Olympic and Titanic were built together, with Olympic in the No 2 slipway. Olympic-class liners The Arroll Gantry towering above RMS Britannic, circa 1914 There were nine slipways at Queen's Island before this, eight afterwards but the other remained numbered as 5.9 and there was no longer a No 4 slipway. The two new slipways were numbered 2 & 3. No 1 slipway remained and continued in use, with its original gantries, and was used for building liners such as the SS Belgenland. To make space for the two new slipways, three of the old slipways were given up. The cranes formed three crosswise gantries over each slip, with jib cranes working from each upright. īefore the Gantry, the northern end of the Queen's Island shipyard had four building slipways, each with gantry cranes above them. ![]() It was an essential part of the infrastructure needed for the construction of the RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic and remained in use until it was demolished in the 1960s to create space for storage and car parking. It was 840 feet (260 m) feet long, 270 feet (82 m) feet wide and 228 feet (69 m) feet high. The Belfast gantry was commissioned by the White Star Line and Harland and Wolff and built by Sir William Arrol & Co. Construction Plan of the Queen's Island shipyard, showing the Olympic slipways and the position of the Gantry The access within the gantry was also improved, with long sloping walkways and electric lifts, rather than the previous slow and hazardous use of ladders. This allowed temporary working platforms to be attached and relocated upwards as a hull was constructed, giving an additional working space and easy access to the outside of the hull, even with heavy equipment. For the Belfast gantry, the towers were more parallel, with straight inner faces. The base of each was spread into a triangular arch, giving a more stable base and also allowing a railway line to be laid through the towers, bringing construction materials. The Beardmore gantry had used tapered towers, with size and strength proportional to the load upon them. The central girder between the berths allowed the addition of a larger cantilever crane. The Belfast gantry would be very similar to this first gantry, although larger at 840 ft (260 m) long and spanning two building berths. A central 15 ton travelling gantry crane was also provided, for lifting machinery along the centreline of the hull. ![]() They were intended to place the main hull plates into position, with a dedicated gang for each crane, forming the plates and riveting them into place. These were travelling cranes and could be moved along the girder, or grouped together to share a heavier lift. Nine electric cranes were provided, with four jib cranes along each side girder, each having a 5-ton capacity and 30 foot jib. ![]() The structure was of two long steel truss girders, supported on ten pairs of steel truss towers, braced by cross trusses above. The Beardmore gantry was 750 ft (230 m) long, 135 ft (41 m) wide and 150 ft (46 m) high, spanning a single building berth. In 1906 it was used for the construction of the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Agamemnon, then the largest battleship launched on the Clyde. This included a large gantry structure over the building berth. It was built to act as overhead cranes for the building of the three Olympic-class liners.įrom 1900 to 1906, Arrol had constructed a shipyard for William Beardmore and Company at Dalmuir on the Clyde. at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Arrol Gantry was a large steel structure built by Sir William Arrol & Co. RMS Titanic, in 1911, after Olympic's launch
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