Bremer Vulkan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the former Finnish shipyard, see Crichton-Vulcan.

Bremer Vulkan AG


Fate	Bankrupt


Founded	1893
Defunct	1996
Location	Bremen-Vegesack, Germany
Industry	Shipbuilding
Peak size	~22,000 employees

Bremer Vulkan was a German shipbuilding company, located in Bremen-Vegesack. It was founded in 1893 when a group of investors bought an old shipyard that Johann Lange had started September 21, 1805.

Located in Bremen-Vegesack Bremer Vulkan made a few U-boats under a licence from the Germaniawerft in Kiel. However they is better know for the fact that they constructed the second ship to raise U-boats, SMS Cyclop. Originally it was planned to have this one constructed at the Kaiserliche Werft at Danzig.

During World War I Bremer Vulkan constructed 8 Mittel U U-boats for the Kaiserliche Marine and later in World War II 74 different VII U-boats were constructed for the Kriegsmarine.

Bremer Vulkan have built both passenger and cargo ships, tankers, Fishing vessels, container ships, submarines and other naval ships. In the 1980s it was one of the largest shipyards in Germany.

In the mid 1990s Bremer Vulkan faced serious financial difficulties and went bankrupt in 1996 and finally closed the shipyard in 1997. At the time Bremer Vulkan was the largest shipyard employer in Germany with over 22,000 workers on the rolls and the demise was a traumatic event. The refusal of creditors and the government to bail out the firm caused mass demonstrations and violent protests.

[edit] References

Behling, Helmut; Reinhold Thiel (1997). Bremer Vulkan: Ende einer Ära (in German). Bremen: Hauschild. ISBN 9783931785680. OCLC 40363156.
Wolfgang, Kiesel (1997). Bremer Vulkan Aufstieg und Fall: 200 Jahre Schiffbaugeschichte (in German). Bremen: KSZB Verl.. ISBN 9783931148980. OCLC 54286122.