17 November
Prince Kanaung, younger brother of King Mindon, built the Yadanarpon Dockyard – then known as the Yadanar-pon Factory – on 14 acres in 1864 along the Ayeyawady River on the western side of the capital.
The dockyard was one of the farsighted efforts of Prince Kanaung, in his bid to modernize the country by raising the king-dom’s industrial capacity.
The machinery used in the Yadanarpon Dockyard was most-ly purchased from the Dandafs and Smith companies of Scotland. With 127 workers, the dockyard was able to build river cruisers by 1870.
In 1870, the first battleship with a teak hull was built at Ya-danarpon Dockyard by a British engineer. Following that, another 10 warships, were built, measuring 150 ft to 180 ft long and 24 ft wide.
Another achievement came when a battleship, armed with 14 cannons and built by Myanmar carpenter Sayar Shan, was commissioned into service on July 2, 1972. The royal ceremony was held, including the firing of the ship’s cannons.
When the capital was captured by the British, the British Irrawaddy Flotilla company bought the 18 ships and all iron stock for 45,000 kyats. After independence in 1948, the Myanmar government nationalized the dockyard and returned the name of Yadanarpon Dockyard to it. Since then, it has been primarily responsi-ble for repairing local vessels.
“We set K20 million for build-ing a private ship in this dockyard,” said U Zaw Moe Myint, the deputy Superintending of Engineer at the dockyard.
The dockyard can handle six ships, 600 ft long, 180 ft wide and weighing 600 tons.
Some 150 years after its estab-lishment, the Yadanarpon Dockyard remains at its original site and retains its pride in Mandalay.
By Aung Thant Khaing
Translated by Nat Ye Hla
