British Underwater Engineering
1979 British Underwater Engineering was formed to take over Vickers Offshore and Vickers Slingsby's group interests[1], owned 90 percent by National Enterprise Board and 10 percent by Brown and Root
The Chairman of the company was Rick Wharton and David Sadler was managing director.
1980 Had 600 employees; acquired 11 further mini-submarines and 5 offshore support vessels[2]
The British Technology Group held a 72% interest.
1982 Acquired a 75% interest in submersible operator HMB Subwork. The firm already manufactured the one-man submersible "Spider" through the subsidiary Slingsby Engineering. But the acquisition of HMB who operated six Mantis-type one man submersibles, meant BUE had a stronger presence in the North Sea offshore services market.[3]