The Gdańsk Shipyard (, formerly Lenin Shipyard) is a large Polish

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

, located in the city of

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

, northern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. The yard gained international fame when Polish trade union

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

() was founded there in September 1980. It is situated on the western side of Martwa Wisła and on Ostrów Island.

History

Gdańsk Shipyard was founded in 1946 as a state-owned company, on sites of the former German shipyards, Schichau-Werft and Danziger Werft, both considerably damaged in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. On 1 July 1952 a state-owned enterprise called Baza Remontowa-Ostrow was established on Ostrów Island. The name changed to Gdańska Stocznia Remontowa later in the year. During the time of the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

, the complex was known as the Gdańsk Shipyard and Vladimir Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk (1967–89). The Northern Shipyard (Stocznia Północna) was also formed in June 1945, when it was known as Shipyard No. 3. Its activities were mainly production and repairs of trains, trams and small floating units. In December 1945 Shipyard No. 3 had a workforce of 694, including 8 engineers and 28 technicians. Launches began in 1948 – smacks for the Gdańsk Institute of Sea Fishing were delivered and 53 rescue boats were built. In 1949 the shipyard started to produce fishing lugo-trawlers. In February 1950, Shipyard No3 changed its name to Northern Shipyard. In 1951, it ended production of trains, specializing instead in small cargo ships, fishing vessels and scientific ships. In 1952, the shipyard delivered 14 vessels. After 1955, the shipyard built vessels for the navies of

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

and

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

– mainly for troop

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. ...

, hydrographic, rescue, training and

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

boats. In 1975 the shipyard was named " Westerplatte Heroes". In 1980, Gdańsk was the arena for events that marked the beginning of organized resistance to Communist dictatorship in eastern Europe. A strike by 17,000 ship builders saw

(Solidarność), led by shipyard electrician

Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...

, recognised as the first non-Communist trade union in the then Soviet Bloc. The move was one of the first successful steps in a campaign of

civil resistance Civil resistance is a form of political action that relies on the use of nonviolent resistance by ordinary people to challenge a particular power, force, policy or regime. Civil resistance operates through appeals to the adversary, pressure and co ...

that contributed to the eventual collapse of Communism across eastern Europe. Through the 1980s, Northern Shipyard continued to produce super- trawlers, super- seiners, hydrographic units and troop

for the Soviet Union – the last four were delivered in 1991. Contracts signed with the Communist-era Polish Navy were delivered in the early 1990s. Difficulties on the world market forced radical changes and the yard began to specialize in cargo containers, mainly for Germany and Nigeria. In 1990, the state-owned Stocznia Gdańska became a joint stock company with 61% in National Treasury shares and 31% owned by employees. Since then, Gdańsk Shipyard has operated as Stocznia Gdańsk S.A. On 1 April 1993 Northern Shipyard of "Westerplatte Heroes" became a corporation, under the name Northern Shipyard S.A. In the late 1990s the shipyard produced

ferries A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus. ...

, fishing vessels,

tugboats A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, such ...

and ships for the offshore industry. Since June 2003, the main shareholder has been Gdańsk "Repair" Shipyard. Industrial Union of Donbas obtained 75% shares of the shipyard through

privatisation Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

in 2007, with the remaining share held by the Polish government. The Polish government regained shares of the shipyard from IDS in 2018 reaching 50%. As part of the Repair Group, Northern Shipyard can offer highly technical specialized products – from design to a fully-equipped ship. The shipyard now produces specialist ships, including LNG/LPG transport ships, passenger-car ferries, container vessels, offshore boats, hydrographic, and scientific ships. These vessels sail under the flags of Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, the UK, USA, and Poland. GdanskShipyard2009

Over 60 years, Stocznia Gdańsk has delivered more than 1000 seagoing ships to owners all over the world. In recent years, the top deliveries have been container ships, reefers, bulk carriers and passenger ro-ro ferries. Most ships are designed in their own design office. Design and construction of ships has remained the main activity of the yard. Work for the offshore industry began in the 21st century. Gdańsk shipyards have fallen on hard times. Once a place of work for over 20,000 people, the Gdańsk shipyards employ 2,200 workers today. The European Union has backed a restructuring plan for the shipyard. About 77 companies operate on the grounds of the shipyards, including GSG Towers, which builds steel towers for wind turbines. The shipyard's Gate Number Two, for decades the focus of strikes and celebrations, has become a pilgrimage destination.

Concerts

In 2005, French electronic music composer

Jean Michel Jarre Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, and is known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompan ...

performed a multimedia concert at the shipyard to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the

movement. The concert was a one-off event, attracting 170,000 spectators on site, over 6 million television viewers and resulted in the release of the '' Live from Gdańsk'' (2005) album.

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink F ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

for

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

played a concert at the shipyard in 2006 to celebrate the anniversary of the Polish revolution as part of the

movement. The concert, which attracted 50,000 spectators, closed his 2006 world tour in support of ''

On an Island ''On an Island'' is the third solo studio album by Pink Floyd member David Gilmour. It was released in the UK on 6 March 2006, Gilmour's 60th birthday, and in the United States the following day. It was his first solo album in 22 years s ...

'' (2006) and is documented on the '' Live in Gdańsk'' (2008) album.

Incident

On 24 November 1994, during a concert by the band Golden Life in the Gdansk Shipyard Hall, a fire occurred which led to the death of 7 people. The cause of the fire was arson, but the perpetrator was never identified.

Gallery

File:Brosen EnterShipyardGdansk.jpg , Entrance Image:StoczniaGdanska1.jpg, Gdańsk Shipyard, the birthplace of

Image:SOLDEK in GDANSK, POLAND 2004 ubt.jpeg, SS ''Sołdek'' – museum ship, 2004

References

External links