World War II Database

Contributor: Al Griffis

ww2dbaseIn 1833, Johann Hinrich Friedrich Stülcken started working as a shipwright at various locations in and around Hamburg and Altona, Germany. In 1846, Stülckenwerft was founded in the Steinwerder area of Hamburg, on the Norderelbe, one of the two big anabranches of the Unterelbe River. Stülcken's son, Henry Christopher Stülcken, rented land next to his father's and began building sailing ships. In 1853, Stülckenwerft launched its first ship, the bark Hermann. In 1858, it completed the first floating dry dock built by any shipyard in Hamburg. By 1868, it had two large slips, two small slips and one dry dock measuring 67.4 meters by 19.5 meters. In 1876, Stülckenwerft switched from wood to iron for all new ship construction. In 1884, the shipyard began its first major expansion. At the start of WW1 in 1914, it was building trawlers and various ships for the German Navy in support of the war effort. In 1939, its long-planned second major expansion and modernization was approved and funded; the German Navy provided 7 million Marks of the estimated cost of 21 million Marks. Work on the 230-meter cable crane system (CCS) began in Feb 1940 and would last until Nov 1942. The four slips supported by the CCS were also upgraded (Slip III Mar-Jul 1940, Slip IV May-Dec 1940, Slip I Jun-Nov 1940, and Slip II Jul-Oct 1940). In 1943, it was selected to build a new class of multi-purpose patrol boats; a total of four boats was initially planned and the first one was completed, but the other three were not advanced very far by the time hostilities ceased in May 1945. In the summer of 1944, most of the slips were damaged by Allied aerial bombing. Stülcken ceased operations after it sustained heavy damage during the 17 Jan 1945 and 11 Mar 1945 bombings.

Ships Constructed at H. C. Stülcken Sohn

* Projected dates; not actual

H. C. Stülcken Sohn Interactive Map

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H. C. Stülcken Sohn Timeline