British Shipbuilding Research Articles

Electric Arc Welding and the British Shipbuilding Industry, 1914–1960

Electric Arc Welding and the British Shipbuilding Industry, 1914–1960

Greenfield Shipyards and Modernization in the British Shipbuilding Industry and Elsewhere, 1900–1977

This article considers the largely neglected topic of greenfield shipyards and modernization in British shipbuilding from 1900 to 1977. Post-1945, the end of the long-seller’s market for shipbuilders in 1958 ushered in a sustained period of intense international competition just as spatially limited British shipbuilding firms had begun, rather late in the day, to modernize their yards in an attempt to compete with more capital intensive-orientated and less spatially constrained shipyards in Japan and Sweden, and later, South Korea. Government then played an increasing role in modernizing the industry through grants and loans during the 1960s and early 1970s, but the industry continued to struggle, particularly three large firms engaged in VLCC construction before and after the OPEC oil price hikes in 1973-74 and thereafter to nationalization of the industry in 1977.

Price collusion, rationalisation and Admiralty oversight in British shipbuilding: The case of the Warship Group, 1926–1945

Between 1925 and 1935, several private firms capable of constructing warships, or parts thereof, collapsed, merged or were partly or fully ‘sterilised’ against any return to shipbuilding during a period of ‘rationalisation’ to reduce perceived overcapacity relative to demand in British shipbuilding. Thereafter, rearmament had the opposite effect upon industry; lack of capacity in some key areas created almost unprecedented demand, and led eventually to uncontrolled price collusion and profits, particularly on warship contracts. An investigation into profiteering was undertaken in 1943, which embarrassed the remaining builders and their principal contractors. This article establishes that the Admiralty had allowed a form of price-fixing at taxpayers’ expense to proliferate for some time, a largely unknown episode that spanned the years of disarmament and rearmament. Further, it explains how and why collusion occurred when it did, and discusses the catalytic role of shipyard rationalisation. Finally, we conclude by suggesting reasons for such loose Admiralty control of warship costs during rearmament.

Research Organizations in British Shipbuilding and Large Marine Engine Manufacture: 1900-1945 (Part I)

Cet article est le premier d’une série de trois sur les organismes de recherche en construction navale britannique et en fabrication de gros moteurs marins (diésel et à turbine). Dans cette première partie, qui traite de la période 1900-1945, l’auteur analyse les antécédents et la création ultérieure de deux associations de recherche propres à l’industrie, soit la British Shipbuilding Research Association et la Parsons Marine Turbine Research and Development Association, toutes deux créées en 1944. Il traite également de William Doxford & Sons, le premier fabricant britannique de moteurs diésel marins à faible vitesse établi sur la rivière Wear à Sunderland et, tangentiellement, du National Physical Laboratory, une institution financée par l’État, et sa division des navires.

Research Organisations in British Shipbuilding and Large Marine Engine Building Manufacture: 1960-1977 (Part III)

Cet article fait suite aux parties I et II, publiées dans les deux numéros précédents de cette revue. Il traite de la période 1960 à 1977, lorsque la grande majorité des entreprises britanniques de construction navale et de fabrication de gros moteurs marins ont été nationalisées par la British Shipbuilders Corporation en juillet 1977. L’auteur examine la publication de trois rapports historiques parrainés par le gouvernement sur la construction navale et la fabrication de moteurs marins en Grande-Bretagne, soit DSIR en 1960, SIC en 1965-1966 et Booz, Allen et Hamilton en 1973. Il examine également un rapport de 1962 sur la productivité de l’industrie de la construction navale et il termine en évaluant les répercussions de la BSRA, de Pametrada, de Doxford, du YARD et de la Division des navires du NPL sur la construction navale et la fabrication de moteurs marins en Grande-Bretagne jusqu’en 1977.

Research Organisations in British Shipbuilding and Large Marine Engine Manufacture (Part II)

Cet article fait suite à la première partie, qui traitait de la période 1900 à 1944. Ici, l’auteur étudie l’impact de la British Ship Research Association, de la Parsons Marine Turbine Research and Development Association et, de façon tangentielle, d’un groupe de conseil en recherche privé, le Yarrow Admiralty Research Department (Y-ARD), une filiale de Yarrow Shipbuilders établie dans le district Scotstoun de la rivière Upper Clyde, et le National Physical Laboratory (NPL). Il traite également de William Doxford & Sons, avant d’évaluer l’impact individuel et collectif de ces sociétés jusqu’en 1959, ainsi que la situation générale de la construction navale britannique et la fabrication de gros moteurs maritimes.

A shipbuilding consultancy is born: The birth, growth and subsequent takeovers of A&P Appledore (International) Limited, and the A&P Group, 1971–2017

There is a distinct lacuna in the historiography of British shipbuilding in that the role of independent consultants within it is largely unknown. This article attempts to rectify this gap by analysing the birth, growth and subsequent denouement of the industry’s most important consulting firm, A&P Appledore (International) Ltd (APA), and setting it in its domestic and international context. Sadly, through its various incarnations, the business records of APA have been lost. However, this article draws upon the recollections and retained correspondence of two senior directors of APA, John Craggs and Roger Vaughan, and other APA consultants. As such, it sheds new light on an under-researched aspect of British and international shipbuilding history.

英国造船業と韓国・現代グループの造船業参入 : 英国造船所の技術供与戦略とその挫折

英国造船業と韓国・現代グループの造船業参入 : 英国造船所の技術供与戦略とその挫折

Old Methods Versus New: A comparison of Very Large Crude Carrier construction at Scott Lithgow and Hyundai Heavy Industries, 1970–1977

This article compares and contrasts Very Large Crude Carrier shipbuilding at Scott Lithgow's Glen shipyard, Port Glasgow, Scotland and Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard, Ulsan, South Korea, initially to the same design, and VLCC shipbuilding in the United Kingdom, 1970–77 in general, at the two other United Kingdom shipyards capable of constructing VLCCs, Swan Hunter on Tyneside and Harland & Wolff in Belfast. It also discusses the collapse of the British shipbuilding industry's major customer for VLCCs, Maritime Fruit Carriers.

Measuring Britain's Merchant Shipbuilding Output in the Twentieth Century

This article reports on work done to arrive at a reliable estimate of British shipbuilding output in the twentieth century. Three datasets are considered: the annual figures of the Shipbuilding Conference, those of Lloyd's Register and those of the British Shipbuilding Database (BSD). Differences between the figures are explored and reconciliation attempted by examining the sources used by compilers of the datasets in order to arrive at what is believed to be the most accurate estimate yet attempted of British shipbuilding output in the twentieth century. The article is notable in that for the first time a table of completions has been compiled for the entire century.

The ‘internationalisation’ of accounting history publishing

The World Congress at Newcastle, United Kingdom was the thirteenth such event. It attracted delegates from across the world and 119 papers were presented – 66% from academics from four countries (Italy, Turkey, UK and US). Most of these papers (75%) covered the period from 1800 onwards. This paper sets out the contextual framework in which the papers presented at the World Congress should be viewed with particular reference to the problems faced by non-Anglo-Saxon academics trying to publish in English-language journals. It then introduces the papers accepted for the special issue, highlighting some of the overlapping themes. These papers cover a wider range of topics than is usual in English-speaking journals (two relating to British Shipbuilding, one on accounting developments from Mesopotamia to today, one on Japanese accounting in World War II and two on medieval accounting (in England and Turkey).

Work organization conventions and the declining competitiveness of the British shipbuilding industry, 1930-1970

This article attributes the declining competitiveness of the British shipbuilding industry from the 1930s to employers' slow and imperfect substitution of bureaucratic for craft conventions of work organization. An explanation is developed for this excess inertia. First, the article maintains that the interdependent nature of British employers' decision-making on matters of training and work organization tended to “lock-in” individual firms to a particular configuration. Secondly, it is shown how the uncertainty over the need for reform perceived by the majority of builders prevented the more progressive minority from using the industry’s collective employers' association to coordinate a timely switch to a more bureaucratic convention. Thirdly, it is argued that once these obstacles were overcome, the process of achieving organizational reform was slowed or even blocked by a lack of trust between labor and management.

“No Longer Competitive with Continental Shipbuilders:” British Shipbuilding and International Competition, 1930–1960

espanolEste articulo analiza las actitudes de la industria de construccion naval britanica y sus respuestas a la competencia internacional inmediatamente antes y despues de la II Guerra Mundial desde la perspectiva de sus asociaciones empresariales nacionales –la Federacion de Patrones de los Astilleros (siglas en ingles, SEF), fundada en 1899, que se ocupaba primordialmente de las relaciones laborales, y la Confederacion de Constructores Navales (SC), su asociacion empresarial, creada en 1928. El articulo emplea notas y material manuscrito de los archivos de estas asociaciones para ilustrar las actitudes privadas hacia la competencia, la modernizacion y las relaciones laborales. De esta forma, situa las raices de los problemas de competitividad internacional del sector claramente en el periodo de entreguerras. EnglishThis article analyzes the attitudes of the British shipbuilding industry and its responses to international competition immediately prior to and after the Second World War from the perspective of its national organizations – the Shipbuilding Employers Federation (SEF), founded in 1899, which dealt primarily with labour matters, and the Shipbuilding Conference (SC), its trade association, founded in 1928. It utilizes shorthand notes and manuscript material in their records to illustrate private attitudes towards competition, modernization and labour matters. As such, it places the roots of the industry’s problems with international competiveness firmly in the interwar period.

The growth and development of Clarke Chapman from 1864 to 1914

Clarke Chapman was the main supplier of leading-edge auxiliary equipment to the British shipbuilding industry before the First World War. Penrose's theory was used to examine the company's growth. The findings of this study show that the ownership structure and the governance of the family-owned firm shaped its growth path. Product expansion driven by financial slack was followed by the development of new capabilities as shipbuilding converted from sail to steam-power. The next phase was geographical and international expansion underpinned by human resource slack. Additional productive opportunities were created by recruiting specialist human resources and pursuing hybrid modes of growth.

The British Shipbuilding Industry during the Great War: A Contextual Overview Incorporating Standardization and the National Shipyards, 1916–1920

The British Shipbuilding Industry during the Great War: A Contextual Overview Incorporating Standardization and the National Shipyards, 1916–1920

Subsidy and Treasury: the Trade Facilities Act and the UK Shipbuilding Industry in the 1920s

This article analyses the impact of government policy towards British unemployment in the post First World War period. It attempts to do this through the prism of the Trades Facilities Act and the impact on British shipbuilding. The treasury, however, were opposed given other priorities and the effect of the scheme remains, at best, contentious.

Continuity and change in British cost accounting development: the case of Hawthorn Ieslie, shipbuilders and engineers, 1886–1914

This article examines the cost accounting system of a British shipbuilding and engineering firm during the late nineteenth, early twentieth centuries. Research findings indicate a high level of continuity in the essential features of the system, with a trend to produce information outside of the accounting ledgers in order to satisfy managerial information requirements. Furthermore, while accounting information provided the basis for much routine decision making and control, it played only a limited role in strategic decision making which was underlain by social and cultural considerations. The current research adds to the body of work of the neoclassical revisionists in building a new conventional wisdom of the development of British cost accounting.

The Health of Electric Arc Welders and the Adoption of Arc Welding in the British Shipbuilding Industry, 1930–1951

The Health of Electric Arc Welders and the Adoption of Arc Welding in the British Shipbuilding Industry, 1930–1951

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article:Phillipp R. Schofield, Peasant and Community in Medieval EnglandIan Kershaw & David M. Smith (eds.), The Bolton Priory CompotusMichael Jones (ed.), Revolution and Consumption in Late Medieval EnglandPeter Northeast (ed.), Wills of the Archdeaconry of SudburyPamela Sharpe, Population and Society in an East Devon ParishDonald Winch & Patrick K. O'Brien (eds.), The Political Economy of British Historical ExperienceS.D. Smith, ‘An Exact and Industrious Tradesman’Nicola Verdon, Rural Women Workers in Nineteenth‐Century EnglandJ.R. Wordie (ed.), Agriculture and Politics in EnglandLewis Johnman & Hugh Murphy, British Shipbuilding and the StateJairus Banaji, Agrarian Change in Late AntiquityAngeliki E. Laiou, The Economic History of ByzantiumAdriaan Verhulst, The Carolingian EconomyAdam Steinhouse, Workers' Participation in Post‐Liberation FrancePatrick Major & Jonathan Osmond (eds.), The Workers' and Peasants' StateRainer Karlsch & Raymond Stokes, The Chemistry must be RightMonica Chojnacka, Working Women of Early Modern VeniceHarold James & Jacob Tanner (eds.), Enterprise in the Period of Fascism in EuropeWendy Z. Goldman, Women at the GatesDavid Armitage & Michael J. Braddick (eds.), The British Atlantic worldSteven W. Usselman, Regulating Railroad InnovationNikki Mandell, The Corporation as FamilyBruce L. Gardner, American Agriculture in the Twentieth CenturyStefano Battilossi & Youssef Cassis (eds.), European Banks and the American ChallengeGeoffrey Jones & Lina Galvez‐Munoz (eds.), Foreign Multinationals in the United StatesMauro F. Guillén, The Limits of ConvergenceDennis O. Flynn, Arturo Giráldez & James Sobredo (eds.), Studies in Pacific HistoryNick Tiratsoo, Junichi Hasegawa, Tony Mason & Takao Matsumara, Urban Reconstruction in Britain and JapanDavid Zweig, Internationalizing ChinaCharles H. Feinstein & Mark Thomas, Making History CountPhillip Mirowski, Machine Dreams

Book Review: British Shipbuilding and the State since 1918: A Political Economy of Decline

Book Review: British Shipbuilding and the State since 1918: A Political Economy of Decline