The term Clyde-built used to be synonymous with excellence, with yards on the river once building one third of the world’s merchant vessels.

Yards ran virtually the full length of the river, from the fringes of the east end of Glasgow all the way down to Greenock.

Ships that were launched include the Queen Mary, the QE2, the ill‑fated Lusitania and the pride of the Royal Navy, HMS Hood.

Quite the haul for a relatively small river and they are rightly viewed with pride despite the demise of the shipbuilding industry in the 60s and 70s.

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However, it is fair to say that the rich heritage of Clyde‑built excellence has taken a bit of a battering in recent years, with the ongoing problems at the last commercial shipyard on the Upper Clyde.

The problems at the Ferguson Marine yard in Port Glasgow have been well documented, with the taxpayer left to foot a bill of around £400 million for the building of just two ferries.

Back in the day £400 million would buy you two Lusitanias and still have change left – and she was the world’s largest passenger ship when she was launched at John Brown’s yard in Clydebank in 1906.

In today’s money, the Lusitania would have cost a “mere” £173 million to build and at least it went on to win the fabled Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing before being sunk by a German U‑boat in 1915 with the loss of 1,197........

© Herald Scotland