Schichau-Werke

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Schichau-Werke, officially F. Schichau GmbH, Maschinen- und Lokomotivfabrik, Schiffswerft und Eisengießerei, was a German engineering works and shipyard founded in 1837 by Ferdinand Schichau in Elbing, East Prussia (now Elbląg, Poland). It later operated a second shipyard in Danzig (Gdańsk). The company began with hydraulic presses and digging equipment, and in 1860 started building locomotives for the Prussian Eastern Railway. By 1867 it was producing locomotives more broadly and joined the railway network around 1870. In the early 20th century it helped build the Prussian P 8 steam locomotive.

Schichau also produced steam engines for ships from 1847. The Elbing shipyard opened in 1854, and the first ship, Borussia, was launched in 1855. The yard expanded and in 1872 Schichau acquired Mitzlaff’s yard. From 1877 it built ships for the Prussian Navy and for export, becoming known for torpedo boats and later destroyers. The company’s famous S 1 torpedo boat engine from 1884 is now in the Deutsches Museum in Munich.

To build larger ships, a second yard was opened in Danzig in 1892. A repair yard was started in Pillau (near Königsberg) in 1889. After Schichau’s death in 1896, his son-in-law Carl Heinz Ziese took over until 1917, and then Hildegard Carlson ran the firm.

After World War I the business faced bankruptcy, but it was rescued in 1929 with government support. A small yard in Königsberg was added in 1930. With Osthilfe aid, the company focused more on locomotive building in the interwar years.

During World War II Schichau built submarines for the Kriegsmarine at Danzig and Elbing, including many Type VII C boats and later Type XXI boats. The Danzig yard produced numerous U-boats, while the Elbing yard built Seehund midget submarines. The war also brought forced labor from occupied countries, with harsh conditions and deaths.

By 1945 Schichau had produced thousands of locomotives and many ships and submarines. After the war, the Polish state acquired the shipyards on Polish soil (the Danzig yard became the Lenin Shipyard in 1950 and later drew worldwide attention in the 1980s). In early 1945 the company moved a floating dock to Lübeck, and as Soviet forces advanced, the Danzig operation was relocated to Bremerhaven, Germany.

Postwar, the Bremerhaven operation continued and eventually merged with Schichau Seebeckwerft, lasting in some form until 2009. The Königsberg yard became the Soviet Yantar Shipyard. Through its history, Schichau-Werke played a major role in German locomotive and shipbuilding for much of the 19th and 20th centuries.