Brothers Amos and Wilfrid Ayre founded Burntisland Shipbuilding Co. in 1918 as a First World War emergency shipyard.[1] Its yard at Burntisland West Dock had four berths and capacity to build ships up to 450 feet (140m) long[1] and up to 59 feet (18m) beam.[3] However, until the 1950s Burntisland built relatively few vessels more than about 425 feet (130m) long and 57 feet (17.4m) beam.[3]