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Swan Hunter

Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is one of the best known shipbuilding companies in the United Kingdom. Based in Wallsend, Tyne & Wear, the company was responsible for some of the greatest ships of the early 20th century - most famously, the RMS Mauretania which held the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic, and Carpathia which rescued the survivors from the Titanic.

As the name suggests, the company represented the combined forces of three powerful shipbuilding families: Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson.

Swan & Hunter was formed in 1880, and amalgamated with Wigham Richardson's ‘Neptune’ yard in 1903. Within three years, the company had won the prestigious contract from Cunard to build Mauretania.

The shipyard survived until 1993 - then trading as Swan Hunter - when it was forced to call in the receivers after the UK government awarded the contract for HMS Ocean to another shipyard, for a cut down price, which later turned out to be artificial. The final cost of the ship was more than £50 million in excess of Swan Hunter's quoted tender. The ship has been dogged with problems ever since as the UK government failed to recognise the depth of expertise within Swan Hunter. The ship was based on the design of the HMS Invincible class aircraft carriers, two of which were built at Swan Hunter, but the tender process failed to take note of this fact.

Swan Hunter was rescued from receivership by Jaap Kroese, a Dutch millionaire. Today, the yard is building ships once again, the first on the Tyne for 10 years, and is tipped to be a key partner in the construction of new aircraft carriers (future Royal Navy carriers) for the Royal Navy.

Swan Hunter once owned the Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company, which built the engines for some of its greatest ships. The company was an early manufacturer of Charles Parsons turbine engines, which enabled the RMS Mauretania to achieve its great speeed.

The current flagship of the Royal Navy, HMS Ark Royal was built at Swan Hunter, entering service in 1985.

Some of the company's ships
HMS Albion (R07)
HMS Barfleur (D80)
RMS Carpathia
HMS Corunna (D97)
HMS Gabbard (D47)
HMS Hunter (H35)
HMS Hyperion
HMS Janus
RMS Laconia
RMS Mauretania
HMS Quality
HMAS Queensborough
HMAS Stalwart
HMS St. Kitts (D18)
HMAS Sydney

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