First Naval Vessel Orders

It was not long before the shipyard received its first Admiralty order - the 2nd Class Gunboats HMS Foxhound and Forward. Launched on the same day, 29th January 1877, they were orders Nos. 33 & 34 respectively and forged the first links in a chain of naval vessel development, and in a partnership with the Royal Navy, which has lasted for well over a century.

In 1888, having cut its submarine-building teeth on two novel 'submarine boats' for the Swedish industrialist Thorston Nordenfelt, the Barrow Shipbuilding Company, amalgamated with his Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company to form the Naval Construction and Armament Company. It proved a mutually beneficial alliance and, in the 1890s, the shipyard built increasing bigger and better warships, including the awesome 14,200 ton 'HMS Powerful' - a cruiser of unprecedented size and firepower for her day.