Kriegsmarinewerft (or, prior to 1935, Reichsmarinewerft) Wilhelmshaven was, between 1918 and 1945, a naval

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 ...

in the

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is part of the unified (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Marine'' (German Navy) became the official ...

s extensive base at

Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...

, ( west of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

History

The shipyard was founded on the site of the

Wilhelmshaven Imperial Shipyard Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven (Wilhelmshaven Imperial Shipyard) was a German Shipbuilder, shipbuilding company in Wilhelmshaven, founded in 1871 and closed in 1918. Together with Kaiserliche Werft Danzig and Kaiserliche Werft Kiel it was one ...

which had been closed down after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1935, the name was changed to ''Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven'' (Wilhelmshaven Naval Shipyard) when the German navy (''

Reichsmarine The () was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany. It was the naval branch of the , existing from 1919 to 1935. In 1935, it became known as the ''Kriegsmarine'' (War Navy), a branch of the '' ...

'') was renamed ''

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

'' by the Nazi Third Reich''. During 1939-1945, the yard's main activities were in building warships,

U-boats U-boats are naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the First and Second World Wars. The term is an anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the German term refers to any submarine. Austro-Hungarian Na ...

and repairing damaged warships. On 18 December 1939, 12 out of 22 RAF's

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

bombers were shot down in an air battle over the naval base.Denis Richards ''RAF Bomber Command in the Second World War'' (1995) chap. 3 Personnel were often assigned to organizing naval facilities in occupied countries, e.g., in the ports of Lorient, Brest and St. Nazaire. At the war's end there were about 17,000 workers. Polish and British troops reached Wilhelmshaven in May 1945. For a time, the yard refurbished ships to be sent to the Allies as

war reparations War reparations are compensation payments made after a war by one side to the other. They are intended to cover damage or injury inflicted during a war. War reparations can take the form of hard currency, precious metals, natural resources, in ...

but, from 1946, most buildings and equipment were either dismantled or blown up. Since 1957, part of the site has housed an arsenal for the

(''Deutsche Bundesmarine'').

Selection of ships built

*1920-1922: 28 fishing vessels *1922: four cargo ships *1925: Light cruiser *1926-1928: six torpedo-boats *1929: K-class light cruiser *1930: K-class light cruiser *1931: Gunnery training ship *1934: Panzerschiff (armoured ship, later classified as heavy cruiser) *1936: ''Deutschland''-class Panzerschiff *1939: *1941: *1941-1944: 27

Type VII submarine Type VII U-boats were the most common type of Nazi Germany, German World War II U-boat. 704 boats were built by the end of the war. The type had several modifications. The Type VII was the most numerous U-boat type to be involved in the Battle of ...

s ( U-751 to U-768 and U-771 to U-779)

References

*G. Koop, K. Galle, F. Klein, ''Von der Kaiserlichen Werft zum Marinearsenal'', Bernard & Graefe Verlag München, 1982, {{Authority control Shipbuilding companies of Germany Manufacturing companies established in 1918 Defunct companies of Germany Companies of Prussia Military installations of the Kriegsmarine Wilhelmshaven 1918 establishments in Germany 1945 disestablishments in Germany Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1945 Former submarine builders