and Shaw, Savill & Albion Ltd; Coptic 10629/28 and Zealandic 11300/28. These latter two ships were powered by twin 6-cylinder 2SCSA Sulzer oil engines by Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Co. Ltd. The former pair were in the three-quarters aft position. Further vessels were made for T& J Harrison (for their West-Indies to London route) and Greece and Australia.

• 1923 The company completed 50 Great lakes grain-carrying steamers with Glen Line ordering six of these engine-aft bridge-forward ships of 2000 grt, all with names beginning Glen for their feeder services. These orders kept the company afloat for much of the 1920s.

• 1924 Floating dock sizes rose to 55,000 tons with ones for Singapore Docks and the Admiralty plus five other small ones.

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

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

• 1928 The car-carrier Seatrain (7624/28) was completed for Overseas Railway Inc of the U.S.A. and was a fore runner of the huge slab-sided car carriers of the present day.

• 1929 The twin-funnelled Frenchliner Campana was completed in 1929 for Soc. Generale de transportes Maritimes with accommodation for a total of 1305 passengers. She was of 10816 grt and 528 feet length and turbine-powered to twin propellers. Two other high class passenger ferries were completed for Swedish Lloyd (Britannia and Suecia both of 4631 grt). These were single screw turbine steamers with room for 201 first class and 40 second class passengers on the London to Gothenburg service.

• Between 1919 and 1931 over 50 tankers were completed: the largest was San Florentino (18000 dwt in 1919 and Pan Scandia (14750 dwt in 1931)

• 1930s The twin funnelled whale factory ship Vikingen (14526/30) which was completed for the Viking Whaling Co. Ltd would return to the Wallsend Dry Docks at the end of each whaling season throughout the 1930s for overhauling. Usually, in the company of the whale factory ships Sir James Clark Ross and C.A. Larsen.

• 1932 The depression years saw the yards completing existing orders for Norwegian tanker owners as well as three destroyers Codrington, Brilliant and Bulldog and three sloops Folkestone, Scarborough and Hindustan for the Admiralty.

• The passenger and cargo liner El Kantera (5213/32) for Cie Na de Mixte of France was a valuable order along with the Norwegian cargo ship Fjordheim (4114/30) for Nils Rogenaes. The Chinese train ferry Changkiang (2362/32), the Norwegian fruiter Crawford Ellis (2161/30) for H. Staubo. Four small cargo ships of 2000 grt were completed leaving only the Stephenson Clarke collier Sir Russell 1548/33 and a cargo-liner for Commonwealth and Dominion Line on the order book.

• 1933 There were very few completions during this year. Port Chalmers of 8535 grt in December 1933 and six small orders. However, the small coaster Peter G. Campbell, launched on 13th April 1933 was significant as she was the first all-welded ship from the yard. During 1933 the total tonnage amounted to only 11,033 grt with almost every shipyard worker laid idle. It was only the yard’s ability to build every type of ship that kept it going.

• 1934 There were three orders for twin-screw turbine-driven car ferries for the Southern Railway Company, which kept some of the workforce in the Neptune Yard busy. In addition the Admiralty building programme of orders for two destroyers and an Australian cruiser also kept the yards busy during 1935 too. Two small cargo liners were made for China Merchants S.N. Co. Ltd.

• 1934 See Swan Hunter: 1934 Review

• 1935 On the 4th April the Australian coastal line Duntroon (10346/35) was launched with room for 366 passengers for the Melbourne Steamship Co. Ltd along with two coasters for Polish Steamship Line (Puck and Hel both 1065 grt). Work began picking up from late 1935 with three cargo-liners completed for three different companies leading to further orders. These were: Umtata (8141 grt) for Bullard, King; Explorer (6295 grt) for T&J Harrison; and Port Townsville (8661 grt) for Port Line. The follow on orders were Umtali (8135/36) and Umgeni (8180/38) both had accommodation for over 100 passengers on their South African run. Inkosi (6618/38) had room for 60 passengers on the West Indies run and the Port Line cargo-liners Port Halifax (5820/37) and fully refrigerated Port Jackson (9687/37)

• From the mid 30s the renewed demand for oil reinvigorated the tanker building programme with 20 tankers built between 1935 and 1939. The largest were Thiare and Torinia, built for Shell at 15260 dwt. The trio of vessels made for Bowring ( Regent Lion, Regent Panther and Regent Tiger) could carry 14540 tons of petrol. A number of tramps were also manufactured which were ideal as grain carriers as they had steel, centre line bulkheads in their six holds, and plenty of portable wooden grain boards and trunks for their 9700 ton cargo. They had four cylinder Doxford-type opposed piston oil engines constructed at the Neptune Works, except for Hopestar which was experimentally turbine-powered.

• 1936 – The Admiralty further built up their strength from 1936 with six destroyers completed over the next three years: Hunter, Hyperion, Janus, Khartoum, Somali and Tartar. This also coincided with the abandonment of Treaty limitations on battleship size.

• 1937 The Admiralty placed an order for a 30,000 ton destroyer.

• 1938 – Dominion Monarch (27155 grt) a flagship for Shaw, Savill and Albion Co. Ltd was launched on 27th July, it was completed in January 1939 and sailed on her maiden voyage to Wellington on 17th February 1939. She was powered by four Doxford oil engines linked to four propellers and at times made 20 knots during her maiden voyage which took 24 days to complete. Dominion Monarch carried 517 first class passengers as a one class ship and a full load of 16,400 tons of cargo was loaded at London with passengers embarking at Southampton. Ports of call were Tenerife, Cape Town, Durban, Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland and Wellington. The Monarch became famous in 1955/56 when she laid the first Transatlantic telephone cable between Oban and New Foundland. The weight of this cable and repeaters was so great that Monarch had to make three loadings on her drums to complete the task.

• 1939 – A second liner was completed for Polish Ocena Lines as sister for their Chrobry of 1939. The liner was launched as Sobieski of 11030 grt as a twin-screw motorship and was completed during 1939 with room for 44 first-class, 250 third-class and 850 emigrants. Her service speed to New York was 17 knots and she also had some refrigerated cargo capacity. Three passenger cargo liners were also completed at this time for British India with accommodation for 130 cabin-class passengers and 2000 Indian deck passengers. All three were powered by six steam turbines driving twin screws.

• WW2 Just before the outbreak of war, extensive orders were in hand, and some 55 ships were completed for private owners up to early 1946 under Government licence. Warship construction was intense including the battleship Anson (June 1942) along with four cruisers ordered in 1937: Mauritius (1940), Newfoundland (1941), Gambia (1942) and Superb (1943). Other vessels included 30 destroyers and destroyer escorts including 16 of the Hunt class.

• 1941 – In June 1941 King George VI and H.M. The Queen visited the Neptune yard and other Tyneside yards in an attempt to boost morale

• 1943-46: 18 cargo liners were produced for Ellerman Lines including Ellerman Wilson Line and Port Line. Notable liners included: Port Napier (9847/40) was requisitioned by the Admiralty and completed as a minelayer to carry 500 mines for barrage work. Port Sydney (9847/43) was completed as the escort carrier Vindex in December 1943 with a flight deck of 495 length and complement of 18 aeroplanes. Vindex survived the war and was reconditioned by the yard between August 1948 and June 1949 when she was renamed Port Vindex.

• A total of 17 tankers were completed by the yard during the war and up to early 1946. Other orders were completed for the Belgian Government, Polish Ocean Lines and the Turkish Government among others. At the end of hostilities the combined yards covered 80 acres with a river frontage of 4000 feet and seventeen building berths of up to 1000 feet and three dry-docks.

[edit] 1946 onward

• 1946 The Neptune Yard continued its established tradition of building cable ships when it completed the cable-layer Monarch of 8052 grt in February for the Postmaster General.

• 1946 – tanker production resumed and this was a major feature of the yard’s output until they amalgamated with the other yards on the river in 1968. 60 tankers were completed out of 180 ships built by the Company over this period. This equates to one third of output.

• 1949 – Compania Nacional de Navegacao, Lisbon took delivery of the twin-screw passenger and cargo liner Mocambique of 12976 grt for their service between Portugal and Angola and Mozambique. The Mocambique had been launched in 1st December 1948 and had accommodation for 93 first class, 141 second class and 102 third-class passengers. The vessel could also carry 9243 tons of cargo. The first-class entrance hall featured an overlay marquetry panel of the world over the staircase so passengers could trace the course of the ship. There was also a veranda cafe, music room, smoking room and de-luxe suites. Her twin Doxford-type oil engines constructed by the yard gave her a speed of 18 knots.

• 1950 – the Shell ‘supertanker’, Velutina was launched in 1950 by Princess Margaret at the Wallsend Yard, which also launched the much larger supertankers Solen, Narica and Nacella in the 1960s also for Shell.

• 1950 – In August, Provence of 15889 grt was launched at the Neptune Yard for Soc. General Transportes Maritimes (SGTM) as a replacement for their Campana built at the Neptune Yard in 1929. This was the tenth ship completed for SGTM and reached speeds of 19 knots in early 1951. She sailed on her maiden voyage on 30th March 1951 from Marseilles to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires via Barcelona and Lisbon. Provence had room for 139 first class, 113 tourist class and 1052 third class passengers.

• Other SGTM vessels: Sidi del Abbes of 5226 grt (1948 – 95 first- class, 226 tourist-class, 573 third-class passengers, President de Cazalet (an exact sister ship also built in 1948 for the Cie de Navigation Mixte fleet). The Mixte Company also ordered Djebel Diro (4180/48) – 56 first class, 100tourist class, 100 tourist class and 430 third class passengers. He ship was turbine powered as were her sister ships. Two more high spec cargo-liners were completed for the Chargeurs Reunis fleet: Brazza and Foucauld both 9095/48 and twin-screw motor-ships with room for 103 first-class, 78 second-class and 400 third-class passengers.

• 1954 The light aircraft carrier Albion was completed, having lain incomplete since being launched at the yard in 1947. She was later converted into a commando carrier.

• 1956 Norwegian America Line took delivery of their new Transatlantic liner Bergensfjord in May 1956, having been launched by Princess Astrid of Norway in July 1955. The ship featured an all-welded aluminium superstructure for lightness and was one of the first liners to make use of this metal. She carried 730 tourist class, 125 first-class passengers. The public rooms featured tapestries, paintings, mosaics and glass-panelled walls. Her twin stork engines gave her a speed of 20 knots but could also cruise in Winter and later became a single class liner. Princess Astrid had travelled to the launching from Norway on Leda (6670/53) of Bergen Line which she had also launched at the yard on 3rd September 1952.Leda began her twice-weekly run to Stavanger and Bergen from the Tyne in April 1953. It could carry 119 first-class and 384 tourist-class passengers. It was powered by two sets of steam turbines by Wallsend Slipway to give a speed of 22 knots. Bergen Line’s main competitors Swedish Lloyd previously took delivery of Patricia 6644/51 form the Neptune Yard for their Gothenburg to London service.

• 1959/60 The cruiser Lion was completed, having lain incomplete since the War. She was completed with four six inch guns as main armament. Along with her two sisters Blake and Tiger (completed on the Clyde), these ships were the last Royal Navy Cruisers

• 1961 The Portuguese liner Principe Perfeito of 19393 grt was delivered by the Neptune Yard in 1961. She was the largest Neptune ship when launched in September 1960 for Cia Nacional of Lisbon. Her Parsons turbines built in Wallsend propelled her at 20 knots on a regular run between Lisbon and Beira, with room for 1000 passengers and 200 troops. She could also carry 8600 tons of cargo and was sold for cruising in 1976. Palm, Line and Ellerman Lines were the major customers of the yards during this period, they commissioned 22 cargo-liners in total including Ilorin Palm (5442/60) which launched 17 weeks ahead of schedule in 1960. She was fitted with one of the last Swan Hunter-built Doxford oil engines as the Neptune engine works ceased production shortly afterwards. British India Line and Clan Line were also good customers, commissioning 11 cargo-liners including, Dwarka (4851/47). Dwarka was powered by Doxford oil engines and had accommodation for 50 passengers in cabins as well as many Indian deck passengers on her voyages to the Persian Gulf. Another notable vessel was Sirdhana (8608/47) which had room for 83 passengers in cabins. Port Line also took delivery of four refrigerated cargo-liners for their Australian meat trade and Shaw, Savill & Albion took delivery of three cargo-liners for their New Zealand trade. These included Gothic (15911/48) which had spacious accommodation for 85 first class passengers in 53 cabins of which 36 were single-berth, while 23 had their own private bathroom, The public rooms were of such a high standard thatship acted as a temporary Royal yacht for a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1953. Cunard Line took delivery of a cargo-liner for Transatlantic services. Scindia Line of India, Black Star Line of Ghana, Nigeria National Line, Indo China Steam Navigation Co. and Union Castle Mail Co also took delivery of cargo-liners. The latter Company received Good Hope Castle and Southampton Castle (both 10538 grt). Southampton Castle was launched by Princess Alexandria and reached speeds of 23 knots and this one vessel replaced two passenger liners on the weekly South African schedule. Both ships were fitted with powerful oil engines by Wallsend Slipway Co. These two ships were super cargo-liners and had much of their cargo spaces refrigerated and they could carry 11034 tons of cargo.

• 1961 Parent of group of five subsidiaries engaged as shipbuilders, marine engineers, ship repairers and builders of passenger liners, cargo ships, oil tankers, ore carriers and cable ships, warships and floating docks. Makers of steam turbines and diesel engines of doxford, sulzer, polar and stork types, boilers of all types and oil burning installations for marine and land work. ^[7]

• 1963-67 Two car ferries were completed for the U.K. coastal services of the Atlantic Steam Navigation Company Ltd (Gaelic Ferry 3316/63 and Europic Ferry 4190/67). Dover (3602/65) was completed for the Dover to Dunkirk route along with another ship which travelled from Harwich to the Hook of Holland for British Rail. Dover returned to the Tyne at the end of her career and is currently moored directly underneath the Tyne bridge in Gateshead as a leisure ship. A number of tramps were also manufactured, notably Riseley (6424/57) which was one of the first British tramps to have both bridge and engines aft. A further five tramps were also made for Greek owners between 1954-57

• 1963-1970 The County Class guided missile destroyers London (1963) and Norfolk (1970) were follow up vessels to daring (1952) and these latter two ships both had Royal sponsors – the Duchess of Gloucester launched London on 7th December 1961 and the Duchess of Norfolk launched Norfolk on 16th November 1967.

• 1972 The type 82 missile destroyer Bristol was launched on 30th June 1969 and completed at the end of 1972 as the only one of its kind. Other ships that completed the naval programme of this period included frigates Falmouth (1961), Galatea (1963), oilers Tidereach (1954) and Oleander (1965) along with air stores ships Lyness, Stromness and Tarbartness (1966/67) The three air stores ships were later sold to the US Navy.

• 1957 E. John Hunter, grandson of the founder, was appointed Chairman in May 1957. Prior to this, in 1939, he was appointed Assistant Manager of the Wallsend Dry Docks Dept, becoming General Manager in 1943. He became a Director of Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson in 1945. Sir John Hunter succeeded John W. Elliott who had held the position of Chairman of the Company since 1949.He led the group through the 1960s and 1970s and died in retirement in 1981 at the age of 71 years. Robert Hunter (his younger brother) was appointed manager of the Wallsend Dry Docks Department in succession to his elder brother in 1957. There were also descendants of the Swan and Wigham Richardson families on the board at this time in S.C. Swan and George Wigham Richardson as well as Peter Denham Christie, whose grandfather had been the first manager of the Neptune yard and whose father john Denham Christie had died in October 1950. Sir E. John Hunter became Chairman of a much larger group in July 1966 when Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd merged with the Tees Yard of Smiths Dock Co to form Associated Shipbuilders. This was a meaningless name which was quickly changed to Swan Hunter Group by November of the same year.

• The Geddes report had recommended the rationalisation of Tyneside shipbuilding into a regional group. The five yards on the river: Wallsend, Neptune, Hawthorn Leslie, Walker Naval Yard and Readhead shipyards merged into Swan Hunter and Tyne Shipbuilders. This was effective from 1st January 1968.

• 1968 In October of this year the Furness Yard on the tees joined this new consortium of yards and the name was changed once again to Swan Hunter Shipbuilders Ltd in early 1969. Also in this period the old berths 1 and 2 with gantry cranes were demolished and replaced with a single realigned berth angled across both of the old ones and capable of building VLCC tankers of 250,000 dwt and 1100 feet in length. Steel production was modernised and new craneage was installed. A large, modern joinery shop was also established to serve up all the yards in the Group. The dry-docks were also updated and operated separately from 1966 as Swan Hunter Shiprepairers Ltd. In April 1968 the first supertanker keel to be laid down on the new berth was that of Esso Northumbria and she was launched by Princess Anne on 2nd May 1969. The Esso ship left the river for trials watched by large crowds on 8th February 1970.

• Seven more tankers of her size followed at yearly intervals: Esso Hibernia (1971), Texaco Great Britain (1972), London Lion (1973), World Unicorn (1974) Windsor Lion (1975), Tyne Pride (1976) and Everett F. Wells (1977). Thirteen tankers were eventually built: crude carriers of 250,000 dwt and 112,000 dwt and products tankers of 32,000 dwt.

• One of the first ships completed after the merger was the car and train ferry Vortigern (4371/69) for British Rail. In Summer she operated as a car ferry on the Dover to Boulogne route with space for 240 cars, while in Winter she operated as a train ferry on the Dover to Dunkirk route. A further order for four high-class cargo-liners for the Persian Gulf Services of British India was then started.

• 1971 - The keel of the last passenger ship to be built on the Tyne was then laid at the Neptune Yard in 1971 launching as Vistafjord for the Norwegian America Line on 15th May 1972. Extensive use of aluminium for her superstructure was a feature as was her designed twin role as a transatlantic liner and cruise ship. She left the Tyne in May 1973 for Oslo from where she departed for New York (her maiden voyage) on 22nd May 1973. She had room for 550 passengers and her twin propellers were powered by oil engines made at Wallsend by G. Clark & N.E.M. Ltd. She was later sold to Cunard Ltd for cruising. The Neptune Yard then fitted out the hull of the barrow-built liner Copenhagen whose Danish owner had gone bankrupt. She was completed as Odessa (13252/74) for the Russian Black Sea cruising fleet. The yard then concentrated on naval work building five Type 42 destroyers and thee Type 22 frigates.

• 1977 On 1st July Swan Hunter Shipbuilders Ltd became part of the nationalised British Shipbuilders Ltd. There were 11,000 employees and the main berth at the Wallsend yard was building the hull of the aircraft carrier Illustrious, which was launched on 1st December 1978. She participated in the Falklands War in 1982 after hurriedly being completed at the yard.

• 1980s The Houlder Brothers diving support ship Orelia was launched on 11th December 1982 and completed in June 1984 for Houlder Offshore Ltd. She has a sophisticated computer-controlled dynamic positioning system to hold her steady above a well head using her six 6-cylinder Mirless oil engines double-reduction geared to three shafts.

• 1981 Ark Royal (sister ship of Illustrious) launched on 2nd June 1981 by H.M. The Queen Mother. The ship was completed at Walker Naval yard in 1984.

• 1984 The cable-layer and repair ship Pacific Guardian was launched on 13th June 1984 for the Pacific station at Suva, Fiji of Cable and Wireless Ltd.

• 1985 Three large merchant ships were completed at the Wallsend yard including the ro/ro (roll on/roll off) container ship Atlantic Conveyor (58438/85) for Cunard for transatlantic service in Atlantic Container transport and a replacement for a ship of the same name lost in the Falklands War.

• The shipyard had to be bought out from receivership by Jaap Kroese, then trading as "Swan Hunter", it was forced to call in the receivers after the UK government awarded the contract for HMS Ocean to Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd in Barrow in Furness for a cut-down price, which later turned out to be artificial. The final cost of the ship was more than £50 million in excess of Swan Hunter's quoted tender.

• 2000 Swan Hunter was awarded the contract to design and build 2 ALSD ships for the Royal Navy with 2 other ships being built by BAE Systems Marine. The cost of the 2 Swan Hunter ships was to be £210 million including £62 million for lead yard services, by July 2006 (inservice date was 2004) the costs had risen too £309 million and only one ship had been delivered. As result of this the second ship RFA Lyme Bay was transferred to BAE Govan for completion.

• Swan Hunter once owned the Wallsend Slipway Co which built the engines for some of its greatest ships. The company was an early manufacturer of Parsons turbine engines, which enabled the Mauretania to achieve its great speed.

• George B. Hunter continued as chairman until 1928. Other directors included his son George Ernest Hunter, Charles S. Swan and his son.

• Many other large ships produced including the Great Central Railway Company’s Immingham 2009/06 with room for 393 passengers and propelled by triple-screw turbine machinery.

[edit] Southwick

This Southwick yard was opened by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd as an overspill for its other yards as it had excess orders for colliers, coasters and Great Lake Steamers from their main yards.

• The yard's key output was for the War effort during World War I.

• 1921-23 The yard closed in 1921 until 1923 and then focussed on building Great Lakes Steamers.

• 1930 When the Depression started in 1930, the yard had completed fifty ships. The Yard was closed because of the Depression, as its main owners had no use for it.

• 1931 The last ship to be built at the yard was Flathouse in 1931. It was bought by the national Shipbuilders Security Ltd and was due to be dismantled.

• 1942 In late 1942 workers from Joseph L. Thompson began working on the site and the yard rejuvenated itself again.

• 1943 The yard was known as the National Shipbuilding Corporation (Wear) yard and began launching its own ships from December 1943.

• 1947 A number of tramps and a few coastal tankers and barges were completed by the end of 1947 then the yard closed in 1947.

• 1952 The yard was demolished.

[edit] See Also

• Tynemount

[edit] Sources of Information

1. ↑ [1] Wikipedia
2. ↑ The Stock Exchange Year Book 1908
3. ↑ British Shipbuilding Yards. 3 vols by Norman L. Middlemiss
4. ↑ The Engineer of 4th August 1911 p125
5. ↑ Kelly's Directory of Durham, 1914 p771
6. ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
7. ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE