# Bremer Vulkan

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{{Short description|German shipbuilding company}}
{{Distinguish|AG Vulcan Stettin|Crichton-Vulcan}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=April 2011}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Bremer Vulkan AG
| logo = 
| fate = [Bankrupt](/source/Bankrupt)
| successor = 
| founded = 1893
| defunct = 1997
| hq_location = [Bremen-Vegesack](/source/Bremen-Vegesack), [Germany](/source/Germany)
| industry = [Shipbuilding](/source/Shipbuilding)
| key_people = 
| products = 
| num_employees = ~22,000 (total Vulkan Group 1996)
| parent = Johann Lange Shipyard and Bremer Schiffbaugesellschaft, former H. F. Ulrichs Shipyard
| subsidiaries =
}}

'''Bremer Vulkan AG''' was a prominent [German](/source/Germany) [shipbuilding](/source/shipbuilding) company located at the Weser river in [Bremen-Vegesack](/source/Bremen-Vegesack). It was founded in 1893 and closed in 1997 because of financial problems and mismanagement.

All together Bremer Vulkan built about 1100 ships, including the ships of the predecessor Johann Lange Shipyard, of different types. It is remarkable that the Bremer Vulkan, with the exception of both World Wars, only built civilian ships; production of naval ships except during wartime first started in the 1980s.

==History==
thumb|Share of the Bremer Vulkan, issued 27 February 1902
Bremer Vulkan AG was founded 1893 in Vegesack-a suburb of the city of Bremen–by a group of investors and Bremen merchants and by overtaking the 1805 founded [Johann Lange](/source/Bremen) Shipyard. Two years later the Bremer Vulkan bought the ''Bremer Schiffbaugesellschaft'' – former ''H. F. Ulrichs Shipyard'' which [launched](/source/Ceremonial_ship_launching) the first ship in 1839 - including all its modern shipbuilding facilities. The first director of the Bremer Vulkan became the engineer Victor Nawatzki (1855–1940).{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}}

In the following years the Bremer Vulkan increased rapidly. By 1908 it covered an area of about {{convert|80|acre}} and a water frontage of {{convert|1500|m}}. Six [slips](/source/Slipway) equipped with modern electric travelling cranes were capable of building the largest vessels of that time. With an average annual delivery of about 40000 BRT it became the greatest civilian shipbuilding company in the [German Empire](/source/German_Empire), followed by ''Flensburger Schiffbaubetriebe'' in [Flensburg](/source/Flensburg), ''[Joh. C. Tecklenborg](/source/Joh._C._Tecklenborg)'' in [Bremerhaven](/source/Bremerhaven) and [Vulcan Stettin](/source/AG_Vulcan_Stettin) in [Stettin](/source/Stettin). The number of co-workers had increased from about 60 at the beginning up to about 3,300 in 1912.

During [World War I](/source/World_War_I) the Bremer Vulkan built warships. All together 11 [minesweeper](/source/minesweeper)s (''M 39''–''M 42'' and ''M 54''–''M 56'', ''M 71''–''M 74'') and in cooperation with the ''[Germaniawerft](/source/Germaniawerft)'' in [Kiel](/source/Kiel) some [submarine](/source/submarine) [hulls](/source/Hull_(watercraft)) and 6 complete submarines (''U-160''–''U-163'') were built for the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' ([Imperial German Navy](/source/Imperial_German_Navy)).

After the war Bremer Vulkan continued its development. Different types of ships were built first mainly for German ship owners and with an increasing amount also for foreign ship owners later. An important progress was the change of ship propulsion from [steam engine](/source/steam_engine)s to [diesel engine](/source/diesel_engine)s. In cooperation and under licence from [MAN](/source/MAN_SE) the Bremer Vulkan started the production of diesel ship-engines.{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}}

During [World War II](/source/World_War_II), 74 different Type VII [U-boat](/source/U-boat)s were constructed for the ''Kriegsmarine''. The Vulkan facility was several times target of the [bombing of Bremen in World War II](/source/bombing_of_Bremen_in_World_War_II). The greatest bombing attack happened in March 1943 by the [US Air Force](/source/US_Air_Force). By the so-called "precise bombing" many buildings and U-boats under construction as well as surrounding private buildings were destroyed or damaged. 116 people were killed and additional 118 injured. Despite the great destruction, production of U-boats could be continued within a few weeks.

During the war about {{convert|10|km}} downstream from the BV-shipyard between the Bremen suburbs {{ill|Rekum, Bremen|lt=Rekum|de|Rekum|nds|Rekum}} and [Farge](/source/Farge) the submarine bunker [Valentin](/source/Valentin_submarine_pens) was under construction. Here under management of the BV and beginning end of 1945 monthly 15 U-boats should be assembled from prefabricated sections. Those were delivered from the following shipyards Bremer Vulkan AG, [Deschimag AG Weser](/source/Deschimag) in Bremen, [Deschimag Seebeck AG](/source/Seebeckwerft) in Bremerhaven and [Blohm + Voss](/source/Blohm_%2B_Voss) in [Hamburg](/source/Hamburg). However, the bunker was not finished before the end of the war and no U-boats were ever built there. The building itself still exists today and is partly used as a memorial to the many forced labourers from nearby concentration camps who worked and died there during construction of the bunker.<ref>For research on forced labor, see {{cite web |last=Theiner |first=Jürgen |date=2012-02-09 |title=Historiker erforscht Zwangsarbeit beim Vulkan|trans-title=Historian researches forced labor at Vulkan |url=https://www.weser-kurier.de/bremen/historiker-erforscht-zwangsarbeit-beim-vulkan-doc7e4ca2051434b3xflg1 |work=[Weser-Kurier](/source/Bremer_Tageszeitung_AG) |access-date=2025-06-26|language=de}}</ref>

Robert Kabelac – director of the BV from 1935 to 1960 – managed to avoid the [dismantling](/source/Allied_plans_for_German_industry_after_World_War_II) of the BV after war as this happened to most other German shipyards. The company was allowed to resume shipbuilding already in 1949. Production could soon be continued, starting with repair of ships and [locomotive](/source/locomotive)s and the construction of [fishing vessel](/source/fishing_vessel)s. Soon later the shipbuilding programme was enlarged and various types of ships were offered as container/multi purpose cargo ships, [passenger liners](/source/passenger_ship), passenger-cargo vessels, [roll-on/roll-off](/source/roll-on%2Froll-off) ships, [LNG](/source/LNG_tanker) and [LPG tanker](/source/LPG_tanker)s, supply ships, special-purpose ships, [reefer vessel](/source/reefer_vessel)s and others. By the end of the 1970s the BV became a world leader in container delivered capacity and in innovative container ship design.

Beginning in the 1980s for the first time except wartimes of course also naval ships were built. As the general contractor the BV started in cooperation with other German shipbuilding companies the construction of [frigates](/source/Frigate) for the [German Navy](/source/German_Navy).

In the 1980s the BV merged with other German shipbuilding companies and became the largest shipbuilding company in Germany. The new ''Bremer Vulkan Verbund AG'' or the so-called ''Vulkan Group'' consisted of the following divisions at that time:

'''Division Shipbuilding''', including the seven German shipyards ''Bremer Vulkan Werft'' ([Bremen-Vegesack](/source/Bremen-Vegesack)), ''Geeste Metallbau GmbH'' ([Bremen](/source/Bremen)), ''Flender Werft'' ([Lübeck](/source/L%C3%BCbeck)), ''[Lloyd Werft](/source/Lloyd_Werft)'', ''Rickmers Lloyd Dockbetrieb GmbH'', [Schichau Seebeckwerft](/source/Schichau_Seebeckwerft) (all in Bremerhaven) and ''Neue Jadewerft'' ([Wilhelmshaven](/source/Wilhelmshaven))

'''Division Naval Shipbuilding'''

'''Division Industry'''

'''Division Electronic and Systems Technology'''

'''Division Services'''

After the [German reunification](/source/German_reunification), in 1990 the Vulkan Group was enlarged by the '''Division Mecklenburg-Vorpommern''', including the east German shipyards ''Matthias-Thesen Werft'' in [Wismar](/source/Wismar) and [Volkswerft Stralsund](/source/Volkswerft) in [Stralsund](/source/Stralsund).

At that time Vulkan Group included all together about 22,000 co-workers in Germany, of that about 18,000 in the shipbuilding divisions.

After 1996 [bankruptcy](/source/bankruptcy) because of financial problems and mismanagement, Bremer Vulkan closed the shipyard in Vegesack in 1997.<ref>{{cite web |last=Beyer |first=Günter |date=2022-08-15 |title=Der Untergang der Bremer Vulkan-Werft |url=https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/bremen-vulkan-werft-vulkan-werft-konkurs-100.html |trans-title=The sinking of the Bremen Vulkan shipyard |website=deutschlandfunk.de|language=de |publisher=[Deutschlandfunk](/source/Deutschlandfunk) |access-date=2025-06-26}}</ref> Some of the affiliated shipyards as the Lloyd Shipyard in Bremerhaven and the shipyards in Eastern Germany survived this bankruptcy. The naval shipbuilding division was partly taken over by the [Lürssen Shipbuilding Group](/source/L%C3%BCrssen).

==List of ships built==
* 1816, First German steamship ''Die Weser'', built by Johann Lange's shipyard
* 1872, First steel-hull ship built at Ulrich's shipyard
* 1893, Sailing Fishing Vessel BV2 ''Vegesack''; still existing today in [''Vegesacker Hafen''](/source/Bremen-Vegesack) (Vegesack Museum Harbour)
* 1915, Passenger ship ''Zeppelin'', later {{USS|Zeppelin|1914|6}}; greatest{{clarify|date=April 2013}} ship of the BV at that time
* 1925, Passenger ship ''Berlin''; later Russian ship {{SS|Admiral Nakhimov}}, sunk 1986
* 1928, the World's biggest tanker, {{MV|C.O. Stillman}}
* 1938, ''Hohenfels''; a [DDG Hansa](/source/DDG_Hansa) cargo ship, which became ''[Empire Kamal](/source/List_of_Empire_ships_-_K)''
* 1939, [HAPAG](/source/Hamburg_America_Line) [turbo-electric](/source/Turbo-electric_transmission) cargo ship ''Arauca''; converted in 1941–42 into the US Navy auxiliary ship {{USS|Saturn|AK-49|6}}
* 1939, [DDG Hansa](/source/DDG_Hansa) cargo ship ''Goldenfels''; in WWII converted into the auxiliary cruiser ''[Atlantis](/source/German_auxiliary_cruiser_Atlantis)''; sunk by Royal Navy cruiser {{HMS|Devonshire|39|6}} in 1941
* 1959, Rebuilding of the former French passenger ship {{SS|Pasteur|1939|6}} to the new TS ''Bremen''
* 1964, German merchant fleet's first fully automated [refrigerated cargo ship](/source/Reefer_ship) ''Nienburg''
* 1981, Cruise liner MS ''Europa'' for shipping company [Hapag-Lloyd](/source/Hapag-Lloyd); today {{MS|Blue Sapphire}}
* 1982, First {{Sclass|Bremen|frigate}} [F 207/''Bremen''](/source/German_frigate_Bremen_(F207)) for the German Navy; followed 1987 by [F 213/''Augsburg''](/source/German_frigate_Augsburg_(F213))
* 1983, Cargo ship ''Pharos''; worldwide greatest ship equipped with propulsion system “Grim Vane Wheel” (in German: Grimsches Leitrad)
* 1996, Luxury passenger cruiser ''[Costa Victoria](/source/Costa_Victoria)'' in collaboration with ''[Lloyd Werft](/source/Lloyd_Werft)'' in [Bremerhaven](/source/Bremerhaven)
* 1996, Hull of a luxury passenger cruiser, intended name ''Costa Olympia'', after BV's bankruptcy the ship was 1999 finished as ''[Norwegian Sky](/source/Norwegian_Sky)'' by ''[Lloyd Werft](/source/Lloyd_Werft)'' in Bremerhaven
* 1997, 2,700 [TEU](/source/Twenty-foot_equivalent_unit) container ships ''Hansa Century'' and ''[Hansa Constitution](/source/Hansa_Constitution)'' (which ran aground in Hong Kong in 2014) were the last ships built by Bremer Vulkan

==References== 
{{reflist}} 

==Further reading ==
*{{cite book | last = NN | title = Werftgeschichte Bremer Vulkan, Schiffschronik | location = Bremen | publisher = Hrsg. Bremer Vulkan Schiffbau- und Maschinenfabrik, Bremen-Vegesack | year = 1955 | language = de }}
*{{cite book | last = Kiesel | first = Wolfgang | title = Bremer Vulkan, Aufstieg und Fall, 200 Jahre Schiffbaugeschichte | location = Bremen | publisher = KSZB Verlag | year = 1997 | isbn = 3-931148-98-X | oclc = 54286122 | language = de }}
*{{cite book | last = Behling | first = Helmut |author2=Thiel, Reinhold | title = Bremer Vulkan: Ende einer Ära| location = Bremen | publisher = H. M. Hauschild Verlag GmbH| year = 1997 | isbn = 3-931785-68-8 | oclc = 40363156 | language = de }}
*{{cite book | last = Thiel | first = Reinhold | title = Die Geschichte des Bremer Vulkan 1805 - 1997, Band I 1805-1918| location = Bremen | publisher = Verlag H.M. Hauschild GmbH | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-3-89757-380-2 | language = de }}
*{{cite book | last = Thiel | first = Reinhold | title = Die Geschichte des Bremer Vulkan 1805 - 1997, Band II 1919-1945| location = Bremen | publisher = Verlag H.M. Hauschild GmbH | year = 2009 | isbn = 978-3-89757-408-3 | language = de }}
*{{cite book | last = Thiel | first = Reinhold | title = Die Geschichte des Bremer Vulkan 1805 - 1997, Band III 1946-1997 | location = Bremen | publisher = Verlag H.M. Hauschild GmbH | year = 2010 | isbn = 978-3-89757-440-3 | language = de }}
* The Vulkan Group: Information brochure, published by BV, 1992, p. 28

==External links==
* {{PM20|FID=co/003494|TEXT=Documents and clippings about|NAME=}}

{{Authority control}}
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Category:Defunct shipbuilding companies of Germany
Category:Former defence companies of Germany
Category:Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1893
Category:Defunct manufacturing companies of Germany
Category:Companies based in Bremen (city)
Category:Manufacturing companies based in Bremen (state)
Category:History of Bremen (city)
Category:Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1997
Category:1893 establishments in Germany
Category:1997 establishments in Germany
Category:Companies formerly in the MDAX

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bremer Vulkan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremer_Vulkan) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremer_Vulkan?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.