Socialist Republicans Call Out Belfast Shipbuilder Supporting Royal Navy
Socialist Republican organisation Lasair Dhearg has installed a banner at the Belfast yard of Harland & Wolff (H&W), drawing attention to the Spanish state-owned shipbuilder's material support of the Royal Navy.
Activists from Socialist Republican organisation Lasair Dhearg have recently installed a banner at the Belfast site of Harland & Wolff with the headline “THIS BUSINESS PROFITS FROM IMPERIALISM,” referring to the shipbuilder’s role as a supplier of ammunition, explosives and provisions to the British Royal Navy.
In January 2023, Harland & Wolff agreed to have the final assembly of three fleet solid support (FSS) ships for the Royal Navy in their Belfast yard as part of a 1.6 billion pound contract. FFS ships are designed to provide dry stores to Royal Navy aircraft carriers, destroyers and frigates while at sea.
Harland & Wolff, the British company which built the RMS Titanic, was acquired by the Spanish shipbuilding giant Navantia in January 2025. Navantia – an entity owned entirely by the Spanish state – currently supports the development of the Royal Saudi Naval Forces and the Royal Australian Navy.
This action is part of Lasair Dhearg’s Decolonisation campaign, which previously saw members of the organisation symbolically rename Dublin streets and drop leaflets in Belfast’s Gaeltacht Quarter.
