The Arrival of Vickers

In 1897, the family steel firm Vickers Sons and Company of Sheffield, who had a significant holding in the Maxim Gun and Ammunition Company, took over Barrow shipyard, and formed the highly successful Vickers, Sons and Maxim Limited. About this time the transition from wooden to steel shipbuilding was in progress. The Royal Dockyards, skilled only in wooden shipbuilding, turned to the steel companies for their expertise in Armour and Armour plating. Vickers had the recipe for success; local ore supplies; shipbuilding and engineering experience; naval gun mounting and armament expertise, and steel making prowess. They were ideally suited to rise to the occasion, and the Canopus Class Battleship HMS Vengeance, launched in 1898, was the first of many fine warships to benefit from their total warship building capability.

In the years leading up to the First World War, the company bought out the interests of both Maxim and Nordenfelt, and the new Vickers Limited emerged in 1911. Its unique ability to build, arm, engine and munitions its own vessels was now complemented by its capability in warship building design and innovation, and the name Vickers became synonymous with quality ships and submarines.

Since that time the company name has altered in detail several times to reflect  political or structural changes, but the long standing association with the Royal Navy has been maintained and strengthened. Privatisation of the shipyard occurred in 1986, whereby the company has been taken over initially by GEC Marconi Marine, and is now part of Western Europe's largest military supplier - British Aerospace.