Sunday, August 7, 2011

the glory days of Upper Clyde shipbuilding

The Empress of Britain was laid down in November 1928, launched in June 1930 and sailed on her maiden voyage to Quebec on 27 May 1931.  Requisitioned for troop transport in WW2 she was sunk by a German Focke-Wulf C 200 Condor long-range bomber north of the Irish coast on 26 October 1940.  Before that she had sailed to NZ in early 1940.
A photo from 1937 taken at the Fleuve Saint Laurent / Saint Lawrence River near Québec

The illustration is of the Empress of Britain being built on the Upper Cyde (Glasgow), one of the ocean liners built for the Canadian Pacific Railway (which as mentioned previously embraced other transport types).

Over 8,000 ships were built in Clyde shipyards, today only two major shipyards on the Clyde (the former Yarrow and Fairfields yards) remain in operation by BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by defence contractor BAE Systems.  An aerial 1 minute film taken in 1956.

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