Danziger Werft ( en, The International Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited, pl, Stocznia Gdańska) was a

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other 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 roots to befo ...

company, in Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland), in what was then the Free City of Danzig. It was founded in 1921 on the site of the former Kaiserliche Werft Danzig that had been closed after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

History

After the

ended, Danzig was turned into a free city under indirect control of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

. While technically an independent state, Danzig was also subject to

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

, other post-war arrangements and demilitarisation of Germany. Because of that, in 1919 former Kaiserliche Werft was banned from producing military vessels. Pending further decisions of the victorious Entente with regards to German arms industry, in October 1919 the new German government officially donated the shipyard and all of its assets to the city of Danzig. The new owners were also forced to scrap the final 33 U-boats still on slips in 1918. However, as the company lost both its main client (the

Kaiserliche Marine {{italic title The adjective ''kaiserlich'' means "imperial" and was used in the German-speaking countries to refer to those institutions and establishments over which the ''Kaiser'' ("emperor") had immediate personal power of control. The term wa ...

) and its

raison d'etre Raison may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * André Raison (c 1640 – 1719), French baroque composer and organist * Kate Raison, Australian actress * Max Raison (1901-1988), English cricketer * Miranda Raison, English actress * Timothy Raison Sir ...

, in 1922 it had to be commercialised. It was turned into a joint stock company, with 30% shares held by French Groupement Industriel pour Danzig conglomerate, 30% by British Cravens company, and remaining 40% by local Danziger Privat Aktienbank and Polish

Bank Handlowy Bank Handlowy w Warszawie (BHW) or Citi Handlowy is a Polish bank based in Warsaw, established in 1870. It is one of the oldest banks in Poland and Europe. It is the 10th largest bank in Poland in terms of assets, and 18th in terms of number of out ...

(20% each). The new company used the name of "International Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited", but was most commonly referred to by its simplified German name: Danziger Werft ("Danzig Shipyard"). Although the shipyard was equipped with facilities for construction of ships up to of length, initially the market was overflowing with demobilised vessels of the warring nations. One of the first clients of the new company was Poland who ordered four large river monitors in 1920, shortly before Danzig was officially demilitarised. The four units were completed, but no further orders for large ships followed. Until the end of the 1920s the shipyard was working well below capacity, mostly on small merchant ships, tugs and motor boats. By the end of the decade some larger merchant vessels were ordered, but the orders soon plummeted due to the Great Depression. It was not until the late 1930s when the shipyard finally recovered from the post-war crisis. New toolshop was built, along with new boiler plant, compressed air workshop, compressor plant and a new slip for vessels of up to of length. License production of

MAN A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

ship engines was also started. Following the outbreak of

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and the German takeover of Danzig, the shipyard was taken over by Nazi authorities, initially informally, and officially on 30 August 1940. The new company, this time officially known as "Danziger Werft AG" concentrated its activities on the construction of the 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 for the Kriegsmarine. After World War II the Danziger Werft, which was considerably damaged by bombing raids, was mostly dismantled by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. Eventually the shipyard was taken over by Polish government and merged with the nearby

Schichau-Werke The Schichau-Werke (F. Schichau, Maschinen- und Lokomotivfabrik, Schiffswerft und Eisengießerei GmbH) was a German engineering works and shipyard based in Elbing, Germany (now Elbląg, Poland) on the Frisches Haff (Vistula Lagoon) of then- Eas ...

shipyard under the name of ''Stocznia Gdańska''. Since 1990 named ''Stocznia Gdańsk Spółka Akcyjna'' or Gdańsk Shipyard it is still in existence today as the greatest Polish shipyard.

References

Footnotes

Citations

Bibliography

* * Günter Stavorinus: ''Die Geschichte der Königlichen - Kaiserlichen Werft Danzig 1844 - 1918'', Böhlau Verlag Köln Wien 1990,

External links

* {{PM20, FID=co/005715, TEXT=Clippings about, NAME= Shipbuilding companies of Germany Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1921 Defunct companies of Germany History of Gdańsk 1921 establishments in the Free City of Danzig Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1940