New Naval order for Clyde Shipbuilding

So we have some more good news on the shipbuilding front in Scotland at long last the steel is now being cut for the Royal Navy's new offshore patrol vessels, no mere small type of ships but the very latest in new technology at around 2,000 grt's they are not small ships and will be capable of deployment worldwide.
They should keep some of the workforce (the little that is left) working at the upper Clyde shipyard of Scotstoun working at least until the designs are finalised for the Royal Navy's new type 26 Frigates which will be built at the same yard. This may or may not be such good news for the shipyard on the other side of the river at Govan only time will tell, as they continue with work on the second of the Aircraft Carriers being assembled in Scotland.
Be sure to visit the new Shipbuilding Library to find all your shipbuilding books now in a convenient form for you to download direct to your reader.

Work has started on a £348m contract for three Royal Navy warships at BAE Systems' yards at Scotstoun and Govan on the River Clyde in Glasgow.

The offshore patrol vessels will be known as HMS Forth, HMS Medway and HMS Trent. The first will be ready by 2017.

See more at the BBC website

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-29569528

For all your boat plans all in one place choose from hundreds of plans and go ahead and build your own boat or even a model boat if you wish When you click on the link above you will be helping to keep the Blog and the website at www.leithshipyards.com going as a small fee will go towards the upkeep of both site Thank you for your help and support

Ocean going Salvage Tugs

In the quest to bring more photographs and information to the maritime interested public about the ships built at the Leith Shipyards we now have the following photographs on the website along with many more shown and still to be shown.

The dangers of Ocean Going Salvage and the power required to tow Super Tankers is amply shown here in the following two photographs sent into the Leith Shipyards website by Bob Terry one of the crew on the mighty Ocean going tug Wolraad Woltemade Ship No 516

A tow on this ship that is on fire shows some of the danger involved in Ocean Going Salvage work, nothing that the Wolraad Woltemade could not handle from this photograph taken by Bob Terry in 1982 and shown by permission

The mighty Ocean Going Salvage Tug Wolraad Woltemade Ship No 516 arriving at Cape Town towing a "Super Tanker" in 1982 photo by Bob Terry and shown by permission

Super Tanker tow into Cape Town in 1982 the Woltemade was well capable of handling such a tow by herself.

If we go back to the dark days of World War Two, when the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb took to the building of the then mighty Salvage and Rescue tugs of the Bustler Class.

A new book is almost ready for publishing, it will be on the bookshelf in April 2022

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

Deck Boy on the MV KAWATIRI

MV KAWATIRI Ship No 399 (Photo credit unknown)

We have a story sent in to the website from Gary King about his time as a Deck Boy on the USSCo vessel KAWATIRI Ship No 399

Along with some photographs as well

You can read more of this story on the ship pages of the KAWATIRI on the website

ARCADIAN Ship No 473- A Whale of a Tale

MV ARCADIAN Ship No 473

A truly amazing story has come to light regarding a voyage by the ARCADIAN in June 1965 across the stormy North Atlantic from Canada to the U.K.

She had a very valuable deck cargo in the form of four live very rare Beluga Whales that had been caught by fishermen in the St Lawrence and were wanted by Cleethorpes Zoo in England.

There was a sad end to this voyage as only one of the precious cargo survived.

The female Beluga that survived was soon to die in captivity a couple of months later at  the Marine Land Zoo in England.

 

Now a request for help has came into the Leithshipyards website from the Aquarium of Quebec in Canada looking for information on this voyage.

A Beluga Whale of the type that they tried to ship on the MV ARCADIAN in 1965

The rare whale is on the endangered species list.

We shall soon have some new information about this amazing voyage.

HMS WINDRUSH-UPDATE



French Fire Fighters training on the ex HMS WINDRUSH


We also have a lot of new information on the River Class Frigate HMS WINDRUSH from one of the fire instructors who trained firemen in the process of fire fighting on board a ship.

For more see the new books to be published soon

Leith Shipyards website

Just to say that there have been some technical difficulty's with the website at www.leithshipyards.com  which have now been fixed and we apologise for any inconvenience.
So many updates on the website it is well worth a few Min's of your time for a visit.

S.A.WOLRAAD WOLTEMADE

WOLRAAD WOLTEMADE
Ship No 516
The Daddy of them all when it came to powerful mighty tugs working the world’s oceans.

The “Z” Tug S.A.WOLRAAD WOLTEMADE was a real thoroughbred and she looked like the ship that she was, unlike today’s even more powerful square and squat looking tugs.

She was a sister ship to one that was built in South Africa and launched a bit later than the WOLTEMADE.

The order for this ship was from Safmarine who where contracted to set up two powerful ocean going salvage tugs to be stationed off the coast of South Africa ready for any emergency at a time when the worlds oil had to be routed around the Horn of Africa due to the Suez Canal being closed to ships.

She was 2822 gross tonnes, with a length between perpendiculars of 85 metres, with a beam of 15.2 metres, and a design draught of 8.6 metres.

She was launched from the Leith Shipyards of Robb Caledon on 23rd of April 1976.

She was to drop the S.A. part of her name when Safmarine were taken over by Smit’s.

You will soon be able to read all about this mighty vessel on the new website, which will be online soon.

If you are looking for books on ships and the sea then look no further.

S.S.ROLLO

S.S.ROLLO

Ship No 438

The steam ship ROLLO was the second of the three ship order to be built and launched from Leith.

part of another order from the Ellerman Wilson Line, this order was for three of the latest in steamer cargo/passenger type ships, and it must be said they were amongst the finest looking vessels to be launched from the Leith yard of Henry Robb.

With her distinctive lines she was 2499 tons of fine looking ship, at 290 feet between perp’s and with a beam of 48 feet and 6 inches, with design draught at 27 feet, she was a well proportioned vessel.

She was sister ship to CICERO and was launched from the Henry Robb shipyard on 12th of October 1954.



You will be able to read a lot more about this and other ships built in Leith, when the new website is ready, so keep checking back. And by the way the survey advert above does work that is why it is on the blog to help to pay for the upkeep of this Blog and the main website, so why not give it a try if you wish to make some extra cash.

S.S.ROLLO of the Ellerman Wilson Line,getting underway.(You can just see the smoke stack of her tug off her port bow)

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S.S.TRURO

Ship No 356

S.S.TRURO

S.S. Truro was a single screw Cargo Steamer, to help replace war loses. At 1795 tons, with a length of 280 feet and a beam of 42 feet, they were very fine looking ships with graceful lines. She drew a draught of 25 feet and 3 inches.

She was launched from the yard on 12th December 1946. She operated all over the Med.

In 1968 she was sold to Kuwait, renamed Gulf Noor.

H.M.S. WINDRUSH

H.M.S.WINDRUSH

Ship No 340


Twin screw “River Class” Frigate.

Laid down 18th Nov 1942

Launched 18th Jun 1943

Commissioned 3rd Nov 1943

End service with the Royal Navy Feb 1944

as La Decouverte flying the French Flag

She served as an escort to the Atlantic convoys, under Canadian Navy before being tansferred to the F.N.F.L. (Free French) in February 1944 and renamed La Découverte.

She took part in the Normandy invasion in support of the Canadian 3rd Battalion on Juno Beach.
See http://www.normandy1944.org.uk/  
She served the French Navy until being de-commissioned in the late 1950’s and she was beached just outside Cherbourg where she was used as a training ship, and later as a fire control practise ship, she was only scrapped last year in 2009, such a waste of the only remaining class of her type still around.

River Class Frigate

Beached just outside of Cherbourg, untill 2009.

Designed as an improved Flower Class Corvette the River Class were highly successful Convoy Escorts with long range, heavy depth charge load and good sea keeping. Built in both Canada and Britain they became the mainstay of the Atlantic Escorts in the latter stages of the war.

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H.M.S. POLYANTHUS

Ship No 309

H.M.S.Polyanthus

Flower Class Corvette.

She was ordered on 25th July 1939

Her keel was laid on 19th March 1940 and she was launched from the yard on the 30th of November 1940, after successful sea trials she was commissioned on 24th April 1941.

She had a length overall of 190 feet with a beam of 33 feet and draught of 17 feet and 6 inches. At 811 tons, another of the many unsung small ships that worked tirelessly during World War II. A Sister ship to H.M.S. Dianthus, she was to give sterling service in the protection of Convoy’s crossing the North Atlantic, helping to keep Britain supplied in her darkest times.

On 21 September 1943 the German U-952 fired a torpedo at an escort of the convoy ON-202 and heard after three minutes a detonation, followed by sinking noises. HMS Polyanthus (Lt. J.G. Aitken, RNR) was hit and sank immediately at position 57.00N, 31.10W. The British frigate HMS Itchen picked up one survivor, but he died when the frigate was torpedoed and sunk two days later by U-666.

(H.M.S. Polyanthus was the only warship sank by U-952 out of 14 ships sent to the bottom by the Hamburg built U-952, which was sunk by U.S. bombs in harbour at Toulon in August 1944)

(H.M.S. Itchen was unlucky in the fact that she was the only ship to be sunk by the U-666, which in turn was sunk herself in early 1944 with the loss of all hands.)