John I. Thornycroft & Company

First experiences

In 1859, 16-year-old John Thornicroft, who lived with his family in Chisic , began the construction of his first steam boat in the backyard of his father’s house. Only he and his younger sister participated in the construction ^[1] . In 1864, Tornicroft graduated from the University of Glasgow and returned to his homeland, where he continued the construction of steam boats.

Company Founding

In 1866, Tornicroft opened his first shipyard in Chisique , having bought a plot of land near the Thames for her. At that time, the inventor began to gain experience in the construction of high-speed boats, which subsequently allowed him to develop one of the first destroyers .

In 1872, Tornicroft built a Nautilus pleasure boat, which set a record for its time - was able to overtake racing rowing eights (the speed of the boat did not exceed 12 knots). Soon after, the new Miranda boat showed an incredible result for that time - 16 knots. These achievements brought Tornicroft the first military orders ( Norwegian Rapp mine boat, Norwegian Rapp - “Fast”), world fame and leadership in the production of mine boats and destroyers.

In 1874 - 1875, the Tornicroft shipyard made 7 mine boats on the same project: one each for Austria-Hungary (No. 1), Denmark (No. 1) and Sweden (“Spring”) and two for France (No. 5 and No. 6 ) and Russia (minosocks No. 1 and No. 2 (later Sulin). Unlike the Rappa, these boats had a steam engine with a capacity of 180-190 hp , which provided them with a speed of 16-18 knots . Project Rappa turned out to be so successful that they tried to copy it in other countries, but the boats turned out worse - their speed barely exceeded 10 knots (in particular, the Swedish Ulven).

In the mid-70s, Tornicroft had a competitor - the English designer E. Yarrow, who delivered Argentina the first order with 4 mine boats with a displacement of 11 tons, which were not inferior to the Rapp. Later, the same boats were purchased by the USA , France , the Netherlands , and Greece .

In March 1877, at the initiative of the French, who made another order to Tornicroft, tests were carried out during which the Tornicroft mine boat with a pole mine successfully attacked and sank the outdated Bayonese ship, used as a target.

In the same 1877, Thornicroft built the famous destroyer Lightning .

XX century

In 1904, Tornicroft decided to move the company to the suburb of Southampton Woolston, for which he bought the Mordey, Carney & Company shipyard there . In 1908, the company opened production in Hampton (a suburb of London). The old shipyard in Chisik was closed in 1909 . The first ship built in Woolston for the Royal Navy was the destroyer Tartar , belonging to the type of Tribal ^[1] .