Duncan launch to mark the end of era on Clyde

Published on Friday 8 October 2010 18:40

The time-honoured tradition of Clyde-built ships sliding down the slipway to the cheers of the workers who toiled over them could be witnessed for the last time when a Type 45 destroyer splashes into the river on Monday.

The launch of the Duncan next week is likely to be the last ship to be launched on the Clyde in the traditional fashion.

So-called "dynamic launches" - the impressive spectacle that sees huge vessels career down the slipway - have been a way of life on the shipyards of the Clyde for 298 years.

A total of 22,000 vessels have been launched from Clyde shipyards, including the Cunard liners the Queen Mary in 1934, the Queen Elizabeth in 1938 and the QE2 in 1967.

Other ships to have endured that rite of passage include the famous teaclipper the Cutty Sark, which was launched from Dumbarton in 1869 and the tragic liner the Lusitania, which sank with the loss of 1,198 lives when it was torpedoed by a German battle ship off the Irish coast in 1915 - eight years after it was launched.

The Duncan will be the last big ship to be launched in this manner. The two new carriers currently are being constructed in parts and will be assembled in Rosyth before they are launched. If the Clyde shipbuilding yards secure the Royal Navy order for the new Type 26 frigates from 2016, they are likely to be launched using a more modern method.

Charles Thompson, communications director with BAE systems, said: "It will possibly be the last dynamic launch, which is the type of launch when a ship actually moves down the slipway. It will be a few years before the next major launch and by then we will probably be launching in a different manner, so this could be the end of the launch as most people perceive it."

Mr Thompson said that future ships built on the Clyde would likely be built on a barge, which would then be sunk leaving the vessel floating on the water. The other method could be building the ship in a dry dock, which is then flooded.

"There is a sentimental element to this," Mr Thompson said. "But there is a sentimental element in every launch. The current carriers being built here will not be launched in the traditional manner when they take to the water at Rosyth.

"But this is certainly not the end of shipbuilding as the thousands of people working on the Clyde show."