Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven

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The shipyard in Wilhelmshaven 1894
Imperial Navy shipyard, Wilhelmshaven, 1908
Shipyard gate 1, around 1914
Launched large cruiser SMS Hindenburg , 1915

The Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven was a naval shipyard in Wilhelmshaven . It existed from 1871 to 1918 and, along with the Kaiserliche Werft Kiel and Kaiserliche Werft Danzig, was one of three shipyards that worked almost exclusively for the Imperial Navy . Their tasks were to build, equip and maintain warships.

Mailbox of the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven in today's still functional condition

After the First World War , the shipyard was operated by the Reichsmarine (from 1935: Kriegsmarine ). Since 1957 is located on the former shipyard, a naval arsenal of the German Navy (since 1990: German Navy ).

history

With the Danish blockade of the German coasts in 1848, the vulnerability of German merchant shipping to any enemy became apparent. Consequently, in 1849 members of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg turned to the Prussian government with a request for future assistance.

After several negotiations, the " Jade Treaty " of July 20, 1853 between the King of Prussia and the Grand Duke of Oldenburg was concluded. In this contract, the assignment of a 556  Jück (about 1230 Prussian acres correspond to about 314 hectares) large area on the Jade Bay to the Kingdom of Prussia was determined. This in turn committed itself to the construction of a naval facility and the protection of Oldenburg shipping. At the end of 1854, Prussia took possession of the ceded area as the "Royal Prussian Jade Area", and the area intended for the Navy became the "Navy Establishment on the Jade". From 1856 the construction of workshops and magazines, later also von Hellingen , began.

After the founding of the North German Confederation , the shipyard became the “Naval Shipyard of the North German Confederation” in 1867 with the establishment of the Navy of the North German Confederation.

Shortly after the war port went into operation , after the already existing royal Prussian shipyards in Danzig and Kiel, construction began on the third royal Prussian shipyard in Germany on the site in 1870. With the proclamation of the German Empire in January 1871, the navy of the North German Confederation and Prussia were again merged to form the Imperial Navy, and the former “Royal Shipyards” were renamed to “Imperial Shipyards”.

In the meantime, a new city had emerged on the area around the naval facilities, which was given the name Wilhelmshaven in 1869 on the occasion of the inauguration of new port facilities by Wilhelm I.

With the growing international importance of the German Empire, the navy experienced a rapid upswing in the following years under Kaiser Wilhelm II and his fleet chief Grand Admiral Tirpitz , which was difficult to achieve with the shipyard capacity available in Germany. In the years that followed, extensive expansions to the shipyard in Wilhelmshaven were carried out, including the construction of docks IV to VI, a 4000 t floating dock and the port area from 1906 to 1908 . In 1911, as the largest coal-fired power station at the time, the south center for the power supply of the shipyard was completed. In 1915, DEMAG delivered the largest floating crane in the world at the time, the "Langen Heinrich" , to the shipyard. The crane is still in use today (2015) at the Zamponi ship repair yard in Genoa.

At the beginning of 1914, the shipyard had a workforce of around 11,500, which increased to around 21,000 by the end of 1918.

The end of the war in 1918 initially ended military shipbuilding in Wilhelmshaven. The three Imperial Shipyards were significantly reduced in their capacity and partly privatized.

Later use

Shipyard gate 1, 2015

After the end of the First World War, the shipyard was downsized. In the absence of orders for shipbuilding, locomotives were repaired and, as an emergency program, fish steamers and cutters as well as some freight and passenger steamers were built. From 1919 the scrapping business also flourished and provided work.

After the Reichsmarine emerged from the Provisional Reichsmarine on January 1, 1921 , the company, which was now called Industriewerke Rüstringen , was renamed Reichsmarinewerft in the 1920s . In 1935 it became the Wilhelmshaven Navy Shipyard .

Since 1957, a portion of the area as Arsenal for the German Navy (from 1995: German navy) used.

Ships built at the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven

(Selection; the years given relate to the launch / commissioning of the ships)

During the First World War, the shipyard in Wilhelmshaven, like the other two Imperial Shipyards, manufactured seaplanes for the Imperial Navy. The aircraft identification numbers were: 401–403, 461–462, 945 and 947.

literature

  • G. Koop, K. Galle, F. Klein: From the Imperial Shipyard to the Naval Arsenal . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-7637-5252-8
  • HJ Hansen: The ships of the German fleets 1848-1945 . Verlag Gerhard Stalling AG, Oldenburg 1978, ISBN 3-7979-1834-8

Web links

Coordinates: 53 ° 31 '8.7 "  N , 8 ° 7' 50.4"  E