Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft
Encyclopedia
Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft (often just called Germaniawerft, "Germania
shipyard") was a German
shipbuilding
company, located in the harbour at Kiel
, and one of the largest and most important builders of U-boat
s for the Kaiserliche Marine
in World War I
and the Kriegsmarine
in World War II
.
. The idea of the company was to construct war
and merchant ships. In 1876 the company built the personal yacht of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the SMY Hohenzollern
.
The company went bankrupt in 1879 and had to be sold and became property of the Märkisch-Schlesischen Maschinenbau und Hütten-Aktiengesellschaft. They had constructed steam engine
s in Berlin
since 1822. A few year later this company also got in trouble and in late 1882 a new company was founded, the Schiff und Maschinenbau Germania.
A few more warships were constructed and the company also had a very good reputation concerning the construction of torpedo boat
s. However the financial problems were never far away and by the end of August 1896 Krupp
took over, as they were very interested in building warships themselves. Between 1898 and 1902 the company doubled its surface and new and large slips were constructed. In 1902 the company changed name and became the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft.
In 1908, Germaniawerft built the schooner
Germania
for Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach
, based on a design from Max Oertz. It was the first yacht of its size built in Germany. In the period preceding World War I
, it also built a number of battleships for the Kaiserliche Marine, including the SMS Posen
, SMS Prinzregent Luitpold
, SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm
and SMS Sachsen. During the First World War, the company turned to building U-boats. A total of 84 U-boats were delivered to the Kaiserliche Marine.
Afterwards, it returned to its original vocation, including building the steel
-hulled
barque
Sedov
(originally the Magdalene Vinnen II), the largest traditional sailing ship
still afloat.
During World War II
, the Germaniawerft was one of the most important suppliers of the Kriegsmarine, because of its proximity to German naval facilities in Kiel. Over the course of the war, the company completed 131 U-boats (types II, VII, XB, XIV, XVII, and XXIII). The Kriegsmarine had in total ordered 240 U-boats. In 1944, the shipyard had over 10,000 employees, of which roughly 11% were forced labourers
.
On April 26, 1945, the last U-boat built in the Germaniawerft was launched, the . The war ended before it could enter into service. The most famous U-boats built at the Germaniawerft are probably , which was commanded by Günther Prien
during his sinking of the in 1940, and , which formed the basis of Lothar-Günther Buchheim
's novel Das Boot
.
After the war, the partially ruined shipyard was one of the first facilities dismantled by the victorious allies. The population of heavily bombed Kiel protested furiously this decision, but to no avail. The site was broken up and not rebuilt. In the late 1960s, the grounds were purchased by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft as a submarine-building shipyard. As of 2006, submarines are being built at the site.
Germania
Germania was the Greek and Roman geographical term for the geographical regions inhabited by mainly by peoples considered to be Germani. It was most often used to refer especially to the east of the Rhine and north of the Danube...
shipyard") was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
shipbuilding
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
company, located in the harbour at Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
, and one of the largest and most important builders of U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s for the Kaiserliche Marine
Kaiserliche Marine
The Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...
in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
History
The company was founded in 1867 by Lloyd Foster, as the Norddeutsche Schiffbau-Gesellschaft, in the town of Gaarden, near KielKiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
. The idea of the company was to construct war
Warship
A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...
and merchant ships. In 1876 the company built the personal yacht of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the SMY Hohenzollern
SMY Hohenzollern
SMY Hohenzollern was the name of several Yachts used by the German Emperors between 1878 and 1918, named after their House of Hohenzollern.- SMY Hohenzollern I :...
.
The company went bankrupt in 1879 and had to be sold and became property of the Märkisch-Schlesischen Maschinenbau und Hütten-Aktiengesellschaft. They had constructed steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
s in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
since 1822. A few year later this company also got in trouble and in late 1882 a new company was founded, the Schiff und Maschinenbau Germania.
A few more warships were constructed and the company also had a very good reputation concerning the construction of torpedo boat
Torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
s. However the financial problems were never far away and by the end of August 1896 Krupp
Krupp
The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...
took over, as they were very interested in building warships themselves. Between 1898 and 1902 the company doubled its surface and new and large slips were constructed. In 1902 the company changed name and became the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft.
In 1908, Germaniawerft built the schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Germania
Half Moon (shipwreck)
The Half Moon is a racing sailboat which sank in 1930 near Miami, Florida, United States. It is located outside Bear Cut off Key Biscayne. Originally christened Germania, the racing yacht was built by Krupp-Germania-Werft in 1908 in Kiel, Germany...
for Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach
Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach
Gustav Georg Friedrich Maria Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, "Taffi", ran the German Friedrich Krupp AG heavy industry conglomerate from 1909 until 1941...
, based on a design from Max Oertz. It was the first yacht of its size built in Germany. In the period preceding World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, it also built a number of battleships for the Kaiserliche Marine, including the SMS Posen
SMS Posen
SMS Posen "SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff", or "His Majesty's Ship" was one of four battleships in the , the first dreadnoughts built for the German Imperial Navy...
, SMS Prinzregent Luitpold
SMS Prinzregent Luitpold
SMS Prinzregent Luitpold "SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff" was the fifth and final vessel of the of battleships of the German Imperial Navy. Prinzregent Luitpolds keel was laid in October 1910 at the Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel...
, SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm
SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm
SMS Kronprinz"SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff" was the last battleship of the four-ship of the German Imperial Navy. The battleship was laid down in November 1911 and launched on 21 February 1914. She was formally commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 8 November 1914, just over 4...
and SMS Sachsen. During the First World War, the company turned to building U-boats. A total of 84 U-boats were delivered to the Kaiserliche Marine.
Afterwards, it returned to its original vocation, including building the steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
-hulled
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...
barque
Barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...
Sedov
Sedov
The STS Sedov , formerly the Magdalene Vinnen II and the Kommodore Johnsen , is a 4-masted steel barque that for almost 80 years was the largest traditional sailing ship in operation...
(originally the Magdalene Vinnen II), the largest traditional sailing ship
Sailing ship
The term sailing ship is now used to refer to any large wind-powered vessel. In technical terms, a ship was a sailing vessel with a specific rig of at least three masts, square rigged on all of them, making the sailing adjective redundant. In popular usage "ship" became associated with all large...
still afloat.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Germaniawerft was one of the most important suppliers of the Kriegsmarine, because of its proximity to German naval facilities in Kiel. Over the course of the war, the company completed 131 U-boats (types II, VII, XB, XIV, XVII, and XXIII). The Kriegsmarine had in total ordered 240 U-boats. In 1944, the shipyard had over 10,000 employees, of which roughly 11% were forced labourers
Unfree labour
Unfree labour includes all forms of slavery as well as all other related institutions .-Payment for unfree labour:If payment occurs, it may be in one or more of the following forms:...
.
On April 26, 1945, the last U-boat built in the Germaniawerft was launched, the . The war ended before it could enter into service. The most famous U-boats built at the Germaniawerft are probably , which was commanded by Günther Prien
Günther Prien
Lieutenant Commander Günther Prien was one of the outstanding German U-boat aces of the first part of the Second World War, and the first U-boat commander to win the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Under Prien's command, the submarine sank over 30 Allied ships totaling about...
during his sinking of the in 1940, and , which formed the basis of Lothar-Günther Buchheim
Lothar-Günther Buchheim
Lothar-Günther Buchheim was a German author and painter. He is best known for his novel Das Boot , which became an international bestseller and was adapted in 1981 as an Oscar-nominated film.-Early life:...
's novel Das Boot
Das Boot
Das Boot is a 1981 German epic war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, and Klaus Wennemann...
.
After the war, the partially ruined shipyard was one of the first facilities dismantled by the victorious allies. The population of heavily bombed Kiel protested furiously this decision, but to no avail. The site was broken up and not rebuilt. In the late 1960s, the grounds were purchased by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft as a submarine-building shipyard. As of 2006, submarines are being built at the site.
Merchant ships
- Mary (1920), schooner, later museum ship Carthaginian II at Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, scuttled in 2005
- Magadelene Vinnen II (1921), 4-masted barque, today Russian sail training ship SedovSedovThe STS Sedov , formerly the Magdalene Vinnen II and the Kommodore Johnsen , is a 4-masted steel barque that for almost 80 years was the largest traditional sailing ship in operation...
, 5-masted barquentine that sank on her maiden voyage.
Yachts
- Coronet (1928), during World War II patrol boat
- Haida G (1928), during Wold War II patrol boat
- Nourmahal (1928)
- Orion (1929), later gunboat and cruise ship Regina Maris
- EtakSchooner EtakThe Te Vega is a two-masted, gaff-rigged auxiliary schooner. Originally launched as the Etak, she was designed by New York naval architects Cox & Stevens in 1929 for American businessman Walter Graeme Ladd and his wife, Catherine Everit Macy Ladd...
(1930) - Talitha G (ex-Reveler) (1930)
- Santa Maria Del Mare (ex-Vita) (1931)
- Alva (1931), later
- Hussar II (1931), later Sea Cloud
Submarines (U-boats)
- A class submarinesNorwegian A class submarineThe A class submarines were a class of three vessels of German design built by the Krupp Germania naval shipyard in Kiel, Germany from 1913 to 1914 and deployed by the Royal Norwegian Navy....
(Royal Norwegian NavyRoyal Norwegian NavyThe Royal Norwegian Navy is the branch of the Norwegian Defence Force responsible for naval operations. , the RNoN consists of approximately 3,700 personnel and 70 vessels, including 5 heavy frigates, 6 submarines, 14 patrol boats, 4 minesweepers, 4 minehunters, 1 mine detection vessel, 4 support...
) - U-3-class submarinesU-3 class submarine (Austria-Hungary)The U-3 class was a class of two submarines or U-boats built for and operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy . The U-3-class boats were designed and built by Germaniawerft of Kiel, Germany...
(Austro-Hungarian NavyAustro-Hungarian NavyThe Austro-Hungarian Navy was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Its official name in German was Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine , abbreviated as k.u.k. Kriegsmarine....
) - Type U 1 submarines
- Type U 5 submarines
- Type U 16 submarines
- Type U 23 submarines
- Type U 31 submarinesGerman Type U 31 submarineU 31 was a class of U-boats built during World War I by the Kaiserliche Marine.U 31 U-boats carried 6 torpedoes and were originally armed with one geck gun, which was replaced in 1916/17 by a deck gun...
- Type U 51 submarines
- Type U 63 submarines
- Type U 66 submarinesGerman Type U 66 submarineThe Type U 66 was a class of five submarines or U-boats operated by the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The class is alternately referred to as the U-66-class or the Type UD. The class was built by Germaniawerft of Kiel to their 506d design as the U-7-class for the Austro-Hungarian Navy...
- Type U 139 submarinesGerman Type U 139 submarineU-139, originally designated "Project 46", was a class of large, long-range U-boats built during World War I by the Kaiserliche Marine.-Description:Three large U-cruisers, designated Type 139, were ordered from Germaniawerft, Kiel, in August 1916...
- Type U 142 submarines
- Type Mittel U submarinesGerman Type Mittel U submarineMittel U was a class of U-boats built during World War I by the Kaiserliche Marine.Mittel U U-boats carried 16 torpedoes and had various arrangements of deck guns. Some had only one 88mm gun while others had a single 105mm gun - but most had both originally...
- Type UB I submarinesGerman type UB I submarineThe Type UB I was a class of small coastal submarines built in Germany at the beginning of the First World War. Twenty boats were constructed, most of which went into service with the German Imperial Navy. Boats of this design were also operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy and the Bulgarian...
- Type UB III submarinesGerman type UB III submarineThe Type UB III submarine was a class of U-boat built during World War I by the Kaiserliche Marine.UB III boats carried 10 torpedoes and were armed with one 88 mm deck gun. They carried a crew of 34 and had a cruising range of around 9,000 miles...
- Type UC II submarinesGerman Type UC II submarineType UC II minelaying submarines were used by the Kaiserliche Marine during the World War I. They displaced 417 tons, carried 7 torpedoes and up to 18 mines...
- Type II submarinesGerman Type II submarineThe Type II U-boat was designed by Germany as a coastal U-boat, modeled after the CV-707 submarine, which was designed by the Dutch dummy company NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw den Haag and built in 1933 by the...
- Type VII submarinesGerman Type VII submarineType VII U-boats were the most common type of German World War II U-boat. The Type VII was based on earlier German submarine designs going back to the World War I Type UB III, designed through the Dutch dummy company Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw den Haag which was set up by Germany after...
- Type XB submarinesGerman Type X submarineType X U-boats were a special type of German submarine . Although intended as long-range mine-layers, they were later used as long-range cargo transports, a task they shared with the Type IXD and Italian Romolo-class submarines.-History:...
- Type XIV submarinesGerman Type XIV submarineThe Type XIV U-boat was a modification of the Type IXD, designed to resupply other U-boats. They were nicknamed "Milchkuh/Milchkühe " . They had no torpedo tubes or deck guns, only anti-aircraft guns. Due to its large size, the Type XIV could resupply other boats with 400 tons of fuel, four...
- Type XVII submarines
- Type XXIII submarinesGerman Type XXIII submarineGerman Type XXIII submarines were the first so-called elektroboats to become operational. They were small coastal submarines designed to operate in the shallow waters of the North Sea, Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea, where larger Type XXI Elektro boats were at risk in World War II. They were so...