Samson and Goliath

Today we speak of Samson and Goliath .....no no, do not worry....you are still in the blog dedicated to Ireland and not in any religious blog... ;)

Samson and Goliath are the names of the magnificent yellow twin shipbuilding gantry cranes situated in Queen's Island. They have been built in 1969 and 1974 when the "Harland & Wolff" was one of the largest shipbuilders in the world.

The "Samson and Goliath" shipbuilding gantry cranes, Belfast 2015 

Notwithstanding shipbuilding has ceased in Belfast (the last ship launched at the yard was in March 2003), the twin cranes are still (2015) kept in working order and used for heavy lifting by Harland & Wolff in its other activities.

The Samson and Goliath gantry cranes are scheduled as historic monuments under Article 3 of the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.

 

Nowadays, the cranes stand sentinel over the city of Belfast and became one of its main symbol.

 

One of the "Samson and Goliath" shipbuilding gantry cranes standing
as sentinel over the city of Belfast, Belfast 2015.

And now some technical details: Goliath stands 96 metres tall, while Samson is taller at 106 metres (348 ft). Goliath, the smaller of the two sits slightly further inland closer to Belfast City.

Each crane has a span of 140 metres and can lift loads of up to 840 tonnes to a height of 70 metres, making a combined lifting capacity of over 1,600 tonnes, one of the largest in the world. Prior to commissioning, the cranes were tested up to 1,000 tonnes, which bent the gantry downwards by over 30 centimetres.

The dry dock at the base of the cranes is the largest in the world measuring 556 m × 93 m.

You can find these information and more in Wikipedia.


One of the "Samson and Goliath" shipbuilding gantry cranes, Belfast 2015