Cockatoo Docks &amp; Engineering CompanyCockatoo Docks &amp; Engineering Company Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company The Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company was a ship building and maintenance company which operated the Cockatoo Island Dockyard on Cockatoo Island in Sydney, Australia between 1933 and 1992. History. The Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company commenced trading on 1 March 1933 taking a 21 year lease over the dockyard on Cockatoo Island from the Federal Government. Having held a minority shareholding since 1937, in 1947 Vickers-Armstrongs became the majority shareholder. In February 1954, the lease was renewed for a further 20 years and 8 months, and again from 1 January 1972 for 21 years. In February  1984, Vickers merged its Australian interests were with the Commonwealth Steel Company to form Comsteel Vickers, Vickers and BHP each owning 38%, with the remaining 24% held by smaller investors. On 4 June 1986, the company was purchased by Australian National Industries (ANI). As part of a review of Australia's ship building capabilities, the Federal Government decided in 1987 the lease would not be renewed. Although consideration was given to terminating the lease early, in the end it ran its course until 31 December 1992, although the only work performed in the last 18 months was decommissioning the dockyard . A lengthy legal action over various costs and liabilities between the government and ANI was settled in May 1997. Other work. During World War II, the dockyard was the main ship repair facility in the Pacific Ocean, with over 250 ships repaired. The Cunard liners RMS "Queen Mary" and RMS "Queen Elizabeth" were converted into troopships at Cockatoo Island. In the eight months between August 1942 and March 1943, Cockatoo repaired four cruisers of the United States Navy: USS "Chicago", USS "Chester", USS "Portland", and USS "New Orleans". Many ships of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) were repaired. From the  early 1960s, the dockyard performed refits on RAN vessels including British T-class submarines (5), "Oberon"-class submarines (14) and "Attack"-class patrol boats (43). Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company The Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company was a ship building and maintenance company which operated the Cockatoo Island Dockyard on Cockatoo Island in Sydney, Australia between 1933 and 1992. History. The Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company commenced trading on 1 March 1933 taking a 21 year lease over the dockyard on Cockatoo Island from the Federal Government. Having held a minority shareholding since 1937, in 1947 Vickers-Armstrongs became the majority shareholder. In February 1954