'British ship repair industry, 1900-1953. Four case studies' in D J Starkey & H Murphy (eds), Beyond Shipping and Shipbuilding. Britain's ancillary maritime interests in the twentieth century

Notes:

Deals with a neglected sector. 'The problem in assessing the scale and output of ship repair is addressed in this chapter through a consideration of the different measures that might be applied to the industry. A case study approach is then deployed to gauge the factors that conditioned the performance of ship repairers during the twentieth century. The analysis is founded on the records of four firms based in one of the heartlands of British ship repair (and shipbuilding) - the North East of England. These companies assumed one of three institutional forms: repair yards with a single graving dock [Palmers, Hebburn and Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Co Ltd]; specialist ship repair businesses [Smith's Dock Co Ltd]; and shipbuilding plants with integral ship repair divisions [John Readhead & Co Ltd]