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S CA R C I T Y
of
MAT E R I A L S
and
L A BOU R
The scarcity of materials was no less serious than the shortage of labour.
The pre-war disparity in price between the German and the Scottish
shipplates and sections delivered on the Clyde had led Clyde shipbuilders to
go more and more to Germany for their plates.The cutting off of this source
of supply with the outbreak of war caused both scarcity and soaring prices;
and the huge demands for steel for munitions intensified the problems of the
shipbuilder.
By the end of the war the shipbuilding industry of the Clyde had a
greatly increased productive capacity. Technically, certain advances
had been made. Ships had been transferred in large numbers from their
original use to more strenuous employments; general cargo vessels had
been converted into carriers of oil in bulk; and river craft had had to be
fitted and strengthened for work on the seas;and the work of reconstructing
vessels for such new purposes yielded much valuable experience.
Standardisation had resulted in simplification in many departments,
particularly in template work;and the necessary speeding up in construction
had led to the introduction,on a greatly extended scale,of pneumatic tools for
riveting and caulking and of electrical tools for drilling and other purposes.
T HE PR E -EM I N E N C E
of
T H E C LY DE
During the FirstWorldWar,the Clyde was the most important British centre
for the production of warships: 43 per cent of the tonnage of ships ordered
by theAdmiralty between 1914 and 1919 was built in the Clyde yards.Most
of these ships were built in yards which had experience of warship building:
Browns,Fairfields,Beardmores,Scotts,Dennys andYarrows.These yards had
already built a substantial proportion of the warships ordered during the
rearmament before the war.
WA R T I ME PR OBL EM S
The war caused problems for the shipyards. Just as it was very difficult to
obtain adequate supplies of imported raw materials, it was also difficult
to maintain the labour force.The west of Scotland was a major recruiting
area and many shipyard workers volunteered soon after war was declared.
The shipyards had to compete with one another and with other industries
for workers.
Working relations between employers and workers were very tense during
the war and this led to some famous disputes. Industrial relations in the
industry had never been good and peace had been kept by a fragile balance of
power between the employers and the trade unions.This balance was upset by
wartime conditions.
(Source:W R Scott and J Cunnison,The Industries of the ClydeValley During theWar,1924)