| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Shipbuilding |
| Founded | 1855 |
| Headquarters | Appledore, UK |
| Parent | Babcock International Group |
Appledore Shipbuilders is a shipbuilder in Appledore, North Devon.
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The Appledore Yard was founded in 1855 on the estuary of the River Torridge.[1] The Richmond Dry Dock was built in 1856 by William Yeo and named after Richmond Bay in Prince Edward Island, where the Yeo family's shipping fleet was based.[2]
The business was led by Philip Kelly Harris[3] during the early part of the 20th century and known as P.K. Harris & Sons until 1963 when it became Appledore Shipbuilders.[4]
In 1964 the Company was acquired by Court Line, a travel business.[5] A new shipyard was built on a greenfield site in Appledore at a cost of about £4m opened in 1970.[5] Court Line collapsed in 1974 and Appledore Shipbuilders was nationalised and subsequently subsumed into British Shipbuilders. By the late 1980s the only yards still held in state ownership were the smaller Appledore and Ferguson yards.[6] Appledore was eventually sold to North East Shipbuilders Ltd in 1989, with the combined company renamed A&P Appledore International.
In the late 1990s the two square-rigged sail training ships of the Tall Ships Youth Trust, the Prince William and the Stavros S Niarchos, were completed at Appledore, by performing substantial modifications to two bare hulls begun in Germany.[7]
Appledore built two Róisín class patrol boats for the Irish Naval Service: LÉ Róisín (P51) was completed in 1999 and LÉ Niamh (P52) in 2001. In 2010 Ireland ordered a further two, larger, patrol vessels from Babcock, which will also be built at Appledore; these will be constructed from 2012 to 2015.[8][9]
In October 2003 the Appledore shipyard went into receivership,[10] and in early 2004 was acquired by DML, the operators of Devonport dockyard.[11]
The company was reconstituted as Appledore Shipbuilders (2004) Limited and was run by the DML subsidiary DML Appledore. During this period the yard's main activity was the installation of machinery packages and other systems for luxury yachts for Devonport Yachts Ltd.[12] In June 2007, Babcock International Group acquired DML, including its operations at the Appledore Shipyard, renaming them Babcock Marine Appledore.
From 2009 through at least 2013, the chief activity at Appledore will be constructing elements of the two Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers. The yard completed bow sections for HMS Queen Elizabeth in April 2010; these were shipped to Rosyth Dockyard for integration with other modules;[13] the yard will continue to build flight deck sponsons and centre blocks for Queen Elizabeth.[14] From 2012 Appledore will build similar sections for Queen Elizabeth's sister ship HMS Prince of Wales.[14]
The company has built more than 350 vessels, including small and medium-sized military craft, bulk carriers, LNG carriers, superyachts, ferries, and oil-industry support vessels. Specific ships include:
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