Find of the Week (10)

This find of the week came from a tweet; angefitzpatrick sent links to two articles on trident, a reflection of life on board and the future of trident under a coalition government . The Trident home, Faslane Naval Base, Gare Loch, is just outside my boundary line but these are interesting article, which I'll pass on to the  reference librarian in Helensburgh. The tweet led me to ask, had any of the Dumbarton shipbuilders built submarines? I know of famous boats built down this end of the water, The Cutty Sark, The Shamrock II & III, The Rob Roy. However, I’d never had cause to wonder if they built submarines. A seach of resources held in the library resulted in an answer.

Submarines were built by Denny during the First World War, the order being placed verbally. Denny’s were new to submarine building so the admiralty aided in the plans and rough castings for the hulls. They were known as ‘E’ type submarines and were the standard design at the outbreak of the war. The first two completed by Denny’s were the E.55 and E.56 built in 1916. The final cost of the submarines was £144,600 with Denny &Co’s profit being £2,314. The price per ton was £10.98. They remained navy vessels until 1922 and 1923 respectively when they were sold. The last E type that Denny’s built was the E.52 in 1917, it left Denny’s March 1917. The final price was £70,500 with Denny & Co profiting by £876. The E.52 submarine was sold for scrapping in 1921 and used to fill a mud bank on the River Dart in 1923.
The final submarine that the Denny yard built was the ‘L’ class, L.54. This submarine replaced the older ‘E’ class due to design and armament changes. Its original deliver date was March 1918, however work came to a stop during the build and she was completed circa 1919. The total cost of the build was £124,911 with Denny receiving about a 10% profit. She was sold for scrap in 1939 just before the outbreak of war.

©West Dunbartonshire Libaries

Shaving, remember the adverts in the 80's for Remington fronted by Victor Kiam ? Or Gillette  using the silky smooth, Federer, Henry and Woods. It's all come a long way since this little advert, no million dollar stars just 'four good points'.