laird f.c. cammell laird type private company industry shipbuilding founded 1828 headquarters birkenhead merseyside uk key people john syvret number of employees circa 650 website www.cammell laird.com cammell laird is a british shipbuilding company . one of the famous names in british shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it came about following the merger of laird son & co. of birkenhead and johnson cammell & co. of sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century . they also built railway rolling stock until 1929 when that side of the business was separated and became part of the metropolitan cammell carriage and wagon company . contents 1 history 1.1 founding of the business 1.2 post 1945 and 1993 closure 1.3 re establishment and ship repair 1.4 second rebirth as cammell laird shiprepair 2 ships built by cammell laird 3 see also 4 bibliography 5 references 6 external links history edit founding of the business edit 1915 advertisement for cammell laird the laird company was founded by william laird who had established the birkenhead iron works in 1824 . when he was joined by his son john laird in 1828 their first ship was an iron barge . 1 john realised that the techniques of making boilers could be applied to making ships . the company soon became pre eminent in the manufacture of iron ships and made major advances in propulsion . in 1860 john laird was joined in the business by his three sons renaming it john laird sons & co. 2 the sons continued it after their father s death in 1874 as laird brothers . 2 johnson cammell & co. was founded by charles cammell and henry and thomas johnson it made amongst many other metal products iron wheels and rails for britain s railways and was based in sheffield . 3 the layout of cammell laird s docks in 1909 in 1903 the businesses of messrs. cammell and laird merged to create a company at the forefront of shipbuilding . 3 the company also built a number of vehicles for the london underground . an order was placed for 20 trailer cars and 20 control trailer cars in 1919 which were known as 1920 stock and were the first tube cars to be built with doors operated by compressed air . they ran with converted french motor cars originally built in 1906 . the doors were fitted with a sensitive edge designed to re open the door if someone became trapped in it but the mechanism was too sensitive and was removed after an initial trial period . 4 the cars continued in operation until 1938 eight years after the motor cars were withdrawn but following withdrawal five cars became a mobile training school . 5 cammell laird also built a number of standard stock vehicles for the underground . they were one of five builders approached to build a sample car to a general specification which were put into service in february 1923 and three of the builders subsequently built production runs . 6 the company supplied 41 motor cars and 40 trailer cars in 1923 25 control trailers in 1924 and a further 48 motor cars in 1925 . 6 in 1927 they built 160 passenger coaches for use in india . to transport them cammell laird asked watsons of gainsborough to build five dumb barges . the coaches were loaded onto the barges at clifton near nottingham on the river trent and towed in pairs downriver by a twin screwed tug named motorman built by henry scarr of hessle in 1925 . they were taken to hull for export . 7 in 1929 the railway rolling stock business of cammell laird was spun off and merged to become metropolitan cammell carriage and wagon company ltd. between 1829 and 1947 over 1 100 vessels of all kinds were launched from the cammell laird slipways into the river mersey . among the many famous ships made by the companies were the world s first steel ship the ma roberts built in 1858 for dr. livingstone s zambezi expedition css alabama that was built in 1862 for the confederate states of america hms caroline 1914 that holds the record fastest build time of any significant warship nine months from her keel being laid till her launch the first all welded ship the fullagar built in 1920 cunard s second rms mauretania 1938 the aircraft carrier hms ark royal 91 1937 the battleship hms prince of wales 53 1941 and the largest vessel to have been built for the royal navy hms ark royal r09 1950 . in 1898 cammell provided the half inch armour plate used to fabricate the four fowler armoured road trains built during the second anglo boer war . the armoured road train was the first self propelled free roaming armoured military land vehicle ever built predating the tanks of world war one by nearly two decades . post 1945 and 1993 closure edit cammell laird s covered submarine building hall and berth cranes 2006 the company was nationalised along with the rest of the british shipbuilding industry as british shipbuilders in 1977 . in 1986 it returned to the private sector as part of barrow in furness based vickers shipbuilding and engineering ltd vsel . vsel and cammell laird were the only british shipyards capable of producing nuclear submarines . in 1993 it completed hms unicorn s43 now hmcs windsor . 1 after the end of the upholder class submarine building programme in 1993 the owners of cammell laird vsel announced the yard s closure . this was strongly opposed by the workforce through trade union campaigners including the gmb led by communist firebrand official barry williams 8 a point noted in his obituary in the liverpool daily post . re establishment and ship repair edit part of the shipyard site was leased by the coastline group as a ship repair facility . coastline eventually bought part of the shipyard and adopted the cammell laird name before floating on the london stock exchange in 1997 and acquiring dockyards at teesside tyneside and gibraltar . after experiencing financial difficulties partly due to the late withdrawal from a 50 million refit contract for the costa classica cruise ship by costa crociere the company was forced to enter receivership in april 2001 and the birkenhead teesside and tyneside shipyards owned by cammell laird shiprepair were acquired by the a & p shiprepair group in 2001 . 9 cammell laird gibraltar the royal dockyard facility in gibraltar was disposed of through a local management buyout . second rebirth as cammell laird shiprepair edit a fort victoria class replenishment oiler undergoing refit work at cammell laird 2009 a & p group sold its birkenhead subsidiary a & p birkenhead to northwestern shiprepairers & shipbuilders in 2005 . 10 peel holdings owners of the mersey docks and harbour company and 50 % owners of northwestern shiprepairers & shipbuilders purchased the cammell laird shipyard site and surrounding land in january 2007 to facilitate the proposed wirral waters development although northwestern shiprepairers & shipbuilders continue to maintain a long term lease on the shipyard facilities which will form an integral part of the regeneration scheme . 11 in 2007 it was announced that the occupiers of cammell laird dock northwestern shiprepairers & shipbuilders had acquired the rights to the cammell laird name . 12 on 17 november 2008 northwestern shiprepairers & shipbuilders officially renamed itself cammell laird shiprepairers & shipbuilders limited stating that recent economic success had made the time right and that cammell laird is an internationally recognised brand which carries tremendous goodwill when bidding for contracts . 12 13 in february 2008 it was announced that the company had won a 28m ministry of defence contract to overhaul the royal fleet auxiliary ship rfa fort rosalie . 14 in january 2010 it was announced that lairds had received a 44m order for the flight decks of the royal navy s new aircraft carrier hms queen elizabeth . 15 in may 2012 it was announced that complete shipbuilding is set to return to the yard with the awarding of preferred bidder status to build two new car ferries for dunoon based operator western ferries . 16 in october 2012 construction began . 17 in april 2014 the government authorised the procurement by the british antarctic survey of a royal research ship at an estimated cost of 200 million . in 2015 cammell laird won the construction contract . 18 the vessel is to be named rrs sir david attenborough and is expected to be in service in 2019 . 19 20 ships built by cammell laird edit ships built by cammell laird ship built type flag hms queen elizabeth 2014 aircraft carrier royal navy hms prince of wales 2016 aircraft carrier royal navy hms ark royal 1937 aircraft carrier royal navy hms ark royal 1950 aircraft carrier royal navy hms venerable 1943 aircraft carrier royal navy mv empire maccoll 1943 merchant aircraft carrier united kingdom hms audacious 1912 battleship royal navy hms exmouth 1901 battleship royal navy hms glory 1899 battleship royal navy hms mars 1896 battleship royal navy hms prince of wales 1939 battleship royal navy hms rodney 1925 battleship royal navy hms royal oak 1892 battleship royal navy hms temeraire 1939 battleship royal navy hmnzs achilles 1932 cruiser royal new zealand navy hms argonaut 1941 cruiser royal navy hms birkenhead 1915 cruiser royal navy hms cairo 1918 cruiser royal navy hms caledon 1916 cruiser royal navy hms capetown 1918 cruiser royal navy hms caroline 1914 cruiser royal navy hms castor 1915 cruiser royal navy hms charybdis 1940 cruiser royal navy hms chester 1915 cruiser royal navy hms constance 1915 cruiser royal navy hms dido 1939 cruiser royal navy hmas melbourne 1912 cruiser royal australian navy hms pathfinder 1904 cruiser royal navy hms patrol 1904 cruiser royal navy hms captain 1869 turret ship royal navy hu scar 1865 turret ship peru hnlms prins hendrik der nederlanden 1866 turret ship royal netherlands navy hms scorpion 1863 turret ship royal navy hms wivern 1863 turret ship royal navy hms aldenham 1941 destroyer royal navy hms atherstone 1939 destroyer royal navy hms badsworth 1941 destroyer royal navy hms banshee 1894 destroyer royal navy hms beaufort 1941 destroyer royal navy hms belvoir 1941 destroyer royal navy hms berkeley 1940 destroyer royal navy hms birmingham 1973 destroyer royal navy hms blencathra 1940 destroyer royal navy hms brocklesby 1940 destroyer royal navy hms contest 1894 destroyer royal navy hms coventry 1974 destroyer royal navy hms devonshire 1960 destroyer royal navy hms dragon 1894 destroyer royal navy hms earnest 1896 destroyer royal navy hms edinburgh 1983 destroyer royal navy hms eskdale 1940 destroyer royal navy hms express 1896 destroyer royal navy hms fearless 1934 destroyer royal navy hms gravelines 1944 destroyer royal navy hms glaisdale 1941 destroyer royal navy hms griffon 1896 destroyer royal navy hms gurkha 1940 destroyer royal navy hms hardy 1936 destroyer royal navy hms hogue 1944 destroyer royal navy hms inglefield 1936 destroyer royal navy hms ithuriel 1916 destroyer royal navy hms lagos 1944 destroyer royal navy hms lively 1901 destroyer royal navy hms lively 1941 destroyer royal navy hms liverpool 1980 destroyer royal navy hms lizard 1911 destroyer royal navy hms locust 1896 destroyer royal navy hms lynx 1894 destroyer royal navy hms malcolm 1919 destroyer royal navy hms orwell 1901 destroyer royal navy hms panther 1897 destroyer royal navy hms quail 1895 destroyer royal navy hms raider 1942 destroyer royal navy hms rapid 1942 destroyer royal navy hms scorpion 1942 destroyer royal navy hms scourge 1942 destroyer royal navy hms seal 1897 destroyer royal navy hms sluys 1945 destroyer royal navy hms sparrowhawk 1895 destroyer royal navy hms sprightly 1901 destroyer royal navy hms swift 1943 destroyer royal navy hms teazer 1943 destroyer royal navy hms tenacious 1943 destroyer royal navy hms thrasher 1895 destroyer royal navy hms undaunted 1943 destroyer royal navy hms ulysses 1943 destroyer royal navy