Origins and early years Sheffield Forgemasters traces its origins to a 1750s blacksmith forge, and then Naylor Vickers and Co. founded by George Naylor and
Edward Vickers, the predecessor of
Vickers Limited. Vickers built the River Don Works in 1865. In 1983, the River Don Works, then part of state-owned
British Steel, merged with
Firth Brown Steels to create Sheffield Forgemasters. During the 1980s, Forgemasters was one of several British companies that manufactured components destined for the
Iraqi
Project Babylon "supergun", which it had believed were for a
petrochemical refinery. The resulting government investigation exonerated the company's directors of wrongdoing; the incident became known as the
Supergun affair. In mid-1997, Forgemasters announced a plan to demerge its aerospace and engineering divisions into two separate companies; this move was stated to be in preparation for their
flotation. During the following year, the company was not only divided but sold to two separate American companies.
Allegheny Teledyne acquired the aerospace business, while Atchison Casting Corp bought the River Don and Rolls businesses; it was the latter that retained the Sheffield Forgemasters name.
2000s–2010s During 2002, amid poor economic conditions, Forgemasters was reportedly to be approaching
liquidation. During 2005, Graham Honeyman led a successful effort to buy Forgemasters, after which Honeyman became the company's chief executive as well as its majority shareholder. Amid
severe flooding in the summer of 2007, Forgemasters experienced a work stoppage after its works were inundated by the
River Don. Three weeks after the event, repairs were ahead of schedule and the works were approaching full production. In the late 2000s, Forgemasters launched an effort to acquire a 15,000 tonne forging press for manufacturing ultra-large civil nuclear components. By March 2010, the company had secured £140 million in funding over two years, which included an £80 million loan from the
British government. Plans to acquire the press were ultimately suspended. The government loan was cancelled in June 2010 with a change of government. One year later, Forgemasters declined to apply for a new loan as foreign competitors were already building such presses while the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster had caused uncertainty in the civil nuclear market. Throughout the 2010s, Forgemasters was involved in numerous maritime projects. In May 2014, the firm joined the Wales Tidal Industry Advisory Group, which sought to realise the commercial benefits of the proposed
Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon. In mid 2017, Vulcan SFM (Forgemasters' offshore division) was awarded a £5.5 million contract by
Samsung Heavy Industries to produce 73 steel castings for a semi-submersible
oil platform. Furthermore, Forgemasters produced components, such as subsea emergency repair clamp bodies, for use on
Nord Stream 1, the world’s longest subsea gas pipeline.
Financial difficulties and nationalisation Along with the decline of the wider British steel industry throughout the 2010s, Forgemasters was no exception to this trend. The firm reported its first operating loss, of £9.4 million, since separating from Atchison in the 14 months leading to December 2014. During January 2016, the company announced plans to reduce its workforce from 800 to 700. The company's financial health attracted attention due to its involvement in Britain's
nuclear submarine programme. In July 2021, the UK government announced that the MoD had launched an offer to take over the company for £2.56 million, and intended to invest a further £400 million over the next decade to support defence outputs. Investment was to reportedly include a new heavy forge line and flood alleviation measures. The existing senior management continued to run the company alongside two new non-executive directors. At the time, the long term intention of the British government was to eventually privatise Forgemasters; no timeframe has been specified for this.
Recent activities During March 2022, the British government instructed Forgemasters to end its supply contract with the Russian energy firm
Gazprom as a result of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine. The company had already stopped any sales business with Russia by that date. Later that same year, Forgemasters commenced the fabrication of an at-scale fusion vessel trial ring for a demonstration machine for
General Fusion. In July 2024, the MOD announced that it would revive the ability to produce forgings for large caliber gun barrels in collaboration with Sheffield Forgemasters. In a separate announcement, the MoD revealed an arrangement with Forgemasters to repair Ukrainian vehicles. That same month, newly-installed Secretary for Defence
John Healey toured the Forgemasters plant with his Australian counterpart
Richard Marles in the framework of the
AUKUS partnership. In January 2025, the British government awarded a contract to the defence firm
BAE Systems to produce artillery barrels for Ukraine; BAE has stated their intention to work with Sheffield Forgemasters to produce the barrel forgings. ==Capabilities==