World War II Database

Contributor: Al Griffis

ww2dbaseFerdinand Schichau studied engineering in Germany and in the Britain. In 1837, he started the company F. Schichau GmbH, Maschinen- und Lokomotivfabrik in Elbing, Germany (now Elblag, Poland), specializing in producing hydraulic presses and locomotives. In 1847, it began producing maritime steam engines. In 1854, the company created the subsidiary Elbinger Dampfschiffs-Reederei F. Schichau to build ships. In 1872, it acquired a nearby shipyard named Mitzlaff to expand operations. In 1877, the shipyard became a supplier of torpedo boats (and later destroyers) for the Prussian Navy. In 1885, the German Navy concluded that its demands for F. Schichau had grown beyond what its Elbing facilities could handle, and German officials began looking for a suitable location to help F. Schichau expand, and this resulted in the shipbuilding subsidiary F. Schichau Danzig in Danzig, Germany (later a Free City, now Gdansk in Poland). 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. 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.

ww2dbaseDuring WW2, at Elbing, F. Schichau built Seehund-class midget submarines, minesweepers, torpedo boats, and locomotives.

ww2dbaseAfter the war, the city of Elbing was given to Poland, together with the control of the F. Schichau facilities. Chief executive of the company, Hermann Noë, evacuated to Bremerhaven, Germany ahead of the Soviet capture of Elbing, and began to re-establish the company there. It remained in operations until 2009 when it was acquired by Schichau Seebeckwerft.

Ships Constructed at F. Schichau Elbing

* Projected dates; not actual

F. Schichau Elbing Interactive Map

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