HAPPY & PROSPEROUS 2020 TO ALL

A busy scene at the Leith Shipyards of Robb Caledon sometime around 1976

Well 2020 it is then, bloody miracle if you ask me, puts me in mind of an old Jager & Evens song “In the year 2525, if man is still alive”

Perhaps someone will change the year around to show 2020 but I digress, I have been asked a few questions many times about plans for 2020

I shall endeavour to answer below, always a wee bit reluctant to make plans set in stone as we all know what happens to plans (Ask around in any shipyard and you will find out, but we will not mention anything about what has really happened with the two Cal-Mac ferries being built or not built at Ferguson’s yard on the Clyde)

Will there be a new website in 2020 – Most definitely, although it will take a slightly different format as this website will also feature the many books that I have on the go right now both Non-Fiction such as the recently published Leith-Built Ships Vol. I

I have Fiction books starting with a trilogy about two young shipwrights from Leith, full of madcap adventures. Set around actual ships built at Leith in the late 18^th century, that I am writing with the first two books finished but as yet unpublished.

The new website will also in time feature a very large library of ships photographs.

Will Volume II of Leith-Built Ships be published in 2020 – Most definitely although still to be confirmed with the publishers, but this book is 99% complete and almost ready to go, with Volume III well on as well it could be an exciting year on the publishing front to feature more on the almost forgotten shipbuilding and maritime heritage of the old port.

There is a lot more in the pipeline but as ever I don’t count my chickens before they are hatched.

Remember the first book is now out and can be purchased from most good bookshops, for anyone overseas the publishers can post to anywhere.

http://www.whittlespublishing.com/They_Once_Were_Shipbuilders

or it can be purchased from Amazon at the following link

https://www.amazon.co.uk/They-Once-Were-Shipbuilders-Leith-Built/dp/1849954437/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1AGCT5P1NE6DX&keywords=leith+built+ships&qid=1577884811&sprefix=Leith+Built+S%2Caps%2C233&sr=8-1

So for now it is on to 2020 may it be a good one for all.

Classic Ships

We have now started a new feature on the Blog to be called Classic Ships which will feature Classic Ships from around the world, as many ships were in fact built at Leith, a great many more were built all around the world, so we have decided to honour them in our own small way, no bloody "Box Ships" here, they will all be ships that had form and shape to them.

The first ones and they will be in no particular order are a ship from Italy and another built in Denmark, all ships that look like ships.

ACADIA

She was built in Denmark by Flensburger and launched in 1938

ACHILLEUS

She was built in Italy by Ansaldo and launched in 1952

 

 Look out for many more in the new "Classic Ship" series

 

Replica "TITANIC" may yet be built?

Would you fancy a cruise on a replica ship, if so then what better than a replica TITANIC
Complete with all the modern aids to safety at sea of course, although still maned by humans and expected to make a profit (A bit like the replica of the BOUNTY?)

The rendering as seen above keeps pretty much with the original look of the ship although reports say that she will be some 4 metres wider than the original (Dont know how this will effect her stability, may even make it better) and she will of course have her full compliment of lifeboats as per SOLAS requirements.
I for one am all for replica ships being built, would just prefer if it was being built in Europe or in the States rather than China, as there pedigree with shipbuilding still leaves a bit to be desired shall we say.
Slated for a launch date some time in 2018 after being delayed or put back a couple of years it will be interesting and full on publicity should it happen.

A Happy and Peaceful 2016

A Happy and Peaceful 2016

We would like to wish all of our many visitors both to this Blog and the Leith Shipyards website a very Happy and Peaceful 2016

Ship No 347 started out with the name LOCH KATRINE one of the Loch Class Frigates built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb Ltd, in the dark days of the Second World War

She went on to become part of the New Zealand Navy, as HMNZS ROTOITI and spent some years based in the far south of the Southern Ocean on station as a rescue and weather ship as support to the bases in the Antarctic.

So please spare a though or two for those who may not be able to be at home at this time of the year.

BRITISH COAST-Ship Model

The build of the BRITISH COAST model ship continues with a launch date approaching soon and as you can see from these photographs the model of this famous old Leith built Ship is looking very good with lots of work, time and attention to detail going into the making of the model, the finished vessel will be put into the water as a real working model.
You will see many more photographs of the building of this fine model on the website and we would encourage any other model making enthusiasts out there to send in your pictures of your particular model build, especially if it has a connection to a Leith Shipyard.

The BRITISH COAST almost near completion and looking very good in the late winter sunshine.

The Starboard light is detailed and it works as well

A lot of her original woodwork is replicated here as well to show her open bridge and decking

This photograph shows her builders name plate as Henry Robb Shipbuilders, Leith

The Thames Tug GENERAL IV

GENERAL IV Ship No 222 built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb Ltd and launched in 1936

 

Last heard/seen at Bowling Harbour half sunk just a hull sitting in water now wasting away a bit similar to the state of the SCOT II BEFORE SHE WAS MOVED TO THE Caledonian Canal  (Whatever happened to the rescue attempts to restore the SCOT II)
 

Seems like the same story with the old GENERAL IV very similar lines to the SCOT II as well and looks like there is no one around to attempt a restoration project on this fine old Steam Tug.

You will see a photograph of her here from early this year.
Do not know how she has ended up here but there was another far more recent tug that also sank at Bowling Harbour

https://www.flickr.com/photos/37457215@N02/12072114576/

 

We cannot save then all, but still a shame to see such fine plate work rusting away.

what	where
job title, keywords or company	city, state or zip jobs by

Shipwright's

 

 

 

 

 

The Shipwrights

 

It is clear for anyone who knows the Shipwrights Build Ships, they always have done and I don’t care what names they give the trades today it is Shipwrights who build ships.

Yes the Platers have had a large part to play in the process of shipbuilding for the past 100 years or so but the Shipwrights have been around since before recorded time so I thought it well past time to give the Shipwrights of Leith there own page on the website at Leith Shipyards.

For the record while I am at it and controversial it may well be but “Welders” do not build ships they are a relative newcomer to the shipbuilding process and although some are very highly skilled in the trade they are no matter how you look at it in the end just a “Service Trade” only been around for the past 60 years or so in the shipbuilding process, most yards still stuck to tradition and riveted there ships up into the 1960’s as the welded ship had a slight stigma attached deserved or otherwise, the riveted ship had the seams that cannot be replicated today with most welded ships ending up looking like half starved carcasses of a dead horse ribs, depending on how the light hits the shell.

So once more for the sake of clarity the Shipwrights build Ships, Platers mark and shape Plates and all the rest are service trades.

 

Leith Shipwrights


 

 

D-Day 70 years on.

June 6^th 1944 – The D-Day Landings

 

 

Operation Neptune

Was the code name given to the naval group’s task on this momentous day in 1944. As the remaining survivors of this epic day gather in the U.K. and over in France we salute them.

Operation Neptune

 

The protection of NEPTUNE from enemy counter action was essential to the success of the operation. Allied forces were most vulnerable to enemy counter action when they were embarked and at sea. Some 6,900 allied vessels, carrying approximately nine army divisions with full combat equipment, were at sea at one time. These ships were formed into around 75 convoys and groups, passing along narrow coastal lanes, moving across the channel through the narrow mine-swept channels of the allotted areas for the convoys or crowded into the congested confines of the assault area.

You will find many more books and information on this day and so many more at our Maritime Library at Ships and the Sea

Had the enemy not been deterred by a comprehensive program of defence capability in the form of escort ships and of course command of the air, this enormous armada would have presented to enemy air and naval forces a very profitable target.

The largest assembly of Ships and amphibious forces ever seen were to retake Europe from the clutches of the Nazi.

Operation Neptune Long-awaited, the Normandy landings were the largest amphibious operation in history. Success was achieved by the advent of specialised landing craft, first seen in the landings in North Africa, heavy naval firepower and the creatiojn of two artificial harbours, each the size of the port of Dover, and an underwater pipeline. Operation Neptune: The Prelude to D-Day tells the story of this incredible feat using eye-witness accounts of the landings and the breaching of Hitler's famed 'Atlantic Wall'. David Wragg explores the earlier Allied and Axis experiences with amphibious operations and the planning for Neptune and Overlord. Revealing the naval support neede once the armies were ashore and before continental ports could be captured and cleared of mines, with operations such as minesweeping off the Normandy coast which led to one of the worst 'friendly fire' incidents of the war. The is the must-read book to understand what made D-Day possible.

And of course along with the many ships involved where some that were built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb Ltd.

Without the amazing job done by the mine-sweepers there could have been no landing and one of the lead ships was the minesweeper HMS SIDMOUTH Ship No 310 built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb Ltd, yet another of the small ship Navy.

 

The ships crest of HMS SIDMOUTH a Bangor Class Minesweeper built at Leith

Ships such as HMS PINK Ship No 318 amongst many as this battle did not just last for one day but stretched out for something like 6 weeks before the establishment of forces in Normandy had the capability to make the break out of the Normandy region on the roads that lead into the heart of Germany.

HMS PINK the final Flower Class Corvette built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb Ltd
as Ship No 318

Damaged by U988 27th-29th July 1944 and was regarded as a constuctive total loss. The Uboat was sunk 2 days later

Damaged by U988 27th-29th July 1944 and was regarded as a constuctive total loss.
The Uboat was sunk 2 days later

Not only warships but also some of the Bustler Class tugs were involved with the gigantic task of towing the huge mulberry harbours over the channel and into position to enable the supply of the ground forces, along with the massive drums that carried the oil pipeline to the French Coast.

The Bustler Class Tugs such as BUSTLER and SAMSONIA seen here after the war had there part to play in the invasion plans to re-take Europe in 1944

 

Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord, the Allied codename for the invasion of Normandy, involved more than 150,000 men and 6,939 ships.  It consisted of American, British, Canadian, Polish, and Free French Armies under command of General Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force (the choice of Eisenhower was officially made by President Roosevelt in December 1943, and agreed upon by the British).

The Deputy Supreme Commander of the invasion was British Air Chief Marshal Arthur W. Tedder, who had been the commander of the Allied Air Forces in the Mediterranean.  While British Admiral Bertram H. Ramsay, was appointed naval commander.  He had conducted the evacuation at Dunkirk and also planned the Torch landing in North Africa.  British Air Chief Marshal Trafford L. Leigh-Mallory was appointed as commander of the air forces.

Bernard Montgomery was chosen as the ground forces' commander. 

SATURNO Ship No 81 - Update

This Ocean going Salvage Tug was the first in a long line of pedigree vessels of this type built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb Ltd, a line of tugs that lead to the two mightiest and most powerful in the world when they were launched at Leith as the LLOYDSMAN and the S.A.WOLRAAD WOLTEMADE in the 1970's.

The SATURNO was built and launched in 1928 and was only taken to be broken up in 2010 safe to say that she had a useful working life of around 75 years quite remarkable for a ship and a testament to the craftsmanship and pride in workmanship that went into her build.
Now thanks to the Grand Son of an old ex Foreman Loftsman at the Henry Robb yard we have lots of information and photographs of the build and sea trials of this fine ship, so our thanks go to Peter Wallace and to his Grand Father William Wallace who had the book originally.

From the original book made for the launch of the SATURNO in 1928

This amazing ship undertook a maiden voyage of more than 9,000 miles towing at first her two satellite vessels which were lighters of 95feet with a 200 grt to Dakar in Senegal, then back to the Canary Islands to pick up 3 crane barges that had first been built at Robb then dis-assembled and re-erected in the Canaries ready to be towed across the Atlantic by the SATURNO to home port of Santos in Brazil.
Fair to say they don't make them like that any more with most ships today lucky of a useful life approaching 30 years before going to the breakers.

 Many more original photographs will go into the forthcoming books on the ships built at Leith

Movie about HMNZS KIWI

I did say in the last post that we had been working on some interesting projects and one of them is the probable movie going to be made by a couple of New Zealand film makers about the HMNZS KIWI Ship No 315 and her part in the attack on the huge Japanese submarine I-1 which was successfully carried out by KIWI along with her sister ship HMNZS MOA Ship No 314 also built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb.
The movie is going to concentrate on the extraordinary act of bravery carried out by one of her crew as the two small ships took on their formidable foe.
Visit the new e-book library at Ships and the Sea

During the entire battle the Kiwi’s searchlight and signalling lamp were trained on the submarine.  The searchlight was controlled by Leading Signalman Campbell Buchanan at considerable risk to himself.  Into the action Buchanan was hit and although mortally wounded remained at his post uncomplaining until relieved.  He died of his wounds at Tulagi the following day.  This act of courage won him the US Navy Cross and a posthumous mention in dispatches.  . In a fierce action that lasted more than an hour, Kiwi rammed the submarine three times before I-1 finally struck a reef and was wrecked.

 

Look out for updates on this story which reminds me that I need to get some more information about the ship and her dimensions over to the guys in New Zealand (So if you read this Evan I will get it done and sent to you soon)

 

HMNZS KIWI seen in dry-dock after ramming the Japanese Sub I-1 in 1943

 

 

The Boat Factory at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

The Boat Factory by Dan Gordon

HILL STREET THEATRE, EDINBURGH (VENUE 41)

2-26 AUGUST 2012 (NOT 14) AT 6.30PM - 1HR 20MINS

BOX OFFICE: WWW.EDFRINGE.COM

TEL: 0131 226 0000 / TICKETS £9-£13 (PREVIEWS 2+3 AUG £5)

 

A play about the life and times of the men at the famous Harland & Wollf Shipyard in Belfast

 

As sent to me and now endorsed by the Leithshipyards website

 

As someone who keenly preserves our shipbuilding heritage, I thought you might be interested in hearing about a play that we are bringing from Belfast to Hill Street Theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August which celebrates the people, history and achievements of Belfast's Harland & Wolff shipyard - our tribute to a proud maritime heritage which I know is shared by Scotland. The play was written by Dan Gordon whose grandfather was a labourer who came from the shipyards on the Clyde to the shipyards of Belfast. Dan spent years researching the subject matter, talking to many shipyard workers and their families. He gathered material from interviews, anecdotal evidence, and historical research to recreate the background against which 1700 ships were built by Harland and Wolff Shipyards. He also drew extensively on his own close personal knowledge of the subject matter through his own family history. His father served his time as an apprentice Joiner in the Belfast Shipyard in the early 1950s, alongside his five brothers and the husbands of his two sisters, and worked on the last great liner they ever built - The Canberra. Set in 1947, the play follows the life of a young apprentice and is a poignant and humorous tale of friendship, pride, skill, nobility and, above all, heart.

As Dan says on writing the play: “I’ve lived in the shadow of those big yellow cranes all my life and I wanted to tell their story because they are so much a part of me and our collective heritage. Harland & Wolff  built Titanic, the greatest ship in history, but there is a great deal more to the achievements of the thousands of Yardmen. They built over 1700 ships with pride and skill unmatched anywhere else in the world, and we need to celebrate that. Every house in the East had a poker for the fire or a fire screen made in the Shipyard – every house had someone or a relative who worked there – by the age of four, I’d seen 5 ships launched – all across the East we could hear the morning Siren when it was time to change shift. My Father’s tales of the men he worked with and the ships they built were legendary – from craftsmen to wee crafty men he knew and worked alongside them – their nicknames – their personalities – their disagreements and their triumphs – I want to tell their stories as he told them to me.”



Dan performs in the play with fellow actor Michael Condron. Together they chart the history of the men who worked in the yard, conjuring up a host of colourful characters from the glory days of the shipbuilding era when, at the height of production, nearly 35,000 men worked on the 300 acre site complete with power station, docks, machine shops, engine works and saw mills. The Boat Factory has steadily grown in stature from its humble beginnings in the Westbourne Community Presbyterian Church (the shipyard church in east Belfast), travelling right across Northern Ireland to the very heart of our community, playing in prisons, orange halls, parish halls, schools, and Belfast City Hall. It went on to play to packed houses in the Barnett Room of the Belfast Harbour Office during the 2011 Belfast Festival at Queen’s and it was the headline production in the opening of Titanic Belfast, Northern Ireland’s newest visitor attraction.



We have been particulary delighted and moved by the response of former shipyard workers - these are just some of the many comments we have received:

"Saw `The Boat Factory` at Titanic Belfast last night. Just wonderful! Two men and a bit of scaffolding - had me completely entranced for two hours. What a fabulous bit of writing and performing. They made an inventory of the contents of a toolbox sound like a Shakespearean sonnet. I think you can take it that I really enjoyed it! Congratulations to Dan Gordon and Michael Condron"

“A skilfully crafted production, wholly befitting of the Belfast Men it celebrates. I marvelled, laughed out loud and cried sore - it quare took it out of me! The show left with me a new sense of pride about being born in Belfast and having grown up in the shadow of The Yard. Well done to all. Good on ye!”

“I was privileged to be at Westbourne Presbyterian to see the opening performance of The Boat Factory. It drew me in like a child listening to an incredible bed time story. Thank you Dan for opening up your heart and your talent to other people’s memories and for allowing me, for a brief moment in time, to work along side the east Belfast men and boys in the boat factory.”

“For an evening's entertainment "The Boat Factory" would be hard to beat. It was beautifully executed, fast, clever, funny and thought provoking- what more could you ask for? Brilliant!”

“A very moving and fitting tribute to all who have worked or been associated with H & W shipyard. We need to preserve this rich heritage and folk memory and I feel that last night's performance will go a long way to achieving that aim.”

“I don’t normally write appreciation letters when I attend a play I just wanted you to know how much I enjoyed it. It was very moving and a fitting tribute to all who have worked or been associated with H & W shipyard. My grandfather was a labourer and my father an Electric Welder until he became a foreman. My grandmother scraped the money together to pay for his apprenticeship. Last night's play has given me some insight into the sacrifice he made for me.”



http://www.happenstancetheatrecompany.co.uk/
www.facebook.com/TheBoatFactory@Boat_Factory

SS EXPLORER-Restoration Project

The SS EXPLORER

The SS EXPLORER is one of the last examples of a bygone era in shipbuilding and she is now berthed at Leith Docks, registered at Leith but built in Aberdeen this huge restoration project is all about giving back to the people of Leith in the hope that some of the old now, almost lost skills of shipbuilding can be passed on by willing volunteers.

A fine project that deserves all the support they can get, you can find out lots more by visiting the ship restoration pages on the Leith Shipyards website or at SS EXPLORER Preservation Society

Chipping and Painting her hull at the Edinburgh Dock, Leith

(Photographs are courtesy of the SS EXPLORER Preservation Society)



M.V.HERO-Conversion

Pleased to be able to show some new photographs of the unfortunate Ro-Ro Vessel HERO Ship No 511 built at the Leith Shipyards of Robb Caledon (Henry Robb)


The photographs are shown by permission of Rudi van der Sluis

Who runs an excellent website about the great shipyards of Amsterdam and can be found at
www.ndsm-werfmuseum.nl/

A very interesting site for any one with an interest in shipbuilding and the people who built the ships in Amsterdam, shipyards with a great history and unfortunately they also found the yards in the same position as the great shipyards of the British Isles.

 
 
The MV HERO just prior to her "Jumbosizing" in 1976 at the Amsterdam DryDock Company
(Photograph is shown here by permission)

BAJIMA

Ship No 526

In the continual fight for ship orders, the yard was awarded an order from the Nigerian Ports Authority for two harbour tugs, the same as three others that had been built in the yard during 1975/76 (POCHARD etc)

The first of the two tugs BAJIMA was 326 grt, with a length between perpendiculars of 34 metres, and a beam of 9.2 metres, with a design draught of 4.5 metres.

She was launched from the Leith Shipyards of Robb Caledon on 28th of March 1980.

H.M.S. CARNARVON BAY

H.M.S.CARNARVON BAY

Ship No 349

Twin screw “Bay Class” Frigate.


Second of the BAY Class Anti-Aircraft Frigate’s initially ordered on 25th January 1943 for build as a LOCH Class Anti-Submarine Frigate, but for which the ordered was changed in 1944. Originally to have been named H.M.S.LOCH MADDY.

She was laid down on 8th June 1944 and launched as H.M.S.CARNARVON BAY by Henry Robb shipyard at Leith on 15th March 1945.

She was launched two months before the war with Germany was to end, but of course the war with Japan continued, until August 1945.

She was the first Royal Navy ship to carry this name she was completed on 20th September 1945

She served in home waters for a few years before being laid up, then she was eventually sold for scrap in 1959.

A short career for a fine ship.

H.M.S. LOCH INSH

H.M.S.LOCH INSH

Ship No 346



Twin screw “Loch Class” Frigate.

Second of the Loch Class to be built at the Leith yard, of Henry Robb Ltd.

LOCH-Class Twin Screw Frigate ordered from Henry Robb, Leith on 25th January 1943 and laid down as Ship No 346 in November 1943. The ship was launched on 10th May 1944 as the 1st RN ship to carry the name. Her build was completed on 20th October 1944. The ship was ‘adopted’ by the civil community of Northampton after entering service.
HMS LOCH INCH while on the Russian Convoy duty (Convoy RA66)

sank U307 using SHARK projectiles and SQUID in the attacks.

She rescued 14 survivors from the destroyed U-Boat.

She served world wide with the Royal Navy for 18 years after the end of World War 2
HMS LOCH INSH was placed on the Disposal List and sold to the Royal Malayan Navy in 1963. After a very extensive refit at Portsmouth which included change’s to the aft superstructure and the provision of Helicopter landing facilities, the ship was renamed HANG TUAH. She sailed for Malaya on 12th November 1964 and served as the Flagship of the Royal Malaysian Navy until 1971 when she was used as a training ship until withdrawn from service 6 years later.
H.M.S. Loch Inch had a working life of more than 30 years.

H.M.S. LOCH INSH

“Loch Class” Frigates.

The ships of the Loch class of A/S frigates represent the final product of wartime design of frigates.

They were designed to be mass produced in sections at dispersed sites and transported to an assembly point at a slipway.

Welding and riveting were used to speed production of the unit construction techniques and it took fewer men to produce a ship of this class.

With a single 4 in gun on the foc’sle for surface action, the main weapons were beyond doubt the twin squid anti-submarine mortars, along with the high mounted rapid firing twin 20mm guns for anti-personnel work.

To speed construction curved structures were eliminated in the design making the lofting a little bit more simple and a noticeable result of this was that the deck sheer was reduced to three straight lines, from stern to bow.

Battle of the Atlantic World War II was only a few hours old when the Battle of the Atlantic, the longest campaign of the Second World War and the most complex submarine war in history, began with the sinking of the unarmed passenger liner Athenia by the German submarine U30. Based on the mastery of the latest research and written from a mid-Atlantic - rather than the traditional Anglo-centric - perspective, Marc Milner focuses on the confrontation between opposing forces and the attacks on Allied shipping that lay at the heart of the six-year struggle. Against the backdrop of the battle for the Atlantic lifeline he charts the fascinating development of U-boats and the techniques used by the Allies to suppress and destroy these stealth weapons.

M.V. KINGFISHER

M.V. KINGFISHER

Ship No 333


This order built during the war was from the General Steam Navigation Company Ltd, one of the oldest shipping companies in the World.

The order was for two small coastal freighters of 493 tons. With the first, on the stocks being the M.V. KINGFISHER

She was single screw with a length overall of 160 feet, with a beam of 27 feet and a draught of 17 feet.

She was launched from the yard 1943/44 and was pressed into doing war service while hostilities lasted.

M.V. Kingfisher was the fourth ship of the company to have this name and she was eventually sold to a Canadian Company in 1966 and re-named Dunure.

Remember to click on the highlighted ships name to be taken to the Leith Shipyards website to read so much more about the ships built in Leith.

A Wee bit of History.

The official Henry Robb Shipyard opened up at the end of World War I around 1918.
The yard was closed down by the then Thatcher Government, in there wisdom and wound up around 1984.
This brought to an end over 660 years of Shipbuilding excellence in Leith.
There seems to be a fair amount of information on most of the other Shipyards around at the time in Scotland but as I said before not to much about Henry Robb in Leith, this is a small attempt to rectify this situation just a little bit, so if some of this is wrong or even made up then you will just have to bear with me until we get it correct.
The Company was founded by Henry Robb, a former yard manager for Ramage & Ferguson in 1918.
The Company then expanded through acquisition buying berths fromHawthorns in 1924, the business of Crane & Somerville in 1926 and the yards of Ramage & Ferguson in 1934. The site became known as Victoria Shipyard.
The Company closed its Arbroath and Clyde operations during the 1920's and focused its activities on Leith.
During World War II, Robbs built a large number of naval warships for the Royal Navy, including preparing the designs and building the prototype of the Basset-class anti-submarine /minesweeping trawler.
On 26 February 1940 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth toured the shipyard.
In 1968, Robbs purchased, and amalgamated with, the Caledon Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Dundee, forming Robb Caledon Shipbuilding. In 1977, under the provisions of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977, Robb Caledon was nationalised as part of British Shipbuilders. The Caledon yard in Dundee closed in 1981; Robb's yard in Leith survived two more years, closing in 1983. The land once occupied by Robb's shipyard is now the Ocean Terminal shopping centre, and home to the Royal Yacht Britannia.

Launch of the M.V.Kiatoa for the Union Steamship Co of New Zealand.

Yard No 443