World War II Database

Contributor: Al Griffis

ww2dbaseF. Schichau was a company that started in Elbing, Germany (now Elblag, Poland) in 1837, known initially for locomotives, and later as a shipwright. Having reached the maximum capacity at the small Elbing shipyard, in 1889, the company reached out to the government of Danzig, Germany (now Gdansk, Poland) for approval to build a shipyard on the Vistula River, and the negotiations dragged into the spring of 1890 on due to the conditions placed on the purchase of required land, but an agreement would eventually be reached in early 1890. Construction of the shipyard at Danzig began in Apr 1890. The land purchased was extremely wet, including bogs, and uneven with several small hills and valleys. To have a solid base to build on, tens of thousands of rocks of various sizes were laid as a foundation. Space between the rocks was filled in with thousands of pounds of sand. Originally there were two shipyard plans. One called for four slips large enough to construct warships and passenger liners equal to what the other major shipyards were producing. The other plan called for seven slips, and with the same requirement. Additionally, there must be enough room to add additional slips if needed, two slips must be over 200 meters in length and at least 30 meters in width. The first plan was not approved because it was argued the slips would be obsolete within 10 years. The second plan was approved. Six slips were approved with the ability to add additional ones if needed. The equipping pier would be 930 meters and the total area of the shipyard being 291,500 square meters. Other equipment approved being a floating dry dock, a floating crane with a 100-ton lifting capability and a hammer head crane with a 250-ton capability. Construction was completed in 1893. Ferdinand Schichau passed away in 1896, and his son-in-law, Carl Heinz Ziese, previously the manager of the F. Schichau repair yard at Pillau, Germany (now Baltijsk, Russia), took control of the company. In 1906, the floating crane was received. In 1914, the hammer head crane was installed. Ziese passed away in 1917, and Carl and Hildegard Carlson, Ziese's son-in-law and daughter, took over. After WW1, F. Schichau was nearly bankrupt, and it began receiving subsidies from the government to remain in operations building locomotives. In 1934, the F. Schichau yard in Danzig received modernization, including new tracks and cranes for slip IV.

ww2dbaseDuring WW2, at Danzig, F. Schichau built 62 Type VII C/41 submarines until 1944, and then switched to building Type XXI submarines, which 30 were built. Forced laborers from Poland, France, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, and Hungary were transported from satellite camps of Stutthof concentration camp to Danzig to be employed by F. Schichau. The prisoners received inadequate rations, which was limited to about half a liter of thin soup and 250 grams of bread per day, and they were given little to no winter clothing. Many forced laborers died from malnutrition, disease, and violence. The forced prisoners who perished were burned in a crematorium or buried in mass graves at the cemetery in Saspe (now the Zaspa district, Gdansk). In early 1945, a floating dock was transferred to Lübeck, Germany in advance of Soviet capture. Shortly after, a number of incomplete ships were transferred to Bremerhaven, Germany, along with the executive team headed by Hermann Noë. The company began to re-establish itself in Bremerhaven in the final months of the war.

ww2dbaseAfter the war, the city of Danzig was given to Poland, together with the control of the F. Schichau facilities. In 1950, The F. Schichau shipyard at Danzig was subsumed into the Lenin shipyard. Meanwhile, the F. Schichau name lived on with Noë's new operations in Bremerhaven. It remained in operations until 2009 when it was acquired by Schichau Seebeckwerft.

Ships Constructed at F. Schichau Danzig

* Projected dates; not actual

Slip/Drydock Utilization

[Con]: Construction; [FO]: Fitting Out

F. Schichau Danzig Interactive Map

Photographs

Maps

F. Schichau Danzig Timeline