Peacetime Diversification
The ability to diversify product range in peacetime supported the Company in the lean years, and amalgamation with the shipyard's longest-standing rivals Armstrong-Whitworth of Newcastle in 1927 was a significant factor in the company's continued history, leaving them well-placed to meet the Royal Navy's needs during the Second World War (1939-45).
After the Second World War, the shipyard was modernised completely and the marketing bias turned to passenger lines and cargo vessels, then to bulk oil and gas tankers, and later to specialising in submarine building and limited sophisticated surface warship production. The latter philosophy proved to be the saviour of the shipyard to a great extent when many famous shipyards fell victim to the worldwide recession in shipbuilding. Since the launch of HMS Invincible in 1977 and of HMS Manchester, the first Type 42 Batch 3 Guided Missile Destroyer, in November 1980, the shipyard has concentrated exclusively on submarine building for the Royal Navy (Trident Submarines), but has maintained its surface vessel design and build capacity
Other diversification in the nineties included the construction of ultra-lightweight field artillery both towed and mobile, utilising titanium frameworks on the AS-90.