World Unicorn, built by Swan Hunter at the Wallsend shipyard, Tyneside in 1973.Tanker Ottawa launch, Wallsend shipyard, circa 1964
Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding design, engineering, and management company,[1] based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England.
At its apex, the company represented the combined forces of three powerful shipbuilding families: Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson.
The company was responsible for some of the greatest ships of the early 20th century, most famously RMSMauretania which held the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic, and RMSCarpathia which rescued survivors from RMSTitanic.
In 2006 Swan Hunter ceased vessel construction on Tyneside, but continues to provide design engineering services.
In 1903, C.S. Swan & Hunter merged with Wigham Richardson (founded by John Wigham Richardson as Neptune Works in 1860), specifically to bid for the important contract to build RMSMauretania on behalf of Cunard.[4] Their bid was successful, and the new company, Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd, went on to build what was to become, in its day, the most famous oceangoing liner in the world. Also in 1903, the Company took a controlling interest in the Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company, which was an early licensed manufacturer of Parsons steam turbine engines, which enabled Mauretania to achieve her great speed.[5]Mauretania was launched from Wallsend on 20 September 1906 by the Duchess of Roxburghe.[6] The firm expanded rapidly in the early part of the twentieth century, acquiring the Glasgow-based Barclay Curle in 1912.[5]
The Company was privatised again in 1987 but decided to close its Neptune Yard in 1988.[12] It was then forced to call in the receivers when the UK government awarded the contract for HMSOcean to Kvaerner Govan in 1993.[13] The receiver took steps to break up the business.[14] However, the main shipyard in Wallsend was bought out from receivership by Jaap Kroese, a Dutch millionaire.[7] The yard subsequently undertook several ad-hoc ship repair and conversion projects for private-sector customers.[15]
A view of the Wallsend shipyard shortly after its closure
In 2000, Swan Hunter was awarded the contract to design and build two (Auxiliary) Landing Ship Dock ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary with two other ships being built by BAE Systems Naval Ships: the cost of the two Swan Hunter ships was to be £210 million including £62 million for lead yard services, with an inservice date of 2004.[16] By July 2006, the costs had risen to £309 million and only one ship had been delivered. As a result of this, the second ship RFALyme Bay was transferred to BAE Systems Govan in Glasgow for completion.[17]
In November 2006, after the failure to complete Lyme Bay within budget and resulting exclusion from future Royal Navy shipbuilding projects, Jaap Kroese announced that the business was effectively finished and placed the Wallsend Yard's iconic cranes up for sale. He also said that he was actively looking for a buyer for the land.[20] During this time, Lyme Bay's earlier sister ship, Largs Bay, was noted as the last ship to be built and fully completed by Swan Hunter. In April 2007, Swan Hunter's cranes, along with its floating dock and other equipment, were sold to Bharati Shipyards, India's second-largest private-sector shipbuilder. The entire plant machinery and equipment from Swan Hunter was dismantled and transported to India over six months to be rebuilt at Bharati Shipyards.[21]
Swan's performed the conceptual design of Pioneering Spirit, provisionally named Pieter Schelte, the world's largest platform installation/decommissioning and pipelay vessel. The basic design of the lifting systems was completed by the end of 2008, and detailed design of the hulls by May 2010.[22]
In 2008, the company said it was concentrating on ship design with just under 200 people employed.[1][23]
In 2016, Jaap Kroese died but the company said it would continue with its business of ship design. At the time, the company had 40 employees and contractors.[24]
Also in 2016, Swan Hunter was relaunched into the subsea industry by Gerard Kroese, the eldest son of former owner Jaap Kroese. Swan Hunter started to offer specialist equipment, design, engineering & project management services to the offshore renewables and subsea oil & gas energy markets.[25] On 12 October 2016, the company announced the issue of a letter of intent for the design and build of a basket carousel loading tower.[26] The company announced further equipment pool growth through a 15Te tensioner and 450Te reel drive system.[27] Swan Hunter announced loading tower readiness on 5 May 2017[28] with completion of mobilisation onto EMAS Chiyoda Subsea's multi-lay vessel 'Lewek Constellation' shortly thereafter.[29]
Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies 4 miles east of Newcastle upon Tyne.
HMS Janus, named after the Roman god, was a Javelin or J-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was ordered from the Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited at Wallsend-on-Tyne as part of the 1936 Build Programme and laid down on 29 September 1937, launched on 10 November 1938 and commissioned on 5 August 1939.
RFA Abbeydale (A109) was a fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and was originally one of six ships ordered by the British Tanker Co which were purchased on the stocks by the Admiralty. She was built by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd and launched on 28 December 1936. Abbeydale served until being decommissioned on 18 September 1959 and laid up at HMNB Devonport. She was then sold for scrapping, arriving at the Thos. W. Ward breakers' yards at Barrow-in-Furness on 4 September 1960.
RFA Arndale (A133) was a Dale-class fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, originally one of six ships ordered by the British Tanker Company which were purchased on the stocks by the Admiralty. She was decommissioned on 12 August 1959 and was laid up at Rosyth.
HMS Spitfire was an Acasta-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. Spitfire took part in the battle of Jutland in 1916.
The Wigham Richardson shipbuilding company was named after its founder, John Wigham Richardson (1837-1908), the son of Edward Richardson, a tanner from Newcastle upon Tyne, and Jane Wigham from Edinburgh.
John Wigham Richardson was a British shipbuilder on Tyneside during the late 19th and early 20th century.
Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company Ltd was formerly an independent company, located on the River Tyne at Point Pleasant, near Wallsend, Tyne & Wear, around a mile downstream from the Swan Hunter shipyard, with which it later merged.
HMS Scarborough was a Hastings-class sloop of the Royal Navy launched in 1930. She served in the Second World War, especially as a convoy escort in the North Atlantic.
R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, usually referred to as Hawthorn Leslie, was a shipbuilder and locomotive manufacturer. The company was founded on Tyneside in 1886 and ceased building ships in 1982.
Tyne and Wear Archives is the record office for the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Tyne and Wear Archives preserve documents relating to the area from the 12th to the 21st century. It is based in the former headquarters of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, which it shares with Discovery Museum in Newcastle upon Tyne.
HMS L33 was a British L-class submarine built by Swan Hunter, Wallsend, laid down in September 1917, launched in May 1919, and completed in December 1920. She was armed with six torpedo tubes, and had a top speed of 17 knots while surfaced. She had an uneventful career that included a deployment to the China Station in 1928. Obsolescent by the early 1930s, L33 was sold in February 1932 and broken up.
HMS Port Napier was a British motor ship that was designed and laid down as a civilian cargo ship but completed in 1940 as an auxiliary minelayer for the Royal Navy. An engine room fire caused an explosion that destroyed her in November 1940. Her remains in Loch Alsh in Scotland are now a recreational wreck diving site.
HMS Superb was a Minotaur-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. The ship entered service in 1945 and had a brief, quiet career before being decommissioned in 1957 after her modernisation was cancelled. She was broken up in 1960.
SS City of Paris was a steam passenger ship launched in 1920 and completed in 1922 for the Ellerman Lines. She was requisitioned for service by the British government during the Second World War.
HMS Artifex was a repair ship of the Royal Navy from late in the Second World War and into the Cold War. Launched as the Cunard liner RMS Aurania she was requisitioned on the outbreak of war to serve as an armed merchant cruiser. Damaged by a U-boat while sailing with an Atlantic convoy, she was purchased outright and converted to a floating workshop, spending the rest of her life as a support ship for the navy.
Clelands Shipbuilding Company was a leading British shipbuilding company. The Company was based in Wallsend was nationalised by the British Government. It was founded in 1864 by John and Thomas Cleland, and operated until it was acquired by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson in 1967. The company built a variety of ships, including passenger ships, cargo ships, and naval vessels.
HMS Grove (L77) was a Hunt-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She had been completed in early 1942 at the Swan Hunter yard at Wallsend-on-Tyne.
HMS Torrid was an R-class destroyer which served with the Royal Navy during World War I. The ship was launched on 10 February 1917 and served as part of the Harwich Force. Subsequently, Torrid was used in the 1930s as a trials ship for new anti-submarine warfare weapons, particularly playing a role in the development of ASDIC. During this time, the destroyer was commanded by Charles Pizey, later the first Chief of the Naval Staff of the Indian Navy. The vessel was wrecked off the Falmouth coast en route to being broken up on 16 March 1937.
RMSKnight of Malta was a cargo liner built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd in 1929. She was owned and operated by Cassar Co. Ltd. in Malta. During World War II, she was requisitioned by the Admiralty as an armed boarding vessel and stores carrier. She ran aground off Libya on the night of 2–3 March 1941, with no casualties.
↑ Lloyds (1931–32). "Lloyd's Register"(PDF). Lloyd's Register (through PlimsollShipData). Archived from the original(PDF) on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
Johnston, Ian; Buxton, Ian (2013). The Battleship Builders - Constructing and Arming British Capital Ships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN978-1-59114-027-6.
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