Halifax Shipyards

The Halifax Shipyard Limited is a Canadian shipbuilding company located in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Founded in 1889, it is today a wholly owned subsidiary of Irving Shipbuilding Inc. and is that company's largest ship construction and repair facility.

The Halifax Graving Dock Company was formed by English investors who constructed the graving dock for $1 million, opening on September 21, 1889 on the western shore of Halifax Harbour in the community of Richmond. The following year on August 22, 1890 the Halifax Graving Dock Company purchased the Chebucto Marine Railway Company Limited located in Dartmouth Cove, at the mouth of the former Shubenacadie Canal in Dartmouth. The yard built a small steam tug for its own use in 1915, the tug Sambro. During World War I, the Halifax Graving Dock Company's facilities on the Halifax side of the harbour were badly damaged by the December 6, 1917 Halifax Explosion, which occurred 300 m (980 ft) north of the graving dock. Many yard workers were killed and the Sambro was sunk. The graving dock was quickly repaired and planning began to add building slips and plating shops for a modern ship yard to construct the first steel-hulled ships in Atlantic Canada. Sambro was raised and renamed Erg.

In 1918 the Halifax Graving Dock Company's assets were purchased by Montreal investors who organized them into the Halifax Shipyards Limited, completing the shipyard and beginning ship construction in the final stages of WW I. In 1920 Halifax Shipyards Limited was acquired by the conglomerate British Empire Steel Corporation (BESCO). In 1930 Halifax Shipyards Limited was acquired by the conglomerate Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (DOSCO). During World War II, the company's facilities were critical to the war effort as Halifax Shipyards Limited constructed 4 Tribal class destroyers for the Royal Canadian Navy - the first all-Canadian built destroyers - and was vital in repairing more than 7,200 ships damaged in the Battle of the Atlantic.

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