Naval Construction & Armaments Co
 |
|
| Limited company | |
| Industry | Shipbuilding Marine Engineering |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Successor |
BAE Systems Submarine Solutions BAE Systems Land & Armaments |
| Founded | 1871 |
| Defunct | 2007 |
| Headquarters | Barrow-in-Furness, England |
| Owner | British Shipbuilders (1977–1986) GEC (1995–1999) BAE Systems (1999–present) |
Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, Ltd (VSEL) was a shipbuilding company based at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria in northwest England that built warships, civilian ships, submarines and armaments. The company was historically the Naval Construction Works of Vickers Armstrongs and has a heritage of building large naval warships and armaments. Through a complicated history the company's shipbuilding division is now BAE Systems Submarine Solutions and the armaments division is now part of BAE Systems Land & Armaments.
The Company was founded in 1871 by James Ramsden as the Iron Shipbuilding Company, but its name was soon changed to Barrow Shipbuilding Company.
In 1897, Vickers & Sons bought the Barrow Shipbuilding Company and its subsidiary the Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company, becoming Vickers, Sons and Maxim, Limited. The shipyard at Barrow became the Naval Construction & Armaments Company. In 1911 the company was renamed Vickers Ltd, and in 1927 became Vickers Armstrongs Ltd after a merger with Armstrong Whitworth, whose shipyard at High Walker on the River Tyne became the "Naval Yard".
In 1955 the name of the shipbuilding division changed to Vickers Armstrongs Shipbuilders, Ltd and changed again in 1968 to Vickers Limited Shipbuilding Group.
The shipbuilding group was nationalised under the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act in 1977 and subsumed into British Shipbuilders.
The ex-Vickers yard at Barrow was the first shipyard of the British Shipbuilders group to return to the private sector. It was sold in March 1986 to an employee-led company, VSEL Consortium, which also included its Birkenhead-based subsidiary, Cammell Laird. The company was floated on the in December 1986.
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