The story
Founded by Louis Mathurin Babin-Chevaye and Paul Jollet in 1881, in Nantes.1
In the eighteenth century Nantes had been the biggest French port, and the Loire had a major shipbuilding industry. A prime example was Dubigeon established in 1760. In the nineteenth century Nantes was surpassed by Le Havre and Marseille. In the first half of the nineteenth century a port was developed at Saint-Nazaire for ships that could no longer reach Nantes. In the second half of the nineteenth century industrialization got under way in Nantes and Saint-Nazaire. In 1861 a Scottish engineer founded the Chantiers de Penhoët at Saint-Nazaire.
Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire (ACL) was formed in 1881 in Nantes by Jollet Babin to take advantage of the expansion of the French Navy. The shipyard was built at Prairie du Lac, near the Dubigeon yard, and the following year, in 1882, a second yard was built at St Nazaire adjacent to the Chantiers de Penhoët yard. From the outset ACL focused on building warships for the French Navy, laying down capital ships at the Saint-Nazaire site, closer to deep water, and medium–sized and small ships (cruisers, torpedo boats and, later, destroyers) at Nantes.
From Wikipedia’s article on Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3