World War II Database

Contributor: Al Griffis

ww2dbaseThe Flensburger Shipbuilding Company began operations in 1872 when five entrepreneurs believed that a shipyard in northern Germany would have long term financial benefits. The initial shipyard site was located on the western side of the Flensburg Firth, totaling 27,135 square meters. This old shipyard, as it would soon be known as, started out with two 100 meter slips. The shipyard plans were drawn up for five slips of different lengths but the ever increasing size of ships precluded five slips and they settled on two. Its first ship, the iron tall ship Doris Brodersen, was completed in 1875. Its first steamer, the Septima, was commissioned a year later. In Jun 1889 (1885?), it completed its 100th ship, the Flensburg, and held the largest celebration the town has ever known. Thousands of residents and guests turned out with parties taking place everywhere. The evening culminated in a banquet in the town hall with enough food to feed over 3,000. In 1892, it built a 2,300-ton floating dry dock for repair of small vessels. In 1900, it had over 2,000 employees. Between 1901 and 1903, 58,051 square meters of additional land was purchased in order to build a larger shipyard with longer slips. This area would be known as the new shipyard. The two slips at the old shipyard were dismantled and it was used mainly as a support facility for the new shipyard. Slips I through IV had a length of 150 meters and a width of 20 meters. Slip number V had a usable length of 125 meters and a width of 10 meters. In Nov 1902, the steamer Fiducia became the first ship to be completed at the new shipyard. By 1912, Flensburger had 2,989 employees. During WW1, it was not required to build naval ships; it was allowed to continue constructing merchant ships. After WW1, it was financially successful, but the worforce dropped to only 200 men during the world economic crisis in 1929. The shipyard was closed between 1940 and 1934. In 1935, to try and keep the shipyard gping, the city of Flensburg purchases 25% of the shipyard, but with no orders it did not work. In 1938, orders for 20 ships (totaling 108,900 tons deadweight), a floating crane, and two floating docks came in, and the company would be profitable once again by the end of that year. The outbreak of the European War prevented the implementation of this merchant shipbuilding program. Instead of building merchant ships, they were forced to build submarines. For this naval program, a new shipyard was built with three slipways. Between 1941 and 1945, Flensburger delivered 28 submarines. During WW2, the shipyard, sized at about 178,000 square meters, employed an average of 2,800. Flensburger continues to be in operation in the shipbuilding industry through the time of this writing in 2019.

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