By far the most famous, the Titanic was just one of nearly 2000 ships built by Harland & Wolff during the company’s history. The shipyards of Belfast once produced no less than one eighth of the world’s total shipping output. The saga of how that came to be is as grand as the Titanic herself.

The sinking of the Hood in 1941 – symbolic flagship of the British fleet - was a huge blow, and Churchill retaliated by ordering the sinking of the Bismarck. This tale became a symbol of Britain’s defiance in the Second World War.

The race to restore the huge quantities of merchant shipping sunk during the war reinvigorated the shipyard. However, the age of the luxury liner was over. In the 1980's, the Canberra, a liner, was being deployed to the Falklands during that conflict.