British Shipbuilding and the State Since 1918: A Political Economy of Decline

This is the first book-length analysis of 20th-century shipbuilding at the national level in Britain. It is based on the full breadth of primary and secondary sources available, blending the records of the UK government with those of the British Shipbuilding Employers Federation and Shipbuilding Conference, as well as making use of a range of records from individual yards, technical societies, and the shipping trade press.

Few industries attest to the decline of Britain's political and economic power as does the near disappearance of British shipbulding. On the eve of the First World War, British shipbuilding produced more than the rest of the world combined. But, by the 1980s, the industry that had dominated world markets and underpinned British maritime power accounted for less than 1 percent of total world output. Throughout its decline, a remarkable relationship developed between the shipbuilding industry and the UK government as both sought to restore the fortunes and dominance of this once great enterprise.


Authors: Lewis Johnman is Principal Lecturer in history at the University of Westminster in London. His previous books include The Suez Crisis (Routledge, 1997). Hugh Murphy is Senior Caird Research Fellow at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England.