John I. Thornycroft & Company Limited was a British shipbuilding
firm founded by John Isaac Thornycroft in Chiswick in 1866. It
moved to Woolston, Southampton in the early 1900s after outgrowing
the original premises.
The first ship built by Thornycrofts for the Royal Navy at the
Woolston Yard was the Tribal-class destroyer HMS Tartar, launched
in 1907. By the start of the First World War, the yard had built 37
destroyers for the Royal Navy and a number more for other navies
worldwide.
During the Second World War the shipyard was bombed several
times, owing to its proximity to the Spitfire-building Supermarine
factory also in the Woolston area. Thornycroft became renowned for building reliable and wellconstructed vessels. By the time of its closure in 2003 Thornycroft had built more than 600 vessels including destroyers, frigates, corvettes, mine-hunters, submarines, motor torpedo boats, tugs, patrol craft, passenger ferries and yachts.