Moss Verft was a shipyard in

Jeløya Jeløya is an island located in the municipality of Moss in Østfold County, Norway. History Jeløya was actually a peninsula in the Oslofjord, but was divided from the mainland in 1855 by the Moss canal (''Mossekanalen'') a 20-meter broad cana ...

Moss, Norway is a coastal town and a municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Moss. The city of Moss was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt) and City in 1720 ...

. For most of its existence, it was owned by a company of the same name (with spelling variations over time in the company). Locally, it was nicknamed Værven.

History

It had its predecessor in a modest reparation yard by N. W. Grønn in 1860. In 1870 it was taken over by the twins Johan and Jørgen Hermann Vogt, and in 1871 their yard had built its first vessel; a

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

. It was bought by the limited company Moss Værft in 1889. The company was dissolved in 1927 because of an economic depression, but re-founded the same year as Moss Værft & Dokk. The first chairman of that company was

Ferdinand Anker Ferdinand Osvald Conrad Anker (12 December 1876 – 23 April 1954) was a Norwegian businessperson. Pre-war career Anker was born in Christiania, attended commerce school and resided in Germany and France between 1897 and 1899. In 1899 he started ...

. Anker was later sentenced for economic cooperation, i.e. treason, with Germany during the

occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until the ...

. Moss Værft & Dokk became implicated in these affairs, and in the 1950s, the former board as well as director Th. Ring Amundsen were sued by

Øivind Lorentzen Øivind Sven Lorentzen (14 October 1882 – 9 May 1980) was a Norwegian shipping magnate. Pre-war life and career He was born in Holmestrand as a son of ship-owner Hans Ludvig Lorentzen (1839–1904) and Thala Margrethe Bredrup (1847–1941). His ...

's company Sobral. Sobral claimed that Moss Værft & Dokk had prioritized work for the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previou ...

rather than fulfilling a contract with Sobral. In 1961 Moss Værft & Dokk was acquired by major corporation Kværner Brug. After Kværner bought Rosenberg Verft as well, in 1970, the companies were amalgamated into Moss-Rosenberg Verft. The shipyard in Moss was the city's largest place of work in the 1970s, but it was discontinued in 1987. The last vessel produced by the yard was a

railway ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train f ...

for

Statens Järnvägar The Swedish State Railways ( sv, Statens Järnvägar) or SJ, originally the Royal Railway Board ( sv, Kungl. Järnvägsstyrelsen), was the former government agency responsible for operating the state-owned railways in Sweden. It was created ...

in 1986.NOU 2011: 3
(

Norwegian Official Report A Norwegian Official Report ( no, Norges offentlige utredninger, NOU) is a report published by a panel or committee appointed by the Norwegian government. The Norwegian Parliament may request the government to establish such a committee. External ...

)

References

{{Reflist Manufacturing companies established in 1870 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1987 Shipyards of Norway Companies based in Østfold Moss, Norway 1884 establishments in Norway