HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Bremer Vulkan AG was a prominent German
shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, 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 roo ...
company located at the Weser river in Bremen-Vegesack. It was founded in 1893 and closed in 1997 because of financial problems and mismanagement. All together Bremer Vulkan built about 1100 ships—including the ships of the predecessor Johann Lange Shipyard—of different types. It is remarkable that the Bremer Vulkan, with the exception of both World Wars, only built civilian ships; production of naval ships except during wartime first started in the 1980s.


History

Bremer Vulkan AG was founded 1893 in Vegesack-a suburb of the city of Bremen–by a group of investors and Bremen merchants and by overtaking the 1805 founded Johann Lange Shipyard. Two years later the Bremer Vulkan bought the ''Bremer Schiffbaugesellschaft'' – former ''H. F. Ulrichs Shipyard'' which launched the first ship in 1839 - including all its modern shipbuilding facilities. The first director of the Bremer Vulkan became the engineer Victor Nawatzki (1855–1940). In the following years the Bremer Vulkan increased rapidly. By 1908 it covered an area of about and a water frontage of . Six slips equipped with modern electric travelling cranes were capable of building the largest vessels of that time. With an average annual delivery of about 40000 BRT it became the greatest civilian shipbuilding company in the German Empire, followed by ''Flensburger Schiffbaubetriebe'' in Flensburg, ''
Joh. C. Tecklenborg Joh. C. Tecklenborg was a German shipbuilding company, located at the river Geeste in Bremerhaven. About 440 ships of different types, including many famous tall sailing ships were built at the yard. Founded in 1841 it was finally closed in 1928. ...
'' in Bremerhaven and Vulcan Stettin in Stettin. The number of co-workers had increased from about 60 at the beginning up to about 3,300 in 1912. During
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
the Bremer Vulkan built warships. All together 11 minesweepers (''M 39''–''M 42'' and ''M 54''–''M 56'', ''M 71''–''M 74'') and in cooperation with the '' Germaniawerft'' in
Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland pe ...
some submarine hulls and 6 complete submarines (''U-160''–''U-163'') were built for the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' ( Imperial German Navy). After the war Bremer Vulkan continued its successful development. Different types of ships were built first mainly for German ship owners and with an increasing amount also for foreign ship owners later. An important progress was the change of ship propulsion from
steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...
s to
diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...
s. In cooperation and under licence from MAN the Bremer Vulkan started the production of diesel ship-engines. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, 74 different Type VII
U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...
s were constructed for the ''Kriegsmarine''. The Vulkan facility was several times target of the bombing of Bremen in World War II. The greatest bombing attack happened in March 1943 by the US Air Force. By the so-called "precise bombing" many buildings and U-boats under construction as well as surrounding private buildings were destroyed or damaged. 116 people were killed and additional 118 injured. Despite the great destruction, production of U-boats could be continued within a few weeks. During the war about downstream from the BV-shipyard between the Bremen suburbs and Farge the submarine bunker
Valentin Valentin is a male given name meaning "strong, healthy, power, rule, terco". It comes from the Latin name ''Valentinus'', as in Saint Valentin. Commonly found in Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Scandinavia, Latin America ...
was under construction. Here under management of the BV and beginning end of 1945 monthly 15 U-boats should be assembled from prefabricated sections. Those were delivered from the following shipyards Bremer Vulkan AG, Deschimag AG Weser in Bremen, Deschimag Seebeck AG in Bremerhaven and Blohm + Voss in
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...
. However, the bunker was not finished before the end of the war and no U-boats were ever built there. The building itself still exists today and is partly used as a memorial to the many forced labourers from nearby concentration camps who worked and died there during construction of the bunker. Dr. Robert Kabelac – director of the BV from 1935 to 1960 – managed to avoid the dismantling of the BV after war as this happened to most other German shipyards. The company was allowed to resume shipbuilding already in 1949. Production could soon be continued, starting with repair of ships and locomotives and the construction of fishing vessels. Soon later the shipbuilding programme was enlarged and various types of ships were offered to the market as container/multi purpose cargo ships, passenger liners, passenger-cargo vessels, roll-on/roll-off ships, LNG and LPG tankers, supply ships, special-purpose ships,
reefer vessel Reefer may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * Reefer (band), a hip-hop duo consisting of Nicholas Thorburn and Daddy Kev * Reefer, a newspaper's front-page paragraph referring to a story on an inside page Type of pursuit * Reefer, an aqu ...
s and others. By the end of the 1970s the BV became a world leader in container delivered capacity and in innovative container ship design. Beginning in the 1980s for the first time except wartimes of course also naval ships were built. As the general contractor the BV started in cooperation with other German shipbuilding companies the construction of frigates for the
German Navy The German Navy (, ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified '' Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Mar ...
. In the 1980s the BV merged with other German shipbuilding companies and became the largest shipbuilding company in Germany. The new ''Bremer Vulkan Verbund AG'' or the so-called ''Vulkan Group'' consisted of the following divisions at that time:1 Division Shipbuilding, including the seven German shipyards ''Bremer Vulkan Werft'' ( Bremen-Vegesack), ''Geeste Metallbau GmbH'' (
Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie H ...
), ''Flender Werft'' (
Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
), '' Lloyd Werft'', ''Rickmers Lloyd Dockbetrieb GmbH'', Schichau Seebeckwerft (all in Bremerhaven) and ''Neue Jadewerft'' ( Wilhelmshaven) Division Naval Shipbuilding Division Industry Division Electronic and Systems Technology Division Services After the German reunification in 1990 the Vulkan Group was enlarged by the Division Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, including the east German shipyards ''Matthias-Thesen Werft'' in Wismar and Volkswerft Stralsund in Stralsund. At that time Vulkan Group included all together about 22,000 co-workers in Germany, of that about 18,000 in the shipbuilding divisions. After 1996 bankruptcy because of financial problems and mismanagement, Bremer Vulkan closed the shipyard in Vegesack in 1997. Some of the affiliated shipyards as the Lloyd Shipyard in Bremerhaven and the shipyards in Eastern Germany survived this bankruptcy. The naval shipbuilding division was partly taken over by the Lürssen Shipbuilding Group.


List of ships built

* 1816, First German steamship ''Die Weser'', built by Johann Lange's shipyard * 1872, First steel-hull ship built at Ulrich's shipyard * 1893, Sailing Fishing Vessel BV2 ''Vegesack''; still existing today in ''Vegesacker Hafen'' (Vegesack Museum Harbour) * 1915, Passenger ship ''Zeppelin'', later ; greatest ship of the BV at that time * 1925, Passenger ship ''Berlin''; later Russian ship , sunk 1986 * 1928, the World's biggest tanker, * 1939, HAPAG
turbo-electric A turbo-electric transmission uses electric generators to convert the mechanical energy of a turbine (steam or gas) into electric energy, which then powers electric motors and converts back into mechanical energy that power the driveshafts. Tur ...
cargo ship ''Arauca''; converted in 1941–42 into the US Navy auxiliary ship * 1939, DDG Hansa cargo ship ''Goldenfels''; in WWII converted into the auxiliary cruiser '' Atlantis''; sunk by Royal Navy cruiser in 1941 * 1959, Rebuilding of the former French passenger ship to the new TS ''Bremen'' * 1964, German merchant fleet's first fully automated refrigerated cargo ship ''Nienburg'' * 1981, Cruise liner MS ''Europa'' for shipping company Hapag-Lloyd; today * 1982, First F 207/''Bremen'' for the German Navy; followed 1987 by F 213/''Augsburg'' * 1983, Cargo ship ''Pharos''; worldwide greatest ship equipped with propulsion system “Grim Vane Wheel” (in German: Grimsches Leitrad) * 1996, Luxury passenger cruiser '' Costa Victoria'' in collaboration with '' Lloyd Werft'' in Bremerhaven * 1996, Hull of a luxury passenger cruiser, intended name ''Costa Olympia'', after BV's bankruptcy the ship was 1999 finished as '' Norwegian Sky'' by '' Lloyd Werft'' in Bremerhaven * 1997, 2,700 TEU container ships ''Hansa Century'' and '' Hansa Constitution'' (which ran aground in Hong Kong in 2014) were the last ships built by Bremer Vulkan


See also

* '' Empire Kamal''


References

THE VULKAN GROUP, information brochure published by BV, 1992, page 28 * * * * * *


External links

* {{coord, 53, 10, 31, N, 8, 35, 54, E, region:DE-HB_type:landmark, display=title Shipbuilding companies of Germany Defence companies of Germany Manufacturing companies established in 1893 Defunct manufacturing companies of Germany Companies based in Bremen Manufacturing companies based in Bremen (state) History of Bremen (city) Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1997 1893 establishments in Germany 1997 establishments in Germany Companies formerly in the MDAX