Northeast England's shipbuilding concentration

The opening estimate is that four rivers in northeast England built roughly half the world's ships during the first decade of the twentieth century. That concentration involved far more than slipways and completed hulls. Component makers, engine works, dry docks, cranes, fitting-out basins, and repair facilities formed a dense industrial system around the Tyne and neighbouring rivers. Britain also had major shipbuilding districts elsewhere, so the northeast was one part of a still larger national capacity. Sea power here is an industrial ecosystem rather than a count of warships.