The United Kingdom is well-known for its gorgeous seaside towns and many of these coastal towns have in fact played a large part in the nation's former prowess as the greatest and most powerful Navy ever formed. England's history is and always has been intermeshed with the sea and this fact is made even more immediate when one considers that, at its height, the Empire spanned countless oceans and continents. It is with its mastery of waterways that the English mindset shaped the entire world and still does in many instances. As such, every coastal town from Bude to Blackpool deserves a bit of credit and respect. Barrow-in-Furness, located in the county of Cumbria, is yet another town that helped England appropriate its glory and this town in fact may deserve a bit more credit than some of its brethren.
Barrow-in-Furness can be found at the very end of the Furness peninsula so water is essentially in the town's blood. The Irish Sea and Morecambe Bay are practically both within arm's reach when standing in some parts of the town so it seems fitting that the Crown would quickly notice both the economical and military significance of Barrow-in-Furness. Sure enough, the Industrial Revolution breathed life into the town and sure enough by the middle of the 1800s Barrow-in-Furness was a full-fledged industrial town with one purpose on its mind: Shipbuilding. The trade thrived in Barrow-in-Furness and soon the city was crafting a massive amount of naval ships. Though it may have been jarring to some longtime residents to see a small, quaint fishing village become an economical behemoth, the fact of the matter was that Barrow-in-Furness attained a newfound respect and admiration that made it the envy of its seaside peers. This tradition continued on through the twentieth century and by the 1960s Barrow-in-Furness would once again top England with its superior nautical creations. This time around, however, the name of the game was submarines.
By this time Barrow-in-Furness was indelibly and irrevocably enmeshed within shipbuilding as its primary means of income. After the second World War the town had shut down most of its other operations and it focused solely on crafting the United Kingdom's most powerful and most frightening submarines. One of England's most esteemed submarine lines is known as the Vanguard class. These vessels come equipped with nuclear weapons made with the most advanced technology possible and every one of these incredibly expensive crafts were created in Barrow-in-Furness. Unfortunately, this was a time when the entire world was building up its weapons arsenal. Russia and the United States were in the midst of a decades-long Cold War and the U.K. was heavily involved on the side of democracy as well. Military spending was the order of the day and this ensured that Barrow-in-Furness would always have submarines to build. Cold wars eventually freeze over, though, and by the time the Berlin Wall came down Barrow-in-Furness found that its goose was all out of golden eggs. The town quickly saw a recession and many jobs were lost as many factories were shut down. Luckily, things are starting to pick back up in Barrow-in-Furness. The town is still the largest submarine manufacturer in the country but submarines aren't as desired as they used to be. This has caused the town to seek other outlets and many of them seem to be paying off quite handsomely. Like cold wars, recessions have a way of ending too and it seems that we'll be seeing Barrow-in-Furness back on top in no time.
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