HMS RINGDOVE

For the latest update on HMS RINGDOVE Ship No 264

Leith Shipyards

Hi all,
Just to let you know that one of the best maritime history websites out there is having some what they call technical problems, it would appear that some very, very, very, very, very, very, very clever A1 A-Hole has been messing about with the website so the technical people are working on it and we hope that the better of the maritime website's will be back to what you are used to seeing soon.

WATCH THIS SPACE

And thank you to all who have ever visited the website except for one of course.

The crew at Leithshipyards.com

EIGAMOIYA - Yard No 504 Update

There is now a correction on the pages about the MV EIGAMOIYA from someone who was activley involved in the dealings with the Nauru people and Government at the time. And in the interests of historical accuracy we are always happy to hear from people with first hand knowledge of events and only to willing to change things should they be found to be not quite accurate.

AGUARAY Update

We also have an update about the MV AGUARAY from our contacts in South America
She was built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb in 1928 as Ship No 112 and information shows that she was still around in 1986 although it is not known what happened to her after this time.

HMS CARDIGAN BAY Update

 

 

HMS CARDIGAN BAY seen in this postcard sent in by the Daughter of Stoker "Jack Parle"

Who served on her for three and a half years, she was of course built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb during the dark days of World War Two as Ship No 348 being the first of Three Bay Class Frigates built and launched from the yard. More about HMS CARDIGAN BAY here.

 

May we also take this opportunity to wish all our readers a very good New Year for 2013

 

Ship Photo's

We have been busy updating the ships photo pages and there are now many more great photographs of ships old and some right up to date.
So if you are interested or if you have some ships photograph's that you may want to have shown on the Leith Shipyards website then just make contact through the website and we shall feature them on the ever growing ships photo library.

 

 

Photographs such as this one of the classic old ZEALANDIA from the Late Don Ross Collection.

 

BAE Systems boss says shipyard may close

One of BAE Systems' major shipyards could be closed, the company's UK chief executive Nigel Whitehead has said.

He told the Sunday Telegraph a decision would be made by the end of the year.

The firm was working with ministers to explore all options for maintaining the UK's shipbuilding capability, he said.

The future of its three main shipyards - in Portsmouth, and Govan and Scotstoun on the River Clyde - after two new aircraft carriers are completed has been in doubt for some time.

There are fears there will be insufficient work available to keep all three busy and profitable as cuts in defence spending take their toll.

"The issue is how to consolidate... but make sure that we've preserved the capability to design and manufacture complex warships," Mr Whitehead told the newspaper.

"We anticipate that there will be a reduction in footprint and we anticipate... that part of that might actually be the cessation of manufacturing at one of the sites."

Earlier this year the company appointed consultants to carry out a review of the business. The firm's yard in Portsmouth is widely believed to be the most vulnerable, with 1,500 jobs at risk.

However, two bases on the River Clyde, at Govan and Scotstoun (The old Yarrow shipyard) are also under scrutiny.

BAE Systems says it is working closely with the government to explore all options for maintaining the UK's shipbuilding capability.

The Ministry of Defence says that it is up to the company itself to decide how best to deliver the naval vessels

For more on the story see BBC Scotland website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20483438

 

While the above news is not new to the shipbuilders involved what is pretty new is being regarded as “A Footprint” you just have to love the buzzwords being used today, the British Isle’s losing yet another hard pressed shipyard, is it any wonder that the last two ships ordered by the U.K. Government went to a yard in Korea, this was for the build of two new fleet oil tankers for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary a job that was only tendered by one of the remaining shipyards in Britain and even they dropped out of the running as they felt they did not have the required expertise anymore to build such a vessel,

along with another less well publicised ship to be built that being a research ship for work in the Antarctic by the National Environmental Research Centre.

All in all a pretty damming indictment on a country that just gives up on it’s skills base because the bean counters run it all now.

This ship is being built in Northern Spain and is due to be launched next autumn.

A ship to do the same work as the RSS BRANSFIELD which was built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb in 1970

Nothing against the shipbuilders of Northern Spain they have been building ships for many years but why is this work not being done in a British yard and helping to secure the future of the skills required to build ships of this type, a question that has been asked of successive governments since the demise of the fiasco which was British Shipbuilders in the 1980’s.

 

 

A picture above of the RSS BRANSFIELD at work in Antarctica (Photo by G.Hart)

doing the type of work that the new ship will also be doing the one that is just now being built in Northern Spain.