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Message: [QUOTE="Bob Godfrey, post: 150390, member: 136612"] Bit of a problem here, Mary - we have to keep on-topic and this thread is about films, so you really need to spread your questions into the appropriate sections of the message board. But since I'm here, here goes: Historically there were 6 Royal Naval dockyards for building and maintenance, and together they formed the largest industrial operation in the world in the days of wooden ships. But the huge naval expansion in the last century, especially in two world wars, meant that contracts were increasingly offered to commercial shipyards. Best known of the warships built by Harland & Wolff, for instance, is the WW2 cruiser HMS Belfast - now preserved as a tourist attraction in London. Yes, cable ships laid (and lifted) cables, but these days there's a lot less demand for submarine cables except those that carry power lines to islands - satellites are much cheaper for communications. Sure they had soot problems. That's why the funnels were so tall! But at a time when steam railways were at their peak that was a fact of life that people had learned to live with. Coal dust when refuelling was an even bigger problem, but these things were the acceptable price of progress. [/QUOTE]