Burmester shipyard
The Burmester shipyard was an important yacht and boat yard in Bremen with two branches during the Second World War in Swinoujscie (Ostswine) for the large-scale production of clearing boats and war fishing cutters (KFK).
history
The Burmester shipyard was founded in 1920 by Ernst Burmester (1893–1965) in Bremen- Burg . Due to an increased demand for yachts in the 1920s, the company - from 1925 Yacht- und Bootswerft Burmester GmbH - grew considerably. In 1935, after a liquidation, Ernst Burmester became the sole owner of the boatyard.
In the 1930s, the shipyard mainly built lifeboats and small boats, such as clearing boats and sea cruiser yachts for the navy . In 1941 two branch yards were set up in Swinoujscie (Ostwine) especially for war production, the yacht and boat yard Burmester Räumbootswerft and the Ernst Burmester Schiffswerft KG for KFK construction. As an armaments factory, the Burmester shipyards also employed Dutch, French and Polish slave laborers during World War II .
In January 1945, the relocation of the Swinemünde shipyards to Travemünde was initiated. This was successful for about 80% of the material.
The shipyards in Bremen and Travemünde survived the war and then carried out repair and clearing work. Around 200 employees also built ten Sogn fishing trawlers from 1945 to 1948 in Bremen-Burg . Series North with hulls according to the KFK model from Swinemünde material that has now been transferred from Travemünde to Bremen. After that, eight former KFKs were converted to fishing cutters at both shipyards. From 1948 the shipyard started building yachts and motor boats for various business purposes. Navy boats were also rebuilt and partly exported.
The focus of the shipyard, however, remained the construction of private sailing and motor yachts , especially of "international class ocean-going yachts" as they did before the war. In addition to many yachts for the “rich of the world”, the shipyard's most famous yachts include the first Roland von Bremen , winner of the transatlantic race in 1936 , and - owned by Ernst Burmester - the Aschanti IV from 1954, then the largest German sailing yacht.
The most powerful ship ever built at the Burmester shipyard is the prototype at the time for a new class of deep-sea mine search boats of the German Navy , the Walther von Ledebur from 1966, which was used as a mine diving boat Mühlhausen (M 1052) from 1995 after later reconstruction . Until it was decommissioned in 2007, with a length of 63 meters, she was the largest warship in the world in active service with a wooden hull in glue- only construction .
The number of shipyard employees rose to 750 by 1959; it then sank to around 220 by the beginning of 1970. In 1965, after the death of Ernst Burmester, a son-in-law of Ernst Burmester, the Hamburg entrepreneur and sailor Hans-Otto Schümann, took over the shipyard. From 1971 the shipyard suffered significant losses. In 1979 the Burmester shipyard was taken over by the Lürssen shipyard in Bremen- Vegesack and the location in Bremen-Burg was given up. In 1994 the Meyer GmbH yacht yard was established on the shipyard site in Burg .
literature
- Klaus Auf dem Garten: Burmester yacht and boat yard, Bremen: 1920–1979. An important chapter in German boat building and sailing history . Hauschild Verlag , Bremen 2002, ISBN 3-89757-141-2 .
- Herbert Black Forest : The Great Bremen Lexicon . Volume 1: A-K. 2nd, updated, revised and expanded edition. Edition Temmen, Bremen 2003, ISBN 3-86108-693-X .
- Helmut Dachale: When the day still had 24 hours . Article in the Weser-Kurier of March 29, 2009, p. 31.
