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Schichau-Werke

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F. Schichau GmbH
Company typeGmbH
IndustryMechanical engineering
shipbuilding
Locomotivemanufacturing
Founded1837
DefunctJanuary 1945
SuccessorSchiffbau-Gesellschaft UnterweserEdit this on Wikidata
Headquarters
Elbing
Number of employees
About 7,800 when it closed

TheSchichau-Werke(F. Schichau, Maschinen- und Lokomotivfabrik, Schiffswerft und Eisengießerei GmbH) was a German engineering works and shipyard based inElbing,Germany (now Elbląg, Poland) on the Frisches Haff (Vistula Lagoon) of then-East Prussia.It also had a subsidiary shipyard in nearbyDanzig(now:Gdańsk,Poland). Due to the Soviet conquest of eastern Germany, Schichau moved toBremerhavenin March 1945, and its successors continued in business until 2009.

A light cruiser hull, which eventually became theSMSPillau,is launched at Schichau, Danzig, in 1914, shortly before World War I.

Early years

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Ferdinand Schichauhad studied engineering inBerlin,theRheinlandandGreat Britain.In 1837, he founded the engineering institution, later known as F. Schichau GmbH, Maschinen- und Lokomotivfabrik (F. Schichau engineering and locomotive factory) in Elbing. It started with the production of hydraulic presses anddiggers;in 1860, it began to produce locomotives for thePrussian Eastern Railway.From 1867 locomotive construction began in earnest, and three years later, the factory was connected to the railway network. In the early 20th century, the firm was one of several that built thePrussian P 8,the most numerous steam locomotive of its day.

Shipyards

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From 1847, Schichau produced steam engines for ships, starting with the engine for the first entirely Prussian-built steamerJames Watt(built by nearby Mitzlaff shipyard). In 1854, Schichau built the shipyard at Elbing,[1]known as theElbinger Dampfschiffs-Reederei F. Schichau('Elbing Steamship Shipping Company F. Schichau'). The first ship launched was the small steamerBorussiain 1855 – the first Prussian iron propeller ship.[1]The shipyard was subsequently expanded, and in 1872 Schichau acquired Mitzlaff's yard.

From 1877 the shipyard produced ships for the Prussian Navy and export, becoming specialized intorpedo boatsand later destroyers. It became a major manufacturer of torpedo boats for the Prussian Navy.[1]The engine ofS 1,which was built by Schichau in 1884 as one of Germany's first torpedo boats, is shown on display in theDeutsches Museumin Munich today.

Since the shipyard's location on the Elbing River limited the size of ships that could be constructed, in 1892 Schichau built a second shipyard inDanzig,which was capable of producing biggerwarships,up tobattleshipsize, as well as freighters andpassenger ships.Both shipyards also built ships for export worldwide, especially torpedo boats. In 1889 Schichau built a small repair shipyard inPillau(nowBaltijsk,Russia) nearKönigsberg(nowKaliningrad,Russia). Schichau's son-in-law,Carl Heinz Ziese,worked at Schichau-Werke and continued to run the business after Schichau's death in 1896, until 1917.

In 1910, Schichau-Werke began production ofTumleren-class torpedo boatsfor theRoyal Danish Navy.[2]

Interwar years

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When Ziese died in 1917, the management of the company passed to the husband of his only daughter, Hildegard, the Swede Carl Carlson. After his death, Hildegard Carlson ran the firm. After World War I, the shipyard was threatened with bankruptcy and in 1929 it was bought by the German government.[1]In 1930, the company bought a small yard in Königsberg.

After theFirst World War,the Schichau works, together with theUnion-Giessereiin Königsberg (that they later took over), was encouraged to focus on locomotive building with the aid of government subsidies known asOsthilfe( "Eastern Aid"). During theSecond World War,the firm ofBorsigplaced several contracts with the Schichau-Werke in Elbing, that continued production until January 1945.

WWII years

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During World War II (in 1941–1944)F. Schichauwas operator ofNobel & Lessnershipyard inTallinn.

U-boat production

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DuringWorld War II,Schichau built 94U-boatsfor theKriegsmarine(German Navy) at its Danzig shipyard. The yard in Elbing produced midget submarines of theSeehundclass. In addition to the manufacture ofType VII C submarines,the shipyard in Danzig also built the revolutionaryType XXI U-boats.Up to 1944, 62 Type VII C U-boats (and two Type VII C/41s) were built, before production was switched to the Type XXI. A total of 30 submarines of this latter class were built and launched at Danzig by the end of the war, but never saw combat.

Forced labor

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During World War II prisoners from Poland, France, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany and Hungary were transported from satellite camps ofStutthof concentration campnear Danzig to work at Schichau. The prisoners received inadequate rations: half a litre of thin soup and 250 grams of bread per day. There was no winter clothing. Many of these forced laborers died as a result of epidemics, accidents, and beatings by the guards. Bodies were burned in a crematorium but also buried in mass graves at the cemetery in Saspe (now theZaspadistrict of Gdańsk).[3]

Locomotive production

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Class 242-6-0 locomotive from Schichau

Up to the end of the war in 1945, the Schichau-Werke had supplied about 4,300 locomotives of several classes to customers that included theDeutsche Reichsbahnand GEDOB formed from disbandedPolish State Railways.These included the DRG and DRB standard steam locomotive (Einheitsdampflokomotive) classes23,41,andDRB Class 52Kriegslokomotive.[4]as well asDRG Class 86.The Schichau-Werke also designed the Class24and delivered its first two orders.[5]

After the war, the shipyards were acquired by Poland – to which the region was assigned by border changes promulgated at thePotsdam Conference.Postwar production included ships, railcars andboilers.The Schichau shipyard at Danzig was subsumed into theLenin shipyardin 1950 and, in 1980, attracted worldwide media coverage as a result of protests led by theSolidarnośćtrade union.

Recent history

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In early 1945, Schichau transferred a floating dockFlender WerkeinLübeck.In March 1945, as Soviet forces approached, Hermann Noë, the chief executive, and some employees fled Danzig with uncompleted ships toBremerhaven.In April Noë founded there a new Schichau company. In the early postwar years, the company repaired machinery, agricultural engines, locomotives and trams. After the Western Allies lifted the ban on shipbuilding in West Germany in 1951, Schichau reopened its shipyard in Bremerhaven.

Schichau later was merged intoSchichau Seebeckwerft,inBremerhaven,which continued in business until 2009. In July 1945, the company's former Königsberg site became the Soviet (now Russian)Yantar Shipyard.[6]

Ships built by Schichau (selection)

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Civilian ships

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Battleships

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Battlecruisers

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Submarines (U-boats)

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Großes Torpedoboot 1913 class Torpedo Boats

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Großes Torpedoboot 1916 class Torpedo Boats

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Torpedoboot 1935

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Torpedoboot 1937

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Flottentorpoedoboot 1939

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Flottentorpedoboot 1941

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Foreign navies

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Schichau-built ships still afloat

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  • Stralsund(built in 1890), small railway ferry, Wolgast, Germany
  • Jacob Langeberg,exvon Bötticher(built in 1902), tug and icebreaker, originally used on theKiel Canal,today in Wormerveer, Netherlands

Sabine, formerly Berby, formerly Aegir, built Elbing 1895 yard no, 562. Inspection vessel for Kaiserliche Canalbau-Commission 90 hp single. Today berthed in Deptford Creek, London.

References

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  1. ^abcd(in Polish)Andrzej Nitka:Przedsiębiorstwo stoczniowe F. Schichau. Elbląg-Piława-Gdańsk-Ryga-Królewiec. Zarys dziejów 1837-1945in: Morze, Statki i Okręty nr 6/2007. p. 62-71
  2. ^Wismann, Tom (1990). "Warship Notes: Danish Tumleren Torpedo Boats". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.).Warship 1990.London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 198–201.ISBN0-85177-547-0.
  3. ^J. Więsyk (2015)."Gdańsk-Kokoszki - KL Stutthof Sub Camp".Virtual Shtetl.POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.Archived fromthe originalon 2 April 2015.Retrieved10 March2015.
  4. ^Hedi Enghelberg (2013).The trains of the Holocaust.Kindle Edition. p. 63.ISBN978-160585-123-5.
  5. ^Eisenbahn Journal Band No. 1, Typenblätter, Baureihen 01-59, Archiv 1/2002, Horst J. Obermeyer, p. 101
  6. ^"Yantar Shipyard to build a freezing trawler for Preobrazhensky Base of Trawling Fleet".Port News.4 December 2017.Retrieved6 May2022.

Sources

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