Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding and fabrication company headquartered in London with sites in Belfast, Arnish, Appledore and Methil. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the White Star Line, including Olympic-class trio – RMS Olympic, RMS Titanic and HMHS Britannic. Outside of White Star Line, other ships that have been built include the Royal Navy's HMS Belfast; Royal Mail Line's Andes; Shaw, Savill & Albion's Southern Cross; Union-Castle's RMS Pendennis Castle; P&O's Canberra; and Hamburg-America's SS Amerika of 1905. Harland and Wolff's official history, Shipbuilders to the World, was published in 1986.
A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes more involved with original construction, dockyards are sometimes more linked with maintenance and basing activities. The terms are routinely used interchangeably, in part because the evolution of dockyards and shipyards has often caused them to change or merge roles.
RFA Eddyreef (A202) was an Eddy-class coastal tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
RFA Wave King (A182) was a Wave-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary built at Govan by Harland & Wolff Ltd. In 1945, she served in the Far East with the British Pacific Fleet, designated Task Force 57 upon joining the United States fleet. On 6 May 1945 Wave King and Wave Monarch were with the Logistic Support Group 300 miles south-east of Miyako to refuel Task Force 57 which was launching air strikes against island targets in the Okinawa campaign.
RFA Black Ranger (A163) was a British diesel-powered Ranger-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, built by Harland & Wolff at their yard in Govan. On 27 February 1941, shortly after her commissioning, she was involved in a collision with the French destroyer Mistral which sustained minor damage and Black Ranger spent a short period under repair on the Clyde.
RFA Blue Ranger (A157) was a Ranger-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She was launched by Harland & Wolff from their Govan yard on 29 January 1941 and served until June 1966 when she was laid up in reserve at Devonport. In January 1972 she was sold commercially and renamed Korytsa. The ship was scrapped at Aliaga in September 1987.
RFA Brown Ranger (A169) was a Ranger-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. During the Second World War she played an important role in the Malta Convoys and in Pacific operations. From 24 September to 30 September 1941 Brown Ranger was deployed as part of Force S in Operation Halberd, refuelling the ships of convoy WS 11X, en route from the Clyde to Malta via Gibraltar. Brown Ranger deployed again from Gibraltar on 16 November 1941 as part of Operation Chieftain, returning on 18 November. On 11 June 1942 she was part of Force Y in Operation Harpoon, supplying the escorts of convoy WS 19Z.
RFA Dingledale (A144) was a Dale-class fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She was first based at Gibraltar, and served as escort oiler on several Malta Convoys. During Operation Pedestal, together with RFA Brown Ranger, she fuelled one cruiser and 24 destroyers in 14 hours. Narrowly escaping damage during a severe air raid in Bône in December 1942, she survived to join the Pacific Fleet Train, and was present for the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay. After the war, she carried out routine freighting duties. She was decommissioned on 10 May 1959, and was laid up at Devonport.
Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding design, engineering, and management company, based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England.
British Shipbuilders (BS) was a public corporation that owned and managed the shipbuilding industry in Great Britain from 1977 through the 1980s. Its head office was at Benton House in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
The Loch class was a class of anti-submarine (A/S) frigate built for the Royal Navy and her Allies during World War II. They were an innovative design based on the experience of three years of fighting in the Battle of the Atlantic and attendant technological advances. Some shipyards had trouble building these larger ships, which led to widespread use of the Castle-class corvette, introduced around the same time.
The Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Limited was a major Scottish shipbuilding company based in Dundee, Scotland that traded for more than a century and built more than 500 ships.
Henry Robb, Limited, known colloquially as Robbs, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based at Leith Docks in Edinburgh. Robbs was notable for building small-to-medium sized vessels, particularly tugs and dredgers.
The Wave class was a class of replenishment oilers built for service supporting the Royal Navy during the later years of the Second World War. They were subsequently transferred to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary after the end of the war, and went on to support British and allied fleet units in Cold War conflicts such as the Korean War.
The Dale class were a class of replenishment oilers taken up for service with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, supporting the Royal Navy during the inter-war period. They went on to see action during the Second World War and supported British and allied fleet units in Cold War conflicts such as the Korean War.
SS Empire Metal was the name of two steamships in the service of the British Government.
A fleet solid support ship is a type of Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) ship designed to supply solids, such as ammunition, explosives and food, to Royal Navy ships at sea. The term can also refer to the programme to replace the RFA's existing solid support ships, the Fleet Solid Support Ship Programme.
The Jubilee class were a group of five passenger and cargo ocean liners built by Harland and Wolff at Belfast, for the White Star Line, specifically for the White Star Line's service from the UK to Australia on the Liverpool–Cape Town–Sydney route. The five ships in order of the dates they entered service were:
The Fleet Solid Support Ship Programme (FSSP) aims to deliver up to three fleet solid support ships to the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The ships will be used to provide underway replenishment of dry stores, such as ammunition, spare parts and supplies, to ships of the Royal Navy. They will regularly deploy with the UK Carrier Strike Group, providing crucial supplies to the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and their escorts. All three ships had been scheduled to enter service between 2028 and 2032. However, subsequently the Ministry of Defence indicated that the first ship would in fact not be operational until 2031.
SS Potaro was a refrigerated cargo steamship that was built in Belfast in 1904, and captured and scuttled in the First World War in 1915.
Royal Fleet Auxiliary