Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company
At the other end of the scale, Fairfields built fast cross-channel mail steamers and ferries for locations around the world.With the knowledge that he acquired, he started as a millwright in partnership with his cousin Richard S. Cunliff,[1] who managed the commercial side.The story is closely connected to the application of the compound steam engine for marine use, in which the firm played a crucial role.The company's attempts centred on trying to prevent energy loss due to friction and premature condensation of steam.When the Crimean War broke out, freight tariffs increased to the point that the price of coal almost doubled there.In fact, in 1858 the Pacific Steam Navigation Company had 7–8 years old traditional machinery removed from three of her large steamers, and replaced by compound engines.Holt succeeded in getting the Board of Trade to lift the ban on boilers with a pressure higher than 25 lbs per square inch (psi).The use of high-pressure steam made the compound engine far more effective, and Randolph, Elder & Co. quickly adjusted.In 1871 Tagus and Moselle were launched for the Royal Mail Company's West India and Brazil trade.When his apprenticeship was completed seven years later, Sir William Pearce made him head draughtsman, and later he was promoted to assistant manager.[20][21] The fire spread rapidly and within ten minutes the vast majority of the buildings, covering several acres, were ablaze with the joiner's, pattern, and fitting shops totally destroyed.Sir Alexander Gracie, who was born in Dunvegan, worked at various other Clydeside shipbuilders before he started at Fairfield in 1896, where amongst other things he worked with Jack Fisher to develop the Invincible class for the Royal Navy, including the Indomitable, which was built at Fairfield.Dorothy Rowntree, the first woman in UK to qualify in naval architecture and to graduate in engineering from the University of Glasgow worked for the company between 1926 and 1928.[23] The Fairfield Titan was built for the yard in 1911 by Sir William Arrol & Co., with a maximum lift capacity of 200 tons.The Fairfield West Yard had been added at the outbreak of the First World War for submarine construction, but closed after ten years due to severe recession and was demolished by National Shipbuilders Securities in 1934.The Fairfield West yard site was later used by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1944 to build four landing craft.In 1968 the company was made part of Upper Clyde Shipbuilders,[29] which collapsed in 1971[30] when a strike and work-in received national press attention.[32] On the break-up of British Shipbuilders under denationalisation in 1988, the former Fairfield yard was sold to the Norwegian Kværner group and renamed Kvaerner Govan.
ShipbuildingUpper Clyde ShipbuildersGovan ShipbuildersJohn ElderSir William PearceSir James LithgowNaval shipsMerchant shipsOcean linersMarine enginesParentLithgowsRoyal NavyCunard LineCanadian PacificBlue RibandRMS CampaniaRMS LucaniaBosporusIstanbulThomas CookRobert NapierWilliam Fairbairn & SonsmillwrightTradestonGlasgowmarine engineeringcrankshaftcranksPacific Steam Navigation CompanyCrimean WarJames WattHMS ConstanceJohn Penn and SonsMaudslay, Sons and FieldAfrican Steamship CompanyAlfred HoltBoard of TradeWilliam PearceStoomvaart Maatschappij NederlandHMS Hydra was launchedFairfield Heritage CentreElder ParkDrawing OfficesJohn KeppieHoneyman and KeppieCharles Rennie MackintoshJames Pittendrigh MacgillivrayHMS ArgonautRMS Empress QueenAlexander CleghornCoventry Ordnance WorksYarrow ShipbuildersDorothy RowntreeUniversity of GlasgowFairfield TitanSir William Arrol & Co.Northumberland Shipbuilding CompanyNational Shipbuilders SecuritiesUnited States Army Corps of EngineersChepstowRiver WyePort GlasgowinsolvencyAnchor LineMabey GroupBAE Systems Surface ShipsIain Maxwell StewartThermotank LtdFairfield Experimentindustrial relationsscientific managementproductivitySean ConneryThe Bowler and the BunnetnationalisedBritish ShipbuildersKværnerKvaerner GovanBAE Systems MarineHMS DelightDaring-class Destroyeraction of 22 September 1914HMS HogueSM U-9HMS CressyHMS AboukirHMS IndomitableHMS New ZealandHMS RenownHMS CommonwealthHMS ValiantHMS HoweHMS LiverpoolNorfolkHMS CameleonHMS CometHMS GoldfinchHMS MaoriHMAS ParramattaHMS K13HMS K14HMS L15HMS L16HMS L55HMS L56HMS ImplacableHMS TheseusSS ArizonaAtheniaSS CampaniaPS Cardiff QueenCheshireRMS Empress of Britain (1905)RMS Empress of IrelandSS KeewatinSS Koning der NederlandenSS LeicestershireRMS LucaniaSS MontroseRMS OrontesSS Prins HendrikSS Prins van OranjeSS Stirling CastleSS VolturnoTEV Wahine