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History

The company was founded on 1 April 1918 by Henry Robb, a former yard manager for Ramage & Ferguson shipbuilders, which lay around 1 km to the east.¹ Robb was born in Partick, Glasgow in 1874 to Henry Robb (1843-1894), a ships caulker, and his wife Martha Simpson (1840–78). He married Mary Baird Mcintosh Cowan in 1903 and their son, Henry Cowan Robb (1932-2018), became a Director of the firm. Henry Robb died in Edinburgh in 1951.

Robbs grew by buying berths from Hawthorns in 1924, the business of Cran and Somerville in 1926 and the yards of Ramage and Ferguson in 1934.² The site became known as Victoria Shipyard.³

Robbs closed its Arbroath and Clyde operations in the 1920s and focused its activities on Leith.⁴

During World War II, Robbs built a large number of warships for the Royal Navy, including preparing the designs and building the prototype of the Basset-class anti-submarine / minesweeping trawler.⁵ Three Bird-class corvettes were built for the Royal New Zealand Navy. Ordered in 1939, two of these ships famously sank the Japanese submarine I-1 in January 1943,⁶ while the third ship helped sink Japanese submarine I-17 seven months later.⁷

On 26 February 1940 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth toured the shipyard.⁸ The King visited a second time on 29 July 1943.⁹

In 1968 Robbs merged with the Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company of Dundee, forming Robb Caledon Shipbuilding,¹⁰ and in 1969 the new company took over the Burntisland Shipbuilding Company in Fife. In 1977, under the provisions of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977, Robb Caledon was nationalised as part of British Shipbuilders. The Caledon yard in Dundee closed in 1981. Robb's yard in Leith survived two more years, closing in 1983.¹¹

The site of Robb's shipyard is now the Ocean Terminal shopping centre, where the former Royal Yacht Britannia is berthed.¹² An early 20th-century pitched roof paint shed that once belonged to the yard, built from rivetted iron plates, survives and was a Category B listed building before being relocated.¹³

The yard features in the video to the song "Letter From America" (1987) by The Proclaimers, whose father worked in the yard. The overall sentiment of the song stresses the loss of Scotland's traditional industries and the mass emigration of Scots to North America due to circumstances such as the Highland Clearances.

Ships built by Robbs

Naval

Flower-class corvettes

• HMS Delphinium
• HMS Dianthus
• HMS Petunia
• HMS Polyanthus
• HMS Lotus
• HMS Pink

Storage Ships

• MV Pembroke Coast
• MV British Coast
• MV Atlantic Coast
• MV Ocean Coast

Armed Trawlers

• HMS Basset
• HMS Mastiff

Hoppers

• MV Gallions Reach

• Tree-class trawlers
• HMS Hazel
• HMS Hickory

Castle-class corvettes

• HMS Flint Castle
• HMS Guildford Castle
• HMS Hedingham Castle

Bird-class minesweepers

• HMNZS Kiwi
• HMNZS Moa
• HMNZS Tui
• HMS Ringdove
• HMS Redstart

Other Minesweepers

• HMS Sword Dance (replacing HMS Sword Dance (1919))
• HMS Staffa
• HMS Sidmouth
• HMS Stornoway

River-class frigates

• HMS Derg
• HMS Ness
• HMS Nith
• HMS Strule (ex- HMS Glenarm)
• HMS Windrush
• HMS Wye
• HMS Naver – cancelled and re-ordered as HMS Loch Achanalt.

Loch-class frigates

• HMS Loch Achanalt – to Royal Canadian Navy on completion.
• HMS Loch Insh – to Royal Malaysian Navy in 1964 as Hang Tuah.
• HMS Loch Katrine – to Royal New Zealand Navy in 1949 as Rotoiti.
• three further ships of this class – Loch Kishorn, Loch Nell and Loch Odairn – were cancelled.

Bay-class frigates

• HMS Cardigan Bay (ex- HMS Loch Laxford)
• HMS Carnarvon Bay (ex- HMS Loch Maddy)
• HMS Padstow Bay (ex- HMS Loch Coulside)

Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships

• RFA Bacchus – naval stores ship
• RFA Engadine – aviation training ship
• RFA Hebe – naval stores ship

Bustler-class ocean rescue tugs Built during WW2 these huge tugs could manage huge ships over long distances and were used to tow the sections of the Mulberry Harbour during the D-Day Landings¹⁴

• HMRT Bustler
• HMRT Growler
• HMRT Hesperia
• HMRT Mediator
• HMRT Reward
• HMRT Samsonia
• HMRT Turmoil
• HMRT Warden

Other Tugs

• MV George Salt
• MV Firefly

Ships for Robertson Line

• MS Jacinth
• MS Spinel

Other Ships

• MS Kodara for Robetson Co.
• MS Edina for Currie Line
• MV Creole
• MV The Miller for E Marriage & Son
• MV Goldengown
• MV Puriri for Anchor Line of NZ
• MV Underwood for Union Steam Co of NZ
• MV Port Tauranga

Hecla-class survey vessel

• HMS Herald

Wild Duck-class RMAS cable-laying and salvage ships

• RMAS Goosander
• RMAS Pochard

Merchant

External links

• The Ships of Henry Robb
• The Loftsman, history of the ships built at Leith
• Photos of the closed Robbs yard at edinphoto.org.uk
• Photos of Robb Caledon built ships at shipphotos.co.uk
• History of the Free French frigate La Découverte, ex-HMS Windrush
• Blog about the history of Robb's yard and workers by Henry Robb's great-granddaughter

References

1. "Henry Robb". Grace's Guide: The Best of British Engineering 1750–1960s. 10 April 2014. http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/wiki/Henry_Robb ↩

2. "Henry Robb". Grace's Guide: The Best of British Engineering 1750–1960s. 10 April 2014. http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/wiki/Henry_Robb ↩

3. "Hawthorn Shipbuilders". Edin Photo. http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/1_edin/1_edinburgh_history_-_recollections_hawthorn_shipbuilders_leith.htm ↩

4. Todd, Daniel (1985). The World Shipbuilding Industry. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 117. ISBN 0312892519. 0312892519 ↩

5. "Henry Robb". Grace's Guide: The Best of British Engineering 1750–1960s. 10 April 2014. http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/wiki/Henry_Robb ↩

6. Waters, Sydney David (1956) The Royal New Zealand Navy, Page 307-309, Historical Publications Branch, Wellington. https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Navy-c20.html#n307 ↩

7. Waters, Sydney David (1956) The Royal New Zealand Navy, Page 327-328, Official History, Historical Publications Branch, Wellington. https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Navy-c21.html#n327 ↩

8. "Features – Notable Dates in History". Timeline of Scottish History. Scots Independent. Archived from the original on 23 May 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140523225830/http://www.scotsindependent.org/dates1-g.htm ↩

9. Edinburgh Evening News 30 July 1943 ↩

10. "Masts from the past". The Scotsman. Johnston Press. 1 September 2007. http://www.scotsman.com/news/masts-from-the-past-at-leith-docks-1-1330446 ↩

11. "Masts from the past". The Scotsman. Johnston Press. 1 September 2007. http://www.scotsman.com/news/masts-from-the-past-at-leith-docks-1-1330446 ↩

12. "Steering its own course". The Scotsman. Johnston Press. 12 June 2007. http://heritage.scotsman.com/heritage/Steering-its-own-course.3294367.jp ↩

13. Historic Environment Scotland. "Leith Docks, Paint Shed at Shipbuilding Yard (LB27071)". Retrieved 28 March 2019. /wiki/Historic_Environment_Scotland ↩

14. Leith Built Ships on War Service ECL ref.YHE 56567 ↩

15. "Geo. Gibson & Co". British Coastal Shipping Companies. Retrieved 3 July 2010.[permanent dead link] http://britishcoastalshippingcompanies.fotopic.net/c1660964.html ↩

16. "Ship No 36 to Ship No 40". Leith Built Ships. Retrieved 2 July 2010. http://leithbuiltships.blogspot.com/2009/12/ship-no-36-to-ship-no-40.html ↩

17. "Patricia". ShipPhotos.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100614011034/http://www.shipphotos.co.uk/pages/patricia82.htm ↩