 It should have been the Tyne this Navy ship sailed down after work was completed. But when the Lyme Bay went out for trials this weekend it was on the River Clyde. The Lyme Bay was taken from Swan Hunter a year ago, marking an end for the Wallsend yard. It was the first time in Swans' near 150-year history that a ship had left unfinished. But now the 16,160-tonne Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel is at last complete, having been finished at the rival BAe Systems yard in Govan, Glasgow. Swans' owner Jaap Kroese said: "I am glad it is all over now. It is good news that the Lyme Bay is complete and ready for operation. When it left it was extremely sad for everyone at the yard. "But the ship was almost finished and I think the Ministry of Defence will be happy with it. "The MoD has always said they are happy with the standard of work we did on the ship. And if it hadn't been for us, they would never have had this ship." Swans' Wallsend yard was mothballed on July 17, 2006, after the Ministry of Defence lost patience and towed the RFA Lyme Bay away to be completed at BAe Systems. The MoD took the decision because the project was already 100% over budget, one year overdue and still roughly a year from completion. Meanwhile work is well under way to dismantle the iconic giant cranes at Swans' Wallsend yard. For more than a century the Tyne's skyline has been littered by the 100ft steel constructions as the river was a hub of industrial activity. But now the first phase of pulling down the cranes is well under way. The Chronicle revealed in January that the entire contents of the famous old yard have been sold to an Indian shipbuilder for a seven-figure sum. Soon everything from the iconic cranes to the yard's 20,000-ton floating dry dock will be packed off to the Indian subcontinent. The older cranes will be scrapped while the others will be dismantled and sent to India. | 
