- Appledore Shipbuilders
-
Appledore Shipbuilders Type Private Industry Shipbuilding Founded 1855 Headquarters Appledore, UK Parent Babcock International Group Appledore Shipbuilders is a shipbuilder in Appledore, North Devon.
Contents
History
Appledore shipyard
The shipyard's cranesThe Appledore Yard was founded in 1855 on the estuary of the River Torridge.[1] The Richmond Dry Dock was built in 1856 by William Yeo and named after Richmond Bay in Prince Edward Island, where the Yeo family's shipping fleet was based.[2]
The business was led by Philip Kelly Harris[3] during the early part of the 20th century and known as P.K. Harris & Sons until 1963 when it became Appledore Shipbuilders.[4]
In 1964 the Company was acquired by Court Line, a travel business.[5] A new shipyard was built on a greenfield site in Appledore at a cost of about £4m opened in 1970.[5] Court Line collapsed in 1974 and Appledore Shipbuilders was nationalised and subsequently subsumed into British Shipbuilders. By the late 1980s the only yards still held in state ownership were the smaller Appledore and Ferguson yards.[6] Appledore was eventually sold to North East Shipbuilders Ltd in 1989, with the combined company renamed A&P Appledore International.
In the late 1990s the two square-rigged sail training ships of the Tall Ships Youth Trust, the Prince William and the Stavros S Niarchos, were completed at Appledore, by performing substantial modifications to two bare hulls begun in Germany.[7]
Appledore built two Róisín class patrol boats for the Irish Naval Service: LÉ Róisín (P51) was completed in 1999 and LÉ Niamh (P52) in 2001. In 2010 Ireland ordered a further two, larger, patrol vessels from Babcock, which will also be built at Appledore; these will be constructed from 2012 to 2015.[8][9]
In October 2003 the Appledore shipyard went into receivership,[10] and in early 2004 was acquired by DML, the operators of Devonport dockyard.[11]
The company was reconstituted as Appledore Shipbuilders (2004) Limited and was run by the DML subsidiary DML Appledore. During this period the yard's main activity was the installation of machinery packages and other systems for luxury yachts for Devonport Yachts Ltd.[12] In June 2007, Babcock International Group acquired DML, including its operations at the Appledore Shipyard, renaming them Babcock Marine Appledore.
From 2009 through at least 2013, the chief activity at Appledore will be constructing elements of the two Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers. The yard completed bow sections for HMS Queen Elizabeth in April 2010; these were shipped to Rosyth Dockyard for integration with other modules;[13] the yard will continue to build flight deck sponsons and centre blocks for Queen Elizabeth.[14] From 2012 Appledore will build similar sections for Queen Elizabeth's sister ship HMS Prince of Wales.[14]
Ships built at Appledore
The company has built more than 350 vessels, including small and medium-sized military craft, bulk carriers, LNG carriers, superyachts, ferries, and oil-industry support vessels. Specific ships include:
-
This transport-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
- Survey vessels
- Tall ships
- Superyachts
- Ferries
- Patrol vessels
- Research ships
- Commercial vessels
- Dredgers
- City of Chichester[19]
- City of Cardiff
- City of Westminster
References
- ^ Receivers to take over the yard BBC News, 29 September 2003
- ^ "The story of the Dy Dock". Celebrating Applledore's Shipping Heritage. http://www.appledoredrydock.org.uk/dockhistory.html. Retrieved 15 August 2009.
- ^ Appledore Parish Church Register of Marriages
- ^ Tribute to British Shipbuilding and Repair Industries 1914-18, Part 2 of 3
- ^ a b James Venus: Obituary The Independent, 2 September 1992
- ^ Britain misses the boat after years in the doldrums The Independent, 4 September 1994
- ^ Chapman Great Sailing Ships of the World By Otmar Schäuffelen Page 159
- ^ "Minister Killeen announces Government approval to finalise negotiations for the purchase of Two New Naval Service Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs)"
- ^ "Shipyard celebrates fishery vessels order", This Is North Devon
- ^ "Appledore in receivership", Jane's Navy International, 15 October 2003
- ^ "Appledore Shipyard is saved". The BBC. 13 February 2004. http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/news_features/2004/appledore.shtml. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
- ^ "Yachts". Babcock Marine. Archived from the original on July 31, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080731151827/http://www.babcock.co.uk/opco/marine/activities.php?pageID=75166. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
- ^ "Aircraft carrier bow sections leave Appledore Shipyard", This Is North Devon, 1st April 2010
- ^ a b "Shipyard completes key stage in aircraft carrier project", This Is North Devon, February 11, 2010
- ^ "HMS Echo website". The Royal Navy. http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.00h001001006004001. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
- ^ "Coruisk (III)". Ships of Calmac. http://www.shipsofcalmac.co.uk/profile_coruisk1.asp. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
- ^ "Britannia Beaver". www.ShipPhotos.co.uk. http://www.shipphotos.co.uk/pages/britanniabeaver.htm. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
- ^ "The Evolution of Cable & Wireless". FTL Design. http://www.atlantic-cable.com/CableCos/CandW/CW/index.htm. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
- ^ "Pembroke Dock Visits (Port of Pembroke)". Pembroke Dock Community Web Project. http://www.pembroke-dock.co.uk/pembroke_dock_visits.htm. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
External links
Modern timeline of British shipbuilding companies, 1960-presentCategories:- British Shipbuilders Corporation
- Companies based in Devon
- Companies established in 1855
- Shipbuilding companies of the United Kingdom
-
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
