I have previously gone into a bit of detail about the last days of Henry Robbs, Leith's last shipyard. But thought I might also fill out a bit of the middle too
Robb was quite late on the scene, only forming in 1918 when one of the yard managers from Ramage & Fergusons, Leith's major shipbuilder, struck out on his own. That was Henry Robb
Robb grew in the post-war slump by buying up slipway capacity from older shipyards. By 1934 they bought over Ramage & Ferguson themselves and became the only major shipbuilder in Leith.
Robbs mainly built small commercial vessels, coasters, tugs, dredgers, trawlers and the like. in the order of 500-1,500 tons displacement and up to 300 feet length. Practices were traditional, ships were riveted together and generally steam powered
In that respect they were little different from any other small Scottish shipyard outside the Clyde. As the clouds of war gathered in the late 1930s, the government suddenly needed *lots* of warships and ways had to be found to get small commercial shipbuilders to build them
The most pressing needs were for convoy escorts, and to get them build in yards such as Robbs they needed to be small enough, built to largely commercial standards and with traditional techniques. There was initially no time to introduce things like prefabrication or welding
So before war even began, like commercial yards across Britain, Robbs was getting orders for warships. Things started off quite simply but as the war went on, they would produce more, bigger and more sophisticated ships
The first 2 warships were HM Trawlers "Hickory" and "Hazel", tree class vessels. Little more than militarised large commercial steam trawlers, they had basic weapons for fighting submarines and were most useful as minesweepers (Pictured = HMT Acacia) 
Both were laid down in 1939, and commissioned in March and April of 1940 respectively. "Hickory" would be lost 6 months later when she hit a mine and sank off of Portland. 20 men were lost, the survivors were picked up by sister ship HMT Pine. "Hazel" survived the war.
The next 4 ships built were ordered in 1939 & 40 and were "Flower" class corvettes. These were based on the design of a commercial steam whaler. They were intended for coastal use but ended up being the initial mainstay of the North Atlantic convoys
Much has been written about the "Flowers". One phrase that always follows them around is that "they would roll on wet grass". They were much to small for mid-ocean use and you can imagine how the Atlantic bobbed them around like corks
But built they were and in large numbers too, and for all their design faults and shortcomings their were there and they were available. Robbs built HMS Dianthus, Delphinium, Petunia and Polyanthus in this initial batch. (Pictured = Dianthus)
Like most Flowers, "Dianthus" had a busy, tough war, but she also was quite "productive", sinking U-379 off Greenland on 8th August 1942 and U-225 off the Azores on 22nd February 1943.
That last picture is a depth charge the standard anti-submarine weapon until the middle of the war. Basically a 400lb drum of high explosives with a hydrostatic detonator that would set it off at a pre-determined depth. It was flung out the side of the ship by an explosive charge
The depth charge could also be simply rolled over the stern from a rack. You then had to vacate the area ASAP or risk being badly damaged by your own weapon. It was crude, it was imprecise, it was hard to use but it was devastating if it got close to a submarine
"Polyanthus" was lost on 21/9/43 in the mid Atlantic, 1,000 miles from Iceland. She was hit by a German homing torpedo of the sort designed to target escort ships. Only 1 man survived. flickr.com/photos/jcinans…
The survivor was picked up by the Frigate HMS Itchen. Just 3 days later, "Itchen" was hit by another homing torpedo and nearly all, including the survivor from "Polyanthus" were lost. These would be the first 2 ships lost to homing torpedoes.
The others survived the war. "Delphinium" (pictured) was scrapped, "Dianthus" and "Petunia" were sold into commercial service. The "Flowers" came from a commercial whaler and were readily adaptable back into them.
In 1940, 7 smaller warships were laid down by Robbs. Two "Bangor" class minesweepers, two "Dance" class trawlers and three "Bird" class minesweepers for New Zealand.
The "Bangors" were small coastal minesweeprs, named after seaside towns. Robbs built "Sidmouth" and "Stornoway". The picture shows "Sidmouth" (left) next to "Bangor". Both survived the war and were sold soon after
The "Dance" class were very similar to the two "Trees" built by Robbs the previous year. They were HMT Saltarelo and HMT Sword Dance. (Pictured = HMT Foxtrot). Both were sold into commercial service after the war.
The three "Birds" were HMNZS Tui, Moa and Kiwi. Built as minesweepers for New Zealand, they were basically overgrown trawlers and originally intended as training ships for the fledgling service. (Pictured = "Tui", postwar) flickr.com/photos/4211780…
The little Birds served far from Leith. "Moa" and "Kiwi" sank the Japanese submarine I-1 off of Guadalcanal in the pacific on 29th January 1943. "Tui" sank I-17 off of Noumea on 19th August 1943.
"Moa" was hit by a Japanese bomb and sank while in harbour in the Pacific island of Tulagi. Five men were killed. Her two sisters would survive the war.
In 1941, Robbs laid down 9 ships. Two more "Flower" class corvettes, 2 "Bustler" class salvage tugs, 2 "Isles" class trawlers, 2 "River" class frigates and a single landing craft.
The Flowers were "Lotus" (pictured) and "Pink". Both were commissioned in 1942. Lotus' first war action was part of the escort of the disastrous convoy PQ17 in June/July 1942. She sank the submarine U-660 off Oran in the Mediterranean with her sister "Starwort" on 12th November.
The strange A-frame hung off the front of the ship is an "acoustic hammer". Basically a modified jackhammer sealed in a steel drum that it would impact against, it was hung in the water and the terrific noise could detonate acoustic mines ahead of the ship. In theory.
Here is a remarkable British Pathé newsreel of HMS "Pink" being launched in Leith, on a chilly day in February 1942
"Pink" heavily damaged the submarine U-358 in the North Atlantic on 5th May 1943, but was torpedoed a year later in the English Channel and was a "Constructive Total Loss", i.e. she didn't sink but she would never sail again. She was scrapped in 1947
"Lotus" survived the war to be converted into a whaler. She joined Leith's Christian Salvesen fleet as "Southern Lotus". Her last whaling season was 1962/3. She was towed from Leith (South Georgia) to Norway and laid up to be sold for scrapping in 1966, but was wrecked on tow
The two tugs were "Bustler" and "Samsonia", unusual in that they were diesel powered. These were military tugs, designed to sail with convoys and act as rescue and salvage ships. Robbs would build eight "Bustlers" during the war. (Picture = Reward)
The two "Isles" class trawlers were again very similar to the earlier "Dance" and "Trees". They were the main class of WW2 naval trawlers, with some 145 built. Robbs built HMT "Skye" and "Staffa", both of which survived the war (picture = "Ailsa Craig")
The landing craft built by Robbs would be the only one they ever built. She was ordered as a Mark II LCT "TLC.47" but renumbered "LCT.115" for service (Landing Craft, Tank) She was bombed and sunk off Kasteleriso in the Dodecanese on 28th October 1943. (Pictured = TLC.124)
The last pair of ships from 1941 were the "River" class frigates HMS "Ness" and "Nith". The frigates were a much better design of ocean convoy escort than the "Flowers", they were basically two sets of corvette machinery in a longer hull.
They also incorporated much of the newly developed anti-submarine equipment and weaponry from scratch and many of the lessons of how to try and make the ships more habitable and efficient for their crews (pictured = "Ness", IWM)
"Nith" (picture = IWM) was present at the Normandy landings. She would be hit by a "Mistel", a gigantic remote control flying bomb with a 1.8 tonne warhead, on 23rd June 1944 but somehow survived. 10 men were killed but "Nith" was returned to service.
In 1948 "Nith" was transferred to Egypt as "Domiat". In 1956 she was sunk by the cruiser HMS Newfoundland during the Suez crisis after picking a fight she couldn't hope to win. She became the only ship sunk during the conflict. 69 of her crew of ~110 were rescued.
In 1942, seven ships would be launched. That year was also the peak of production at Robbs in terms of both total launches and total displacement of ships launched. Two "Bustlers", four "River" frigates and another "Isles" trawler were laid down.
The tugs were "Growler" and "Hesperia". For reasons I'm unclear about, "Hesperia" was renamed from "Boisterous" before commissioning. She was wrecked off Libya in February 1945. "Growler" was sold in 1947.
The trawler was HMT Wallasea, commissioned on 31st July 1943 she would be lost in Mounts Bay just 5 months later on 5th January 1944 after the convoy she was escorting was attacked by German "E-boats". 17 of the crew of 40 were lost.
The four "Rivers" laid down in 1942 were "Derg", "Glenarm", "Windrush" and "Wye". They took between 350 and 448 days to build, commissioning between June 1943 and February 1944. (Pictured = Derg, IWM)
"Glenarm", named after the Northern Irish river sank the submarine U-377 on January 17th 1944 in company with the corvette "Geranium" and the old destroyer "Wanderer". She was renamed "Strule" in February of that year before transferring to France as "Croix de Lorraine"
She joined her sister "Windrush", which had transferred to France in February as "Découverte". Both survived the war and were decommissioned in the late 1950s/early 1960s
"Derg" would be present in Tokyo Bay in September 1945 when Japan officially surrendered. She was scrapped in 1960. "Wye" (pictured, IWM) would also survive the war, to be scrapped in 1955.
1943 saw 8 ships laid down and 7 launched. Those laid down were three "Castle" class corvettes, three "Loch" class frigates and two more "Bustler" tugs.
The "Castles" (pictures = "Flint Castle") were an attempt to keep small slipways productive by building a smaller than ideally desirable escort ship that incorporated wartime advances. Some prefabrication was used but generally they remained built to old commercial practices
"Flint Castle" survived the war, she appeared in the 1955 film "Cockleshell Heroes" portraying a German warship. She was sold for scrap in 1958.
The other two "Castles" were "Orangeville" (pictured) and "Hespeler", they lacked castle names as they were transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy while building. Both were sold for merchant use in 1947, the former to China and the latter in Italy.
The "Loch" class were a new design based on the earlier "Rivers" for an ideal anti-submarine ship, incorporating wartime lessons and technology and a design rationalised for fast building, and modern prefabrication and welding (pictured = HMS Loch Fada)
The "Lochs" had the latest radar, sonar and direction finders, but the main advance was the "Squid", a weapon that threw three bombs ahead of the ship to land in a triangular pattern around a submerged target.
The "Lochs" carried two "Squids". The bombs from one were set to detonate slightly below the other, creating a pressure wave in which the submarine target would be trapped and crushed. It was a horribly effective device, with a 34% success rate.
Robb-built "Loch Insh" (picture = IWM) demonstrated the effectiveness, sinking U-307 in the Barents Sea on 29th April 1945 then U-286 later the same day with the frigate "Anguilla" and the corvette "Cotton". She was sold to Malaysia after the war.
The other pair of "Lochs" were "Loch Achanalt" and "Loch Katrine". The latter was built in a remarkable 364 days, entering service on 29th Dec. 1944. "Loch Achanalt" took a more leisurely 645 days and commissioned just before the war's end. Both ended up in New Zealand service
The 1943 "Bustlers" were "Mediator" and "Warden", the former completed in November 1944 and was sold in 1965, the latter in December 1945 and was sold in 19466.
By 1944, with the outcome of the war much more certain, orders were scaled back a bit with only 5 ships laid down, although production of existing orders reached a peak, with 9,347 tonnes of warships launched in Leith.
1944s ships were another pair of "Bustlers" and three "Bay" class frigates. The "Bays" were "Lochs" which were hastily repurposed as anti-aircraft vessels. This decision was made as these were much more in need for the Pacific theater than anti-submarine vessels.
The "Bustlers" were "Turmoil", which completed in July 1945 to be sold in 1946 and "Reward". The latter was sold in 1963 but returned to naval service as a tug in 1970. In 1975 she was converted to an interim patrol vessel to help protect North Sea oil interests.
HMS "Reward" as she was now known was rammed and sunk in an accident in Forth off of Inverkeithing the following year by the German cargo vessel "Plainsman", she was salvaged the following month and scrapped (Picture = RFA Nostalgia)
None of the three "Bays" built by Robbs, "Cardigan Bay" (pictured), "Padstow Bay" or "Carnarvon Bay" would see any active service in WW2, completing too late.
"Cardigan Bay" served in the Korean War and was sold for scrap in 1962. "Carnarvon Bay" (pictured) made a single trip in 1945 and spent the rest of her career in reserve, scrapped in 1959. "Padstow Bay" saw a year's post-war service in the Caribbean and was scrapped too in 1959
No more warships were laid down by Henry Robb during WW2, the launches in 1945 being outstanding orders. Three 1943 orders for "Lochs" were cancelled that would have been 1945 lay-downs; "Loch Nell", "Loch Odairn" and "Loch Kishorn"
In the 6 years of WW2, Henry Robbs built 42 warships in Leith totalling 42,725 tonnes displacement;
⚓️7 trawlers
⚓️8 tugs
⚓️9 corvettes
⚓️12 frigates
⚓️5 minesweepers
⚓️1 landing craft
⚓️7 trawlers
⚓️8 tugs
⚓️9 corvettes
⚓️12 frigates
⚓️5 minesweepers
⚓️1 landing craft
1942 was the peak year for number of launches, although a marginally greater displacement was launched in 1944 as fewer, larger vessels were built
Leith would also be the principle fabrication and assembly for the "Mulberry Harbours" used off of the Normandy Beaches, but that's another story.
That was quite a long thread, so you might find it easier to read as a single unrolled webpage; threadreaderapp.com/thread/1300016…
