Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Co

The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited was a British shipbuilding company in the famous Govan area on the Clyde in Scotland.

Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Navy and other navies through the First World War and the Second World War.

The shipyard in Govan was founded in the 1860s as Randolph, Elder and Co, later John Elder and Company. In 1885 the yard was reorganised as the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company. As this company it continued until 1965 when it filed for bankruptcy. In response, the yard was again reorganised in 1966 as Fairfields, under guarantee by the government.

The following year Fairfields and the other major yards of the Upper Clyde - Alexander Stephens and Sons, Charles Connell and Co, Yarrow Shipbuilders and John Brown and Co - were merged to form Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS). UCS collapsed amid much controversy in 1971, and as part of the recovery deal, Fairfields was formed into Govan Shipbuilders which was nationalised as part of British Shipbuilders. On the breakup of British Shipbuilders under denationalisation, the former Fairfields yards were sold to the Kværner group, as Kværner (Govan). In 1999 the yard passed to BAE Systems via the incorporation of Marconi Marine from GEC-Marconi. It is now part of BAE Systems Naval Ships.

Shipbuilding

• 1870s - The yard mainly made liners for a number of Far Eastern and Australasian companies, many of whom went on to have long term associations with the yard.
• 1880s - The yard concentrated on building Blue Riband record breakers. This led on to many orders for express liners although commercially speaking, the faster ships were less effective as the design required a reduction in passenger room. The yard also made steam yachts and coastal and cross-Channel packets.
• 1900s - The yard enjoyed many orders from the Admiralty; this enabled it to ride out the cyclical slumps that shipbuilding experienced during the early part of the century. Orders came in for boat destroyers, cruisers, and battleships. Sir William G. Pearce, Chairman of the yard also founded Canadian Pacific Steamships and many Canadian Empresses were made by the yard for them.
• 1907 - Sir William G. Pearce died and eventually Alexander Gracies became the Managing Director. Gracie focussed on continually modernising the yard.
• World War I - The yard built 50 warships including 24 destroyers, three cruisers, nine submarines, a train ferry and other minor craft.
• 1919 - The Northumberland Shipping Company purchased a large block of shares in the Company and this began the Northumberland Groups rise to prominence on the global shipbuilding scene.
• 1920s - The yard continued making top-end liners, however, the slump of the early 20s slowed work until 1923. In addition the yard manufactured five refrigerated meat carriers.
• 1930s - Admiralty work dried up and the yard mainly focussed on refit and maintenance work. One of the newer yards, the West yard was closed and then demolished in 1934. In 1935 the yard was taken over by the Lithgow Brothers. It was not until 1935 that orders started to pick back up again.
• 1940s - The yard was manufacturing vessels for the Admiralty as the War loomed.
• World War II - The yard made battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers as well as two sloops, three large tank landing craft and other minor craft.
• Post-War - The yard returned to building merchant ship replacements and ever larger tankers and ore-oil carriers.
• 1950s - The yard made liners and other Admiralty related vessels; cruisers, frigates, missile cruisers, and a cable ship.
• 1960s - The yard received orders for ten Turkish ferries and then entered a phase of modernisation. However, the cost of modernisation was too high and the yard's owners Lithgow’s put the yard into receivership. The Geddes Report recommended that the yard be merged with five others, and the Fairfield yard became the Govan yard of UCS.
• 1970s - The British Government had stepped in and offered finance under the new name of Fairfields (Glasgow) Ltd. New working practices were introduced to address industrial action/unrest which were eventually enshrined in the Employment Protection Acts of 1977. However, the yard continued to have a top-heavy management structure, low productivity and huge debts. A new company was formed to try and address this: Govan Shipbuilders Ltd. The yard continued making large bulker vessels. British shipbuilding was nationalised on 1st July 1977 and Govan Shipbuilders Ltd became a member of British Shipbuilders Ltd. The yard continued making very large bulkers and container ships.
• 1980s - Container ships and Great Lakes grain carriers were the staple of the yard. the yard also made a massive passenger ferry for North Sea Ferries which cost £40M. The yard went back into private ownership in 1988. It was sold to Kvaerner Industries A/S, Norway in what appears to have been a secret deal between the British Government and the European Economic Commission.
• 1990s - The yard made its first profit for thirty years. In 1999 the yard was sold again to BAE Systems via the incorporation of Marconi Marine from GEC-Marconi. It is now part of BAE Systems Naval Ships.

Sources of Information

[1] Wikipedia British Shipbuilding Yards. 3 vols by Norman L. Middlemiss