Iconic Ships Forged on Tyneside A Legacy of Newcastle Shipbuilding

The North East had busy shipyards long ago. They made famous ships that sailed everywhere. The industry declined later, so people lost jobs. World War Two brought a good time, and then, things got better briefly in the 1950s.

After 1960, the yards needed work. They faced fewer orders and more rivals. The region still built some very famous ships.

The RMS Carpathia was built in Wallsend and sailed for the first time in 1903. In 1912, it rescued Titanic survivors. Sadly, a German submarine sank it in 1918 during the war.

The RMS Mauretania launched in 1906, and people celebrated its launch greatly. It was the biggest ship until 1910. It also had a speed record for 20 years. During World War One, it became a transport ship. People called it the “Grand Old Lady,” and it retired in 1934 and got scrapped then.

Eppleton Hall was a tugboat from 1914. It worked on the Tyne a lot, and an American man named Scott Newhall saved it because he loved the boat. Newhall sailed it to San Francisco. It is one of two such boats left.

Esso Northumbria started a ship series, and Swan Hunter built it in Wallsend in 1969. It was Britain’s largest ship then. Princess Anne launched it, and it weighed 253,000 tons. It had problems and retired in 1982.

HMS Ark Royal Royal Navy was built by Swan Hunter on the Tyne. It launched in 1981 and fought in wars in Bosnia and Iraq. The Navy planned to retire it in 2016, but they decommissioned it in 2011. Many watched its final Tyne visit that very year.