Henry_Robb

Henry Robb

Henry Robb, Limited, known colloquially as Robbs, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based at Leith Docks in Edinburgh. Robbs was notable for building small-to-medium sized vessels, particularly tugs and dredgers.

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History

The company was founded on 1 April 1918 by Henry Robb, a former yard manager for Ramage & Ferguson shipbuilders, who lay around 1 km to the east.[1] Robb was born in Partick, Glasgow in 1874 to Henry Robb (1843-1894), a ships caulker, and his wife Martha Simpson (1840–78). He married Mary Baird Mcintosh Cowan in 1903 and their son, Henry Cowan Robb (1932-2018), became a Director of the firm. Henry Robb died in Edinburgh in 1951.

Robbs grew by buying berths from Hawthorns in 1924, the business of Cran and Somerville in 1926 and the yards of Ramage and Ferguson in 1934.[1] The site became known as Victoria Shipyard.[2]

Robbs closed its Arbroath and Clyde operations in the 1920s and focused its activities on Leith.[3]

During World War II, Robbs built a large number of naval warships for the Royal Navy, including preparing the designs and building the prototype of the Basset-class anti-submarine / minesweeping trawler.[1] Three Bird-class corvettes were built for the Royal New Zealand Navy. Ordered in 1939, two of these ships would famously sink the Japanese submarine I-1 in January 1943,[4] while the third ship helped sink Japanese submarine I-17 seven months later.[5]

On 26 February 1940 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth toured the shipyard.[6]

Workers at Henry Robb's, portrayed on the Leith Mural

In 1968 Robbs merged with the Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company of Dundee, forming Robb Caledon Shipbuilding,[7] and in 1969 the new company took over the Burntisland Shipbuilding Company in Fife. In 1977, under the provisions of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977, Robb Caledon was nationalised as part of British Shipbuilders. The Caledon yard in Dundee closed in 1981. Robb's yard in Leith survived two more years, closing in 1983.[7]

The site of Robb's shipyard is now the Ocean Terminal shopping centre, where the Royal Yacht Britannia is berthed.[8] An early 20th-century pitched roof paint shed that once belonged to the yard, built from rivetted iron plates, survives and was a Category B listed building before being relocated.[9]

The yard features in the video to the song "Letter From America" (1987) by The Proclaimers, whose father worked in the yard. The overall sentiment of the song stresses the loss of Scotland's traditional industries and the mass emigration of Scots to North America due to circumstances such as the Highland Clearances.

Ships built by Robbs

Flower-class corvettes

Castle-class corvettes

Bird-class minesweepers

River-class frigates

  • HMS Derg
  • HMS Ness
  • HMS Nith
  • HMS Strule (ex- HMS Glenarm)
  • HMS Windrush
  • HMS Wye
  • HMS Naver – cancelled and re-ordered as HMS Loch Achanalt.

Loch-class frigates

Bay-class frigates

Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships

Bustler-class ocean rescue tugs

  • HMRT Bustler
  • HMRT Growler
  • HMRT Hesperia
  • HMRT Mediator
  • HMRT Reward
  • HMRT Samsonia
  • HMRT Turmoil
  • HMRT Warden

Hecla-class survey vessel

Wild Duck-class RMAS cable-laying and salvage ships

Merchant

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References

  1. "Henry Robb". Grace's Guide: The Best of British Engineering 1750–1960s. 10 April 2014.
  2. Todd, Daniel (1985). The World Shipbuilding Industry. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 117. ISBN 0312892519.
  3. Waters, Sydney David (1956) The Royal New Zealand Navy, Page 307-309, Historical Publications Branch, Wellington.
  4. Waters, Sydney David (1956) The Royal New Zealand Navy, Page 327-328, Official History, Historical Publications Branch, Wellington.
  5. "Features – Notable Dates in History". Timeline of Scottish History. Scots Independent. Archived from the original on 23 May 2014.
  6. "Steering its own course". The Scotsman. Johnston Press. 12 June 2007.
  7. "Geo. Gibson & Co". British Coastal Shipping Companies. Retrieved 3 July 2010.[permanent dead link]
  8. "Ship No 36 to Ship No 40". Leith Built Ships. Retrieved 2 July 2010.
  9. "Patricia". ShipPhotos.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2010.

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