Susan Mary Auld

Susan Mary Auld (1915–2002), born Susan Denham Christie in Tynemouth, was the first woman to graduate as a naval architect from Durham University. She studied under Sir Westcott Abell and went on to be a pioneering architect for the Royal Navy. She designed battleships for the Royal Navy and the floating vessels used to land Allied troops in France on D-Day in 1944. After the war she worked on commercial and cargo shipbuilding and was also a correspondent for The Shipyard magazine. Her grandfather was a founder of the company that later became the Swan Hunter Group of shipyards, and her father John was company chairman for many years.