ABSTRACT

The last quarter of the 19th century saw a meteoric growth in the total world output in steel to around 28 million tonnes. The United States produced almost twice as much steel as Britain, with Germany nearer the US total with 8 million tonnes per year. However, British engineering experience in combination with this plentiful supply of iron and steel enabled the country to gain an unprecedented lead in areas such as shipbuilding. In the 1890s four-fifths of the world's new shipbuilding was in British hands; in 1913 her share was still more than three-fifths [1]. Between 1898 and 1899 some 98.8% of the ships launched were made of steel [2].