Wikimapia is a multilingual open-content collaborative map, where anyone can create place tags and share their knowledge.

(former) John Brown's Shipyard (Clydebank)

United Kingdom / Scotland / Clydebank
 shipyard, historic landmark, historical layer / disappeared object
 Upload a photo

Clydebank Shipyard was probably the most significant shipyard in the world from the late 1800s until World War 2. Birthplace of HM Royal Yacht Britannia, RMS Queen Mary, RMS Queen Elizabeth and the QE2.

John Brown and Company of Clydeban, was a pre-eminent shipbuilder, responsible for building many notable ships.

The shipyard was founded by the James and George Thomson, brothers who had worked for the famous engineer Robert Napier. The Thomson brothers named the yard J&G Thomson after their Glasgow foundry, established in Anderston in 1847. In 1851 they opened a shipyard at Cessnock, launching their first ship, the Jackal in 1852. They quickly established a reputation in building prestiguous passenger ships, building the Jura for Cunard in 1854 and the record breaking Russia in 1867.

The company moved to the Barns o' Clyde (later re-named Clydebank) near the village of Dalmuir in 1871. The location at the confluence of the River Clyde, with the tributary River Cart at Newshot Isle, allowed very large ships to be launched. Despite severe financial difficulties the company developed a reputation based on engineering quality and innovation.

John Brown and Company, a Sheffield steel-maker, took over the yard in 1899, and it became one of the leading shipbuilding yards in the world. Many notable warships and liners were built here.

The end of World War 1, and the subsequent famine of naval orders hit British shipbuilding extremely hard, and John Brown only just survived. Two great ships saved the yard, they were the giant Cunard Liners Queen Mary and Queen Elisabeth.

The immediate post war period saw a severe reduction in warship orders which was balanced by a prolonged boom in merchant shipbuilding. By the end of the 1950s, however, the rise of other shipbuilding nations, recapitalised and highly productive, made many European yards uncompetitive. At Clydebank, a series of loss-making contracts were booked in the hope of weathering the storm. By the mid 1960s, John Brown & Co, warned that its shipyard was uneconomic and potentially faced closure.

The last passenger liner order came from Cunard with RMS Queen Elizabeth 2, but the yard had since merged into Upper Clyde Shipbuilders, which collapsed amidst much controversy in 1971. The last true ship to be built at the yard, the bulk grain carrier, Alisa, was completed in 1972. The Clydebank facility continued to operate under various owners until 2001, constructing oil platforms in support of the North Sea oil fields. The commercially successful John Brown Engineering division of the company, which manufactured gas turbines, was acquired by Trafalgar House (later Kvaerner), but was also eventually closed in 2001, after it's parent company failed to secure a deal with General Electric.

www.theclydebankstory.com/story_TCSC03.php
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   55°53'53"N   4°24'30"W

Comments

  • john (guest)
    and the original Queen Mary (1936) and Queen Elizabeth (1940)and innumerable other great passenger liners - when Great Britain was the worlds preeminent ship builder. The current Queen Mary 2 was built in St. Nazaire france - John Brown's and Clydebanks rival.
This article was last modified 11 years ago