Numerous small companies undertook essential work as part of the construction of the largest warship to be built in Britain,
the 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, built to Lloyd’s Register naval class.
Abbott & Co (Newark) Ltd is one of those companies. They manufactured a variety of pressure equipment for the ship, including diesel engine starter vessels, thermal expansion vessels for the fuel supply system and radar cooling and nitrogen vessels for the nitrogen generation plant.
The pressure vessels are all certified to LR’s Naval Rules – Abbott & Co has factory approval from LR for Fusion Welded Pressure Vessels Class 1, 2/2 and Class 3.
LR and Abbott have worked together for almost 150 years, since Abbott was first established in 1870. The company was originally founded by Thomas Abbott, who initially designed and fabricated boilers and pressure vessels and steam accumulators for the Admiralty. In 1899 450 Angoni tribesmen pulled a 9.5 ton LR class Abbott boiler across the Shire Highlands to Lake Nyasa (now Lake Malawi) for the steamship Chauncy Maples.
Abbott & Co now has a team of 40 staff based in Newark, Nottinghamshire and supplies British made and designed pressure vessels, air receivers and heat exchangers to a variety of clients including surge tanks for water authorities, process pressure vessels for oil & gas companies and both pressure vessels and air receivers for the Ministry of Defence.
Henry Price, Managing Director, Abbott & Co, said: “The company is tremendously proud they have been involved in such a prestigious project with Lloyd’s Register. It’s great to have local people from Newark working on a project of national importance. There’s a real sense of camaraderie. It’s also brilliant for manufacturing in the UK – we have a good number of young people involved in the project such as this as it helps show British industry at its best.”