Orders for the follow-on Majestic class show the industrial reach behind late-Victorian fleet expansion. Portsmouth, Pembroke, and Chatham royal dockyards shared construction with private firms, including J. & G. Thomson and Laird Brothers, which built HMS Mars. Laird Brothers of Birkenhead later merged with Johnson Cammell of Sheffield to form Cammell Laird. The business also built railway rolling stock and tanks during the First World War. Its rolling-stock operation was separated in 1929 and survived until 2005. Naval construction drew on an engineering base whose firms worked across ships, railways, and military production.
Notable Point · 5:29-6:48
Royal dockyards and private industry sustain fleet construction
Majestic-class orders show Britain drawing on Portsmouth, Pembroke, and Chatham dockyards alongside private builders such as Laird Brothers.