Located in Dumbarton, the Denny Ship Model Experiment Tank is now all that remains of the once thriving William Denny and Brothers Shipyard, a shipyard that built, from about 1815, many ships of world significance, including the famous Cutty Sark launched in 1869 (completed by Denny's after the liquidation of her contracted builders) which is currently located in London as a tourist attraction and restoration project. Denny's also built Sunderland Flying Boats in Dumbarton during the Second World War.

Denny's Yard was one of the first in the world to build an experimental testing tank, completing it in 1892, when industry still benefitted from Victorian Britain's influence. Its purpose is for naval architects and designers to test their hull designs for efficiency, an enormously important aspect of ship design, affecting speed and fuel consumption. This tank is 92 metres long, 6.7 metres wide and 2.5 metres deep. Included in the building is the workshop and machinery used to produce the wax hull models (up to 6 metres long), a trade and craft itself. The scale models are attached below the cradle and pulled along the length of the tank, with simulated waves generated at the far end. Models are also attached so that waves can be driven against the broadside of a ship to test for various conditions and effects.

Although Denny's went into liquidation in 1963 the test tank remains in a working condition having been restored, and having, until very recently, a serious teaching and functional role. Its most significant last task being in the testing of hull shapes for Roll-on Roll-off Car Ferries. That task is now more conveniently carried out by computer simulation, casting an ominous cloud over the future of this facillity, which has been open as a museum for several years now.