1876 - Barrow Shipbuilding Company
The Barrow Shipbuilding Company was founded in 1871, by James Ramsden, a former Superintendent of the Furness Rail Company. The rail company had built their own docks in Barrow as a rival to Liverpool Docks, and also to attract much-needed trade to this area of North Lancashire (now Cumbria). It had created a 19-mile rail link to intersect the Carlisle to Lancaster line and it was this that proved pivotal to the industrial growth seen in the Barrow area.
A key part of this rapid industrialisation was the Barrow Iron Works, which had opened in 1859, as a result of the discovery of extensive quantities of hematite (iron ore). Ramsden, often considered to be the Father of Barrow, had started in the Railway Company as a locomotive superintendent, and had risen through the ranks to become its Managing Director in 1866.
It was common during the era for astute businessmen to serve in multiple roles and Ramsden also became Managing Director of the Barrow Hematite Steel Company at the same time. It was in this appointment that he identified the potential for shipbuilding.
The Barrow Docks were built and developed between 1863 and 1881, to handle the increased quantity of iron being exported by sea. By 1876 the Barrow Iron Works were reported as being the largest of their kind in the world. Ramsden meanwhile, had created the Iron Shipbuilding Company although its name was soon changed to the Barrow Shipbuilding Company when it was eventually registered in 1871. The company was based in the Devonshire Dock, named after William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire, a local aristocrat and key investor in the project.
The first vessel to be launched at Barrow was Yard No 12 - ‘Aries’, a private steam yacht for James Ramsden himself and launched by Lady Ramsden on 12th May 1873, while the first ship to be entered into the order book was ‘The SS Duke of Devonshire’, designed by the hugely experienced David and William Henderson and Company from Clydebank. The 'Duke' was an iron-screw steam passenger and cargo ship, ordered by the Eastern Steamship Company for the Australian emigrant trade. At 3,257 tons, she was launched at the end of 1873. From this start, more than 100 ships would be built at Barrow over the following decade.
In 1886, Barrow launched their first submarine, the Nordenfelt I. Built to the design of Thorsten Nordenfelt, a Swedish inventor and industrialist who financed the production and development of the vessel, this steam-driven submarine boat was around 100 foot long with a displacement of 160 tons, and was considered to be an improved version of a submarine that had previously been built in Stockholm. A second, much larger vessel, the Nordenfelt II, was built at the Barrow Yard in 1887. At 125 feet long and displacing 230 tons, its hull form was more similar to that of a conventional ship and on full power it achieved a speed of 14 knots. She would go on to make history as the first submarine to fire a torpedo while submerged after being sold to the Ottoman Navy and renamed 'Abdul Hamid'.
A written account published in 1881 gives a sense of the environment and tremendous activity that would have been taking place at the shipyard during this period:
"The Barrow Yard contains everything necessary for the creation of an Ocean Steamer including sails, rigging, stores, all adaptable whether carrying freight or passengers - it may all be had of the Barrow Company.
As you enter the main gate, to the left are the Offices, Joiners Shop and the Saw Mill. On the right there is the Smiths Shops and the Frame-benders' shed with the Drawing Office just beyond. The Joiners' Shop is 300 feet long and 60 feet wide with every kind of modern machinery.
The area next along is the slipway devoted to a vessel of 4,100 tons, with engines of 3,800 horsepower, being constructed for the Peninsular and Oriental Company. When the company was at work on the keel of the Furnessia, visitors had an opportunity of seeing a new arrangement of hydraulic riveter, designed by Mr. R. H. Tweddell, and constructed by Messrs. Fielding and Platt, of Gloucester.
Passing by the subway, we reach the Engineering Department which occupies an area equal to that of the shipyard. To the left is the Coppersmiths' Shop, Brass Foundry and the Engineers' Smithy. The foundry boasts seven ordinary Pot Furnaces as well as a large Reverberatory Air Furnace for heavy castings. The Smithy meanwhile, shakes with noise from the 2-ton steam hammer and three smaller, less powerful examples.
On the opposite side of the works are two buildings, one containing the Iron Foundry and Boiler Shop with the other occupied by the Turning and Erecting Shop. The foundry is capable of turning out the largest castings required for the monster marine engines of the day and it is here that they cast parts of the bedplate for the City of Rome's engines, on their own weighing 34 tons.
In the Boiler Shop, the boilers for the Furnessia and City of Rome are under construction. All these are 19’ x 14’, with 1 ¼” plate. The shells and tube-plates are manufactured by a new and ingenious drilling machine, drilling eight holes at once whilst alongside sit number of Mr. Tweddell's hydraulic riveters in almost constant use. In the space between the Boiler Shop and Engine Shop is a huge furnace for heating and vertically bending the large plates for the shells of marine boilers. In the furnace, the plates are heated while standing on their edge and passed through the bending rollers.
The Engine Shop is scarcely large enough for the press located within although it does contain an excellent range of milling tools to produce components for Barrow's revolutionary marine engines. It also features a gigantic, double-standard slotting machine and a very large screwing machine.
Overall the Shipyard and Engineering Works simply dominate Barrow and the surrounding area with more than one out of every two working men employed within the walls of this enormous endeavour."
1888 - Naval Construction and Armaments Company
Following a successful approach to Nordenfelt for investment into the shipyard, the company was renamed as the Naval Construction & Armaments Company in 1888, with Nordenfelt’s expertise being used to diversify away from purely shipbuilding and into the manufacture of naval armaments – although shipbuilding continued to play a prominent role in the business, with over 100 vessels of all types being constructed over the next decade.
It was as a result of this diversification that Barrow become the first shipyard in Britain to be able to build, engine, arm, and armour a battleship, and as a result the company became an attractive proposition for further development and potential acquisition. With the death of Sir James Ramsden in 1896, further changes were on the horizon.
1897 - Vickers, Sons and Maxim
In 1897, Vickers, Sons and Company absorbed the Naval Construction and Armaments Company. This would now enable them to build and fully equip the largest battleships in the world, all under the one name of Vickers, Sons and Maxim.
One immediate problem encountered by Vickers was the lack of skilled labour in Barrow at the time which was stifling their ambitions for expansion and growth. The main issue concerned a lack of suitable housing for workers – indeed at this time many workers were living within the hulk of the SS Alaska, which had been a record-breaking passenger liner when first constructed, but which had been bought by Barrow Shipyard at the end of her active life to serve as an accommodation hulk.
In order to deal with the issues, Vickers acquired a large plot of land on the adjacent Walney Island to build what would become known as Vickerstown. The first 1,000 houses were completed in 1901 and tenant workers moved in immediately. The journey to and from Walney Island could be unpredictable to start with as it was totally reliant on the operation of the ferry until the Walney Bridge was built in 1908. For 27 years it existed as a Toll Bridge until it was named Jubilee Bridge to mark the silver jubilee of King George V and all charges were scrapped. Vickerstown still exists today and in 1988 it was declared a conservation area in order to protect the character of the buildings.
Up until 1900, the British Admiralty had refused any involvement with submarines, considering them to be a defensive weapon designed for weaker maritime nations. In fact, Sir Arthur Wilson, then Controller of the Navy, stated in 1901 that submarines are 'under-water, under-hand and they are a damned un-English weapon'.
However, with France and other nations rapidly building up a submarine fleet, the British Government reconsidered their value, and in 1901 Barrow produced the Holland 1, the first submarine commissioned by the Royal Navy – and the start of an enduring partnership with the town and Royal Navy submarines which continues to this day.
Holland 1 was built and launched with such secrecy that the build shed was sign posted as the 'Yacht Shed', with all the various components labelled 'For Pontoon No1'. She was the first of a six-boat class ordered by the Admiralty and was the lead ship in the first Submarine Flotilla. Holland 1 served until she was lost whilst under tow for decommissioning in 1913, although she was recovered in 1982 and put on display at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum.
Further expansion of the Vickers business continued and in 1902 the company acquired a half-share in the Clyde shipyard of John Brown and Company, who were producing warships and merchant vessels, submarines and marine engines.
They also created sheds for the manufacture of the ‘Mayfly’, a Zeppelin-like rigid dirigible, but the project met with disaster when the airship ‘broke its back’ in 1911, and further work was abandoned at Barrow. Later ventures into airships (such as the Barnes Wallis designed R100) were carried out at RAF Howden, Yorkshire. 1911 also saw the company name shortened to Vickers Limited.
1911 - Vickers Limited
Between the turn of the century and the outbreak of the First World War, Barrow produced no fewer than 98 vessels, of which 64 were submarines for the Royal Navy. This was in the main due to a 10-year agreement with the Admiralty to be the sole provider of submersible craft for at least a decade.
Barrow produced a wide variety of naval and commercial vessels for customers throughout the world including the HMS Emperor of India, an Iron Duke-class battleship for the British Royal Navy. She was originally to have been named Delhi but was renamed before completion to honour King George V, as Emperor of India. She was laid down on 31st May 1912, and launched just 18 months later, such was the measure of the production levels. The finished ship was commissioned a year later, shortly after the start of the First World War.
At the outbreak of war in 1914, the Barrow shipyard was producing a number of different classes of submarine, ships, aircraft and guns. The yard itself was visited by then First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill. During the four years of the war, Barrow produced over 60 vessels which included 48 submarines, six cruisers, two battleships and two refuelling tankers.
Vickers' Armament Division at Barrow, with their huge Heavy Engineering workshop on Michaelson Road, were deeply involved in the war effort supplying armaments and ammunition for both the British Army and the Royal Navy.
The war also brought a significant temporary migration of manual craftsmen and labourers who arrived to work in the munition’s factory and shipyard. The town's population exploded reaching to an estimated peak of around 82,000 during the war with around 35,000 working at the yard and factories, with a large number of female machine workers being employed in the ordnance factory.
On 29th January 1915, Barrow itself became the subject of attention from the German submarine U-21, the first enemy submarine to reach the north-western coast. U-21 suddenly appeared in the Irish Sea some 3 miles off Walney Island. The fact that it was 2pm and broad daylight meant that she initially caused little panic as submarines were a common sight in these waters, given the nature of the shipyard. It wasn’t until she opened fire on the airship hangers on Walney Island that anyone actually took any notice. The Fort at Walney was manned at the time by the men of No 7 Company of the Lancashire and Cheshire Royal Garrison Artillery who quickly returned fire. The vessel appeared to have been sunk and despite a desire to celebrate the successful sinking of a U-boat, military authorities remained tight lipped for fear of lowering moral in the shipyards. As it turned out this was for the better as later in the war U-21 was recorded as being sunk in the North Sea in 1919, leading to the conclusion that she had simply submerged rather than having been sunk.
War production throughout the country gathered pace, no more so than at Barrow where expansion was almost continuous to meet the needs of the Army and Royal Navy. The Barrow News reported on Saturday, 29th December 1917:
‘The year 1917, must be written down as a record in productivity at the great works of Vickers, Barrow. Probably no firm in the world is better equipped or organised for delivering the goods so essential for the successful conduct of the war. Barrow has also been, what may be termed, the nursery of the submarines, and the marked advance which has been achieved in the British submersibles is one of the marvels of naval engineering and construction. To achieve such a prominent role in war production, the Barrow site had seen rapid expansion. The area of the Vickers works at Barrow prior to the war was 220 acres, which has now been extended to 270 acres.’
Records from the period show that Barrow produced several thousand tons of armaments including guns and many millions of shells. This level of heavy engineering required the creation of new handling equipment and machinery, as well as entirely new departments and workshops.
The demands of war also saw Barrow develop an advanced diesel engine design that quickly became the national standard whilst new design internal engines (for use on submarines) quickly became the accepted standard by the Admiralty. As the size of the naval vessels grew, so did the calibre of the guns with many requiring large, powered and revolving turrets. The naval gun-mounting bays in the Assembly Shops reached up to 1,000ft in length where they created the machinery for the manipulation of the largest of naval guns.
The end of the First World War, and the resultant downturn in military manufacturing saw an economic depression which accounted for the collapse of many great names in heavy engineering. Barrow and Vickers were no exception and by 1920 the population of the town had fallen by over 10,000 people, many of them young and eager to find work elsewhere. An indication of the dramatic downturn in production can be seen when looking at the shipyards output in the years immediately after the war. In 1919 Barrow had completed work on no fewer than 19 vessels, 14 of which were submarines for the Royal Navy, yet in 1920 the number fell to just one launch, the RMS Scythia, a transatlantic ocean liner built for Cunard. Completed in just over 18-months, she went on to become the longest serving ship of the 20th century.
For the first half of the 1920s, the Barrow Yard concentrated almost exclusively on civilian vessels such as the passenger ship ‘Jervis Bay’ and ‘Orama’, a refrigerated cargo vessel as military orders dried up. The Estonian Navy had placed orders for two Kalev-Class submarines, and these were duly completed in 1924 although the excess of war stock submersible craft meant there was little prospect of new build orders.
Military work started to re-emerge in the latter half of the decade with orders from the Australian Royal Navy for four Odine Class submarines. The British Royal Navy commissioned a whole range of specialist support and supply vessels as well as the A-Class destroyer ‘HMS Arrow’. Gradually, as the 1920s progressed, the perseverance of the workforce and the high grade of design and engineering saw a resurgence at the Barrow Works.
1927 - Vickers-Armstrongs
By 1928, Vickers were the major shipbuilder in the UK although it was determined that rationalisation was desperately needed as by then they had diversified into a number of unprofitable business areas. The takeover of Sir W G Armstrong, Whitworth & Company Ltd a year earlier meant that the new company, Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd, now possessed a major shipyard on each coast of Britain and it was easily one of the most important warship manufacturers in the world. The rationalisation saw them dispose of their automotive interests to engine maker J. D. Siddeley and they diversified away from many of their other enterprises such as Vickers-Petters Limited, British Lighting and Ignition Company, The Vickers Plywood Department at Crayford Creek, Canadian Vickers, William Beardmore and Company and Wolseley Motors.
The start of the re-armament programme of the 1930s meant that naval ships were once more built in Barrow, alongside a continuing number of passenger liners, including all five of the turbo-electric “Strath-class” liners for the P&O Steam Navigation Company.
With the advent of the Second World War, Barrow became a target for the German air force looking to disable the town's shipbuilding capabilities and it suffering repeated attacks during the period between April and May 1941. The difficulty in individually targeting bombs meant that the shipyards and steelworks were often missed at the expense of the residential areas. Between 1941 and 1942, Barrow was targeted in a few air raids including the bombing of Buccleuch Dock (where the present-day BAE Systems Submarines Academy for Skills & Knowledge is located) resulting in two fatalities. Tragically 83 people were killed in Barrow as a result of the raids, although as over 11,000 houses were either damaged or destroyed, the casualty count could have been much higher.
The shipyard continued to supply the war effort, with Winston Churchill once again visiting the town, this time to launch the aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable. In total, during the Second World War, the shipyard produced two aircraft carriers, two battle cruisers, one aircraft repair ship, 12 destroyers, 112 submarines, 10 cargo vessels, six barges, 18 landing craft and one transport ferry.
Barrow's population reached a second peak of 77,900 in 1951 although by this point the long decline of mining and steelmaking (as a result of overseas competition and dwindling resources) had already begun. Local industry weakened even further when the Barrow Ironworks closed in 1963 and the last Furness mine shut just three years later. This resulted in the demise of all the small steelworks and engineering support firms, leaving the shipyard as the town's principal industry and employer.
The shipyard was modernised after the war and again the business branched out into industrial machinery and railway rolling stock. Ship production concentrated on numerous passenger liners including the largest liner built in Barrow, the Orient Lines ‘Oriana’. Alongside this mammoth and prestigious project, the yard continued to produce a range of cargo ships including the construction of 10 oil tankers for companies such as Esso and Eagle Oil.
The Centaur-Class aircraft carrier HMS Hermes was built and launched in Barrow on 16th February 1953, and she remained in active service with the Royal Navy until 1984. She was subsequently sold to the Indian Navy, and continued in active service under her new name, INS Viraat, until 2017.
1955 - Vickers-Armstrongs Shipbuilders
In 1955, the name of the shipbuilding division changed to Vickers-Armstrongs Shipbuilders Ltd and changed again in 1968 to Vickers Limited Shipbuilding Group.
Traditional submarine manufacture continued albeit at the lower rate of only 10 vessels during the 1950s. In the 1960s, the British government committed to building nuclear powered ballistic missile submarines and Barrow shipyard led the way in developing Britain’s nuclear submarine capability. The prototype ‘HMS Dreadnought’ was launched on 21st October 1960, by Queen Elizabeth II and was fitted with an American designed nuclear reactor.
1968 - Vickers Limited Shipbuilding Group.
Nuclear submarine construction continued throughout the 1970s, with the six Swiftsure-Class submarines, with the final vessel ‘HMS Splendid’ being launched on 5th October 1979.
Meanwhile, what is probably Barrow’s most famous ship, the aircraft carrier ‘HMS Invincible’ was being constructed and was launched by the Queen on 3rd May 1977. One of three Invincible Class light carriers (sister ship to HMS Illustrious and HMS Ark Royal), HMS Invincible was to become world famous after playing a significant and key role in the 1982 Falklands Conflict.
1977 - British Shipbuilders
Before then however, the shipbuilding group was nationalised under the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act in 1977, and all the UK shipyards were subsumed into British Shipbuilders.
The act had a rough ride through both the House of Commons and the House of Lords where it faced fierce opposition, led by Vickers Chairman and Labour Politician, Lord Robens. The act gathered the 16 major shipbuilders into one consortium, but it was beleaguered with claims for compensation and was even referred as infringing the European Convention on Human Rights.
Despite this, submarine construction continued at Barrow through the 1980s, with the Trafalgar class well underway whilst the Devonshire Dock Hall (DDH) was erected by Alfred McAlpine Plc and opened by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on 3rd September 1986. Built to support the construction of the new Vanguard-class of nuclear deterrent submarines, the DDH was created after infilling the existing dock with 2.4 million tons of sand which was pumped from nearby Roosecote Sands. On a clear day, the DDH is visible from Blackpool and has been the main construction hall for the works ever since.
1986 also saw the Barrow sectors of British Shipbuilders being sold off to an employee-led company, Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited (VSEL) Consortium. This new company also included the Cammell Laird Yard in Birkenhead and was floated on the London Stock Exchange in December 1986.
1986 - Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited (VSEL)
Things started bizarrely for VSEL as in 1988, a mistake by senior management and changing shipbuilding methods meant that the Vickers shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness accidentally welded part of HMS Triumph (a nuclear submarine) in an upside-down position. Quite understandably, new procedures and controls were instigated thereafter.
With the completion of only seven submarines (including two of the new Vanguard Class) during its eight-year tenure, a significant number of job losses occurred in the 1990s. At the end of the Cold War era, employment levels at the yard dropped dramatically from 14,000 to just under 5,000 employees.
The company developed a strategy to return to building surface warships and to complete orders for the Vanguard Class submarines, with HMS Vanguard itself being launched in 1992 by HRH Diana, Princess of Wales.
1994 - Marconi Marine (VSEL)
During 1994, VSEL became the target of takeover bids from two companies, GEC and British Aerospace. Although the British Aerospace bid was ruled acceptable by the Monopoly & Mergers Commission, the VSEL shareholders accepted GEC’s bid and the company became Marconi Marine (VSEL) under the GEC-Marconi division.
Production levels fell further as the yard only produced two submarines under the new name. Submarine technologies were becoming increasingly complex and this extended production cycles exponentially.
1999 - BAE Systems Marine / 2003 BAE Systems Submarine Solutions
However, just five years later, in 1999, GEC-Marconi would subsequently merge with British Aerospace and the yard became part of BAE Systems, firstly as BAE Systems Marine and then BAE Systems Submarine Solutions in 2003.
At the turn of the millennium, construction of the Astute Class submarines began at Barrow to replace earlier Swiftsure and Trafalgar class submarines. HMS Astute, the first of class was completed at Barrow and launched on 8th June 2007.
In 2018, the £25 million Academy for Skills and Knowledge was opened at Barrow. The 89,340 sq ft facility has been built to develop the world-class engineering skills required to design, build and deliver complex submarine programmes to the Royal Navy, such as the latest Dreadnought class submarines which will be the Royal Navy’s biggest, most powerful and technically advanced submarines when they begin to enter service in the early 2030s.
The Barrow shipyard has changed owners and names many times since James Ramsden announced his great plans for shipbuilding in his beloved town of Barrow in Furness and under its current title of BAE Systems Maritime-Submarines it continues to be at the forefront of submersible technologies and is creating some of the most advanced and complex machines ever built.