The Fortunes of War
By Toby John Hamilton
Throughout his history, Barrow has relied on war and the need for powerful naval vessels for its main source of employment. The island kingdom of Britain has always been famed for its powerful naval force, often hailed as the greatest and most dominant in the world. It is the industrial town of Barrow-in-Furness, however, that has supplied Britain with its ships and submarines, time and time again, to defend its borders.
But Barrow’s fortunes rise and fall with war. For instance, in 1917, during World War I, there were 30,000 workers employed at the docks, but in 1923, there were just 3000. This can also be said for during and after World War II as well as the Cold and Gulf wars.
The Barrow Shipbuilding Company was purchased in 1897 by Vickers & Sons. They also owned the Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company. This meant that barrow could produce hi-tech, state of the art battleships and arm them with their own weapons. In 1901, the yard was renamed the Naval Construction Yard, where, the Royal Navy’s first submarine, Holland 1, was launched. In 1911 the entire shipyard was renamed “Vickers Limited” and in 1927, it merged with a torpedo manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth.
In the years following, Barrow Shipyard went onto build 312 submarines for the Royal Navy, 148 naval surface ships and 373 merchant ships.
Among the many vessels built at Barrow docks, perhaps the most important is HMS Dreadnought, the Royal Navy’s first nuclear-powered submarine. HMS Dreadnought was laid down (put into the water) on 12th of June 1959 and launched by Her Majesty the Queen on Trafalgar Day (21st October) 1960. She was completed on 17th April 1963 and was considered as one of the most formidable attack submarines in the world.
Dreadnought has been on a wide variety of missions. On 24th June 1967 she was ordered to sink the German ship Essberger Chemist that was wrecked and only just floating around in the sea dangerously.
In the mid 1960’s she was called to Norfolk in Virginia, Bermuda, Rotterdam and Kiel. Apart from minor hull cracking problems, she continued serving the Royal Navy and proved to be a very reliable vessel. In 1977 she was deployed to the South Atlantic to stop the possible Argentine threat on the Falkland Islands. Unfortunately, due to machinery damage and a lack of refitting facilities available, HMS Dreadnought was withdrawn from service in 1980.
It was a cold, dark night. The comforting, warm glow from the shipyard was just visible on the horizon. A subtle growl could be heard somewhere in the distance, which quickly sprang into a roar as a troop of German planes soared overhead. The town was instantly plunged into total darkness and the distant clatter of falling shells, the crash of explosions and falling debris could be heard. The Barrow blitz had begun.
One eyewitness said: “During the raids on Barrow, May 1940, we spent 10 nights in the air raid shelter. The shelters were built in the back street to accommodate four families. One very warm night everything went quiet. We went outside for some fresh air. Suddenly a huge shadow seemed to cover us. It was a German bomber flying low over the rooftops. We could actually see the marking on the plane.” [From bbc.co.uk]
Some people say that it was all started when the Hindenburg Zeppelin soared over Barrow in 1936, claiming to be just passing over whilst taking civilians on a luxury trip. It is believed, however, that it was spying on the town and in particular the shipyard.
75 Barrow civilians lost their lives during the blitz, the first being five year-old Peter Goodwin, who died of burns at North Lonsdale Hospital (now houses) on the13th September 1940 at 2.45am, after an incendiary bomb fell near his home. The last person to be killed by the German bombing raids was William Harper, aged 50, who died after a bomb fell on his house in Hall Street on the 10th May 1941 at 8.15am.
But despite this, Barrow revelled in the war, thriving off the need for more ships, guns and ammunition. In true British spirit, therefore, he bounced right back from the German attacks and made bigger, better ships. He went on to help the famous Barnes Wallace develop the Bouncing Bomb at their yard in Surrey.
LINKS
The Zeppelin airship crops up in our article Pioneers of the Air in the Kent section. Ships, of course, occur throughout this anthology.