Shipyard
|
Small shipyard in Klaksvík (Faroe Islands), reparing fishing vessels |
Shipyards and
dockyards are places which repair and
build ships. These can be
yachts, military vessels,
cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial construction. The terms are routinely used intechangeably, in part because the evolution of dockyards and shipyards has often caused them to change or merge roles.
Countries with large ship building industries include
South Korea,
Japan,
China and
Germany. The ship building industry tends to be more fragmented in
Europe than in
Asia. In European countries there are more smaller companies, compared to the fewer, larger companies in the ship building countries of Asia.
Most ship builders in the
United States are privately owned, the largest being
Northrop Grumman a multi-billion dollar defense contractor. The publicly owned shipyards in the US are
Naval facilities providing basing, support and repair.
Shipyards are constructed by the sea or by tidal rivers to allow easy access for their ships. In the
United Kingdom, for example, shipyards were established on the
River Thames (King
Henry VIII founded yards at
Woolwich and
Deptford in 1512 and 1513 respectively),
River Mersey,
River Tyne,
River Wear and
River Clyde - the latter growing to be the World's pre-eminent shipbuilding centre. Sir
Alfred Yarrow established his yard by the Thames in
London's Docklands in the late 19th century before moving it northwards to the banks of the Clyde at
Scotstoun (1906-08). Other famous UK shipyards include the
Harland and Wolff yard in
Belfast,
Northern Ireland, where the
Titanic was built, and the naval dockyard at
Chatham, England on the
Medway in north
Kent.
The site of a large shipyard will contain many specialised
cranes,
dry docks,
slipways, dust-free warehouses, painting facilities and extremely large areas for fabrication of the ships.
After a ship's useful life is over, it makes its final voyage to a
shipbreaking yard, often on a
beach in
South Asia. Historically shipbreaking was carried on in drydock in developed countries, but high wages and environmental regulations have resulting in movement of the industry to developing regions.
The world's earliest dockyards were built in the
Harappan port city of
Lothal circa
2400 BC in
Gujarat,
India. Lothal's dockyards connected to an ancient course of the
Sabarmati river on the trade route between
Harappan cities in
Sindh and the peninsula of
Saurashtra when the surrounding
Kutch desert was a part of the
Arabian Sea. Lothal engineers accorded high priority to the creation of a dockyard and a
warehouse to serve the purposes of naval trade. The dock was built on the eastern flank of the town, and is regarded by archaeologists as an engineering feat of the highest order. It was located away from the main current of the river to avoid silting, but provided access to ships in high tide as well.
Ships were the first items to be manufactured in a
factory, several hundred years before the
Industrial Revolution, in the
Venice Arsenal,
Venice,
Italy. The Arsenal apparently
mass produced nearly one ship every day using
pre-manufactured parts, and
assembly lines and, at its height, employed 16,000 people.
*
Ulstein Verft, Norway, etablished in 1917 (still a working yard under the
Ulstein Group)
*
Lothal in
Gujarat,
India circa 2400 BC to 1900 BC
*
Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co. Ltd*
John Brown & Company 1851 to 1972
*
Swan Hunter - (still a working yard)
*
Harland and Wolff - (still a working yard)
*
Cammell Laird - (still a working repair yard)
*
Blohm und Voss, where the Bismarck was constructed (still a major yard)
*
Woolwich Dockyard, near the
Woolwich Arsenal*
Royal Naval Dockyards in the
UK,
Gibraltar,
Bombay,
Bermuda,
Hong Kong and elsewhere
worldwide*
Bethlehem Steel Corporation had 15 shipyards during
World War II**
Staten Island Shipyard 1895
* Charlestown Navy Yard, later
Boston Navy Yard,
Boston,
Massachusetts 1800 to 1974
*
Long Beach Naval Shipyard 1943 to 1997
*
Navy Island,
Ontario,
Canada - French in 1700s, then British 1763 to
War of 1812*
Mare Island Naval Shipyard,
Mare Island,
California 1854 to 1996
* New York Naval Shipyard (NYNSY), also known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the
New York Navy Yard, and United States Navy Yard, New York 1801 to 1966
*
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard 1799 to 1965
*
San Francisco Naval Shipyard, later Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, then Treasure Island Naval Station Hunters Point Annex, 1941 to 1994
*
Potrero Point San Francisco California 1880s - still a working yard
*
Devonport Dockyard [
1] [
2], located in the city of
Plymouth, England in the county of
Devon is the largest naval base in Western
Europe. It has 15
dry docks, four miles (6 km) of waterfront, 25 tidal berths, five basins and covers 650 acres (2.6 km²). It is the main refitting base for
Royal Navy nuclear submarines and also handles work on frigates. It is the base for seven of the Trafalgar class nuclear powered hunter-killer submarines and many frigates, exploiting its convenient access to the
Atlantic Ocean. It supports the
Vanguard class Trident missile nuclear ballistic missile submarines in a custom-built refitting dock. It houses the
HMS Courageous, a nuclear powered submarine used in the
Falklands War and open to the general public[
3]. Facilities in the local area also include a major naval training establishment and a base for the
Royal Marines.
*
Norfolk Naval Shipyard in
Portsmouth, Virginia, is one of the largest shipyards in the world; specializing in repairing, overhauling and modernizing ships and submarines. It's the oldest and largest industrial facility that belongs to the
United States Navy*
BAE Systems Naval Ships and
BAE Systems Submarines (formally merged under
BAE Systems Marine), are subsidiaries of the global defence contractor
BAE Systems, and form Europe's largest naval shipbuilding group. BAE currently operates three shipyards in the
United Kingdom; two large Shipbuilding yards on the
River Clyde in
Glasgow - the Naval Ships division which specialises in surface shipbuilding projects like the
Type 45 destroyer - and the BAE Systems Submarines
Submarine Centre of Excellence at
Barrow-in-Furness in
Cumbria. The latter is one of the few yards in the world capable of building
nuclear submarines, like the Royal Navy's
Vanguard class. BAE Systems is currently leading the "Carrier Alliance" to design and build the
Future Aircraft Carriers for the
Royal Navy, which will be Europe's largest naval shipbuilding project.
*
Northrop Grumman Newport News, (formerly Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company) is the largest private ship builder in the
US and the one best known for its unique capacity to build the
Nimitz class aircraft carriers.
*
Mazagaon Dockyard, operated by
state-owned Mazagaon Dock Limited, is one of
India's largest shipyards. It constructs a variety of ships both for the defence and civilian sector. The dockyard is known for constructing Britain's
HMS Trincomalee.
*
Ingalls Shipbuilding, part of
Northrop Grumman's Ships Systems sector, located in
Pascagoula, Mississippi repaired the
USS Cole and builds
offshore drilling rigs,
cruise ships and naval vessels.
*
Yantai Raffles [
4] is the largest ship builder in
China located in
Yantai. It has built numerous cargo ships,
tugboats and support vessels, as well as pleasure vessels such as yachts.
* The beach at
Alang in the Indian state of
Gujarat is the site of a large complex of
shipbreaking yards which processes 50% of the ships that are salvaged.
* The
Portland, Oregon shipyard, operated by
Cascade General Ship Repair is the largest such facility on the
United States West Coast.
*
Hyundai Heavy Industries Ulsan Shipyard,in South Korea is currently the largest in the world and has the capability to build a variety of vessels including Commercial Cargo , Offshore and Naval vessels.
*
U.S. Shipyards - extensive collection of information about U.S. shipyards, including over 500 pages of U.S. shipyard construction records
*
Trading Places - interactive history of European dockyards
*
Shipyards United States - from GlobalSecurity.org
*
Historic Canadian Naval Ships and Shipyards*
Historic Naval Shipyards of the United States
