Appledore Shipbuilders
Encyclopedia
History
River Torridge
The River Torridge is a river in Devon in England. It was the home of Tarka the Otter in Henry Williamson's book. The Torridge local government district is named after the river....
. The Richmond Dry Dock was built in 1856 by William Yeo and named after Richmond Bay in Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
, where the Yeo family
James Yeo (shipbuilder)
James Yeo was an Cornish-born shipbuilder, merchant, farmer and political figure in Prince Edward Island.He was born in Kilkhampton, Cornwall, UK, the son of James Yeo. Yeo married Mary Francis in 1812. He married Damaris Sargent in 1819 after the death of his first wife...
's shipping fleet was based.
The business was led by Philip Kelly Harris during the early part of the 20th century and known as P.K. Harris & Sons until 1963 when it became Appledore Shipbuilders.
In 1964 the Company was acquired by Court Line
Court Line
Court Line was a prominent British holiday charter airline during the early 1970s based at Luton Airport in Bedfordshire. It also provided bus services in Luton and surrounding areas....
, a travel business. A new shipyard was built on a greenfield site
Greenfield land
Greenfield land is a term used to describe undeveloped land in a city or rural area either used for agriculture, landscape design, or left to naturally evolve...
in Appledore at a cost of about £4m opened in 1970. Court Line collapsed in 1974 and Appledore Shipbuilders was nationalised and subsequently subsumed into British Shipbuilders
British Shipbuilders
British Shipbuilders Corporation was a public corporation that owned and managed the shipbuilding industry in England and Scotland from 1977 and through the 1980s...
. By the late 1980s the only yards still held in state ownership were the smaller Appledore and Ferguson
Ferguson Shipbuilders
Ferguson Shipbuilders Limited is a shipyard located in Port Glasgow on the River Clyde in Scotland. It is the last remaining shipbuilder on the lower Clyde, and is currently the only builder of merchant ships on the river - the company's mainstay has long been Roll-on/roll-off ferries.-History:The...
yards. Appledore was eventually sold to North East Shipbuilders Ltd in 1989, with the combined company renamed A&P Appledore International
A&P Group
A&P Group Ltd is the largest ship repair and conversion company in the UK, with three shipyards located in Hebburn, Middlesbrough and Falmouth. The Company undertakes a wide variety of maintenance and repair work on commercial and military ships with projects ranging from a two day alongside repair...
.
In the late 1990s the two square-rigged sail training
Sail training
From its modern interpretations to its antecedents when maritime nations would send young naval officer candidates to sea , sail training provides an unconventional and effective way of building many useful skills on and off the water....
ships of the Tall Ships Youth Trust
Tall Ships Youth Trust
Tall Ships Youth Trust is a sail training organisation in the United Kingdom that currently owns and operates a two mast brig, the Stavros S Niarchos, and four 22m/72 ft Challenger class racing yachts....
, the Prince William
Prince William (ship)
PNS Rah Naward is a sail training ship of the Pakistan Navy. She was commissioned in 2001 as Prince William for the Tall Ships Youth Trust and sold in 2010 to the Pakistan Navy and renamed Rah Naward ....
and the Stavros S Niarchos
Stavros S Niarchos (ship)
The Stavros S Niarchos is a British brig-rigged tall ship owned and operated by the Tall Ships Youth Trust. She is primarily designed to provide young people with the opportunity to undertake voyages as character-building exercises, rather than pure sail-training...
, were completed at Appledore, by performing substantial modifications to two bare hulls begun in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Appledore built two Róisín class patrol boat
Patrol boat
A patrol boat is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defense duties.There have been many designs for patrol boats. They may be operated by a nation's navy, coast guard, or police force, and may be intended for marine and/or estuarine or river environments...
s for the Irish Naval Service
Irish Naval Service
The Naval Service is the navy of Ireland and is one of the three standing branches of the Irish Defence Forces. Its main base is in Haulbowline, County Cork....
: LÉ Róisín (P51)
LÉ Róisín (P51)
LÉ Róisín is the lead ship of her class of offshore patrol vessel in the Irish Naval Service.-History:Róisín was built by Appledore Shipbuilders in Devon, entered service with the Irish Naval Service in September 1999 and is based at the Haulbowline Island, Cork Harbour Headquarters and...
was completed in 1999 and LÉ Niamh (P52)
LÉ Niamh (P52)
LÉ Niamh is a in the Irish Naval Service. It is the youngest ship in service in the Irish fleet, and is named after Niamh, queen of Tír na nÓg, from Irish mythology.-History:...
in 2001. In 2010 Ireland ordered a further two, larger, patrol vessels from Babcock, which will also be built at Appledore; these will be constructed from 2012 to 2015.
In October 2003 the Appledore shipyard went into receivership, and in early 2004 was acquired by DML
Devonport Management Limited
DML was the company which owns and manages Devonport Royal Dockyard, the largest dockyard in Western Europe. DML was owned by Babcock International Group who purchased it from previous owners; KBR , Balfour Beatty and The Weir Group ....
, the operators of Devonport dockyard
HMNB Devonport
Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...
.
The company was reconstituted as Appledore Shipbuilders (2004) Limited and was run by the DML subsidiary DML Appledore. During this period the yard's main activity was the installation of machinery packages and other systems for luxury yachts for Devonport Yachts Ltd. In June 2007, Babcock International Group
Babcock International Group
Babcock International Group plc is a British-based support services company specialising in managing complex assets and infrastructure in safety-critical and mission-critical environments. Although the company has civil contracts, its main business is with public bodies, particularly the UK...
acquired DML, including its operations at the Appledore Shipyard, renaming them Babcock Marine Appledore.
From 2009 through at least 2013, the chief activity at Appledore will be constructing elements of the two Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers. The yard completed bow sections for HMS Queen Elizabeth in April 2010; these were shipped to Rosyth Dockyard
Rosyth Dockyard
Rosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which primarily undertakes refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels.-History:...
for integration with other modules; the yard will continue to build flight deck sponson
Sponson
Sponsons are projections from the sides of a watercraft, for protection, stability, or the mounting of equipment such as armaments or lifeboats, etc...
s and centre blocks for Queen Elizabeth. From 2012 Appledore will build similar sections for Queen Elizabeth's sister ship HMS Prince of Wales.
Ships built at Appledore
The company has built more than 350 vessels, including small and medium-sized military craft, bulk carrierBulk carrier
A bulk carrier, bulk freighter, or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo, such as grains, coal, ore, and cement in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, economic forces have fueled the development of these ships,...
s, LNG carrier
LNG carrier
An LNG carrier is a tank ship designed for transporting liquefied natural gas . As the LNG market grows rapidly, the fleet of LNG carriers continues to experience tremendous growth.-History:...
s, superyachts, ferries, and oil-industry support vessels. Specific ships include:
Survey vessels Tall ships Superyachts Ferries |
Patrol vessels Research ships Commercial vessels
Dredgers
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