No, not as a shipbuilder. The firm became VT Group in 2002, sold its shipbuilding stake to BAE Systems in 2009, and was absorbed by Babcock International in 2010. Its US descendant VTG is a defense services company that builds no vessels.
What yachts did Vosper Thornycroft build?
Mirabella V is the best known: built from 2001 to 2004, she was the world's largest single-masted sailing yacht at completion. The predecessor Thornycroft yard delivered classics such as the 64-meter motor yacht Shemara in 1938.
Where was Vosper Thornycroft based?
At Woolston, Southampton, on the former Thornycroft yard, from the 1966 merger onward. Operations moved into the Portsmouth naval dockyard in 2003. Predecessor Vosper Limited had been a Portsmouth company.
Formed in 1966 from two historic English shipyards, Vosper Thornycroft built destroyers, smaller naval craft, and the occasional record-setting yacht. The company became VT Group in 2002 and left shipbuilding in 2009; no boats carry the name today.
Vosper, Thornycroft and the 1966 merger
The merger joined Vosper Limited of Portsmouth with John I. Thornycroft of Woolston, Southampton, two firms with roots in Victorian shipbuilding. The combined company worked from the old Thornycroft yard at Woolston before moving into the Portsmouth naval dockyard in 2003. Warships were the core trade, from destroyers down to smaller naval craft.
Yachts from the Thornycroft and Vosper yards
Yacht work bookends the story. Thornycroft delivered the 64-meter motor yacht Shemara in 1938, a classic that went through a full rebuild completed in 2014 and still cruises. Between 2001 and 2004 Vosper Thornycroft built Mirabella V, at her delivery the largest single-masted sailing yacht in the world.
VT Group, BAE Systems and Babcock
Renamed VT Group in 2002, the company sold its 45 percent of the BVT Surface Fleet venture to BAE Systems in October 2009 and left shipbuilding for services work. Babcock International bought VT Group outright in 2010. The name survives only in VTG, an American defense services firm with no boatbuilding activity. For yacht buyers, the brand today means the back catalog: Thornycroft and Vosper-built classics appear from time to time on the brokerage and charter market, and GetBoat lists a small number of them.
Request offers
Find a boat