Wilhelmshaven
The first German Danish war of the years 1848/50 made clear that the German coasts were unprotected against invasions or blockades. Under great secrecy negotiations started between the kingdom of Prussia and the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg about an area at the Jadebusen where a coast-fortress was to be erected. The contract was ratified and published on July 20th, 1853. This area was subject to exclusively agricultural use until this time. It got military significance under Napoleon when he ordered the installation of a battery in the time of the Continental System with 17 cannons in 1810.
In 1864 the area got extended by another 110 hectares of land and renamed Wilhelmshaven in 1869. In 1873 Wilhelmshaven obtained town charter and the first mayor was introduced in April 1874. Within the next years Wilhelmshaven was extended systematically. The plan of a fortress was dropped. Barracks, hospitals, command buildings, navy observatory, navy schools, sailor house, a navy superintendent office, officers' mess, laundry, navy sports facilities, drilling halls, depositories, navy offices and much came into being instead.
Tides and current always played a large role in Wilhelmshaven. To strengthen the current in front of the harbour entrances so that sediment deposits would be reduced, the construction of a 5.8 km long conducting dam was started in 1892. The dam and the later erected moles of the second and third harbour entrance brought the expected result. It looked different into the outer Jade. Because of the permanent west-east-sand movement the shipping channel had to be excavated. But one found a solution for the problem in 1908. A network of dams and groynes to catch the sand, the so-called "spider", was built on the sandbank island Minser Olde Oog. The work had prospered quite far but still not completed to 1914. After the end of World War I all work rested. Only when a replacement for the excavator which had to be passed on to the Frenchmen as reparations came in 1926, the fairway could be deepened. It was 10 m deep in 1942. No more excavator work was executed later. British engineers blew up the "spider" after end of World War II against every reason. But still the construction worked. The shipping channel was still 12 m deep in 1952. The breadth and depth of the shipping channel is 300 m or 20 m today.
Only by 1870 Wilhelmshaven started to take forms. The shipyard and the first harbour entry developed. The sluice was put into service, November 22. As the first ship the screw frigate "Elisabeth" arrived. The armoured frigate King Wilhelm riding at anchor since July, followed a month later.
The second sluice was taken into operation, November 1886. But the port was enlarged and the III. Gate was built with a sluice length of 250 m. It was opened October, 1909. The port offered a completely new picture with this construction stage. Three basins with depths from 7.50 m up to 11 m offered the German high sea fleet space. They were called large port (as of 1935 Hipper port), the middle port (as of 1935 Scheer port) and the west port, late Tirpitz port. The complete shore length was 6.4 km. A big torpedo-store as well as three oil tanks was erected on the north shore of the great port. A 19 m deep dock pit for the planned 40 000 t floating dock also was built. Already 1907 the bridge of the same name was opened in the presence of Emperor Wilhelm II. It still exists today. It was the biggest swing bridge of the world at that time.
Further extensions of the shipyard and docks were started only in 1936. To be able to take hold of the later capital ships of the H class and aircraft carriers a fourth sluice was built. It was later named after Admiral Raeder. The layout included a giant shipyard on which the H units should be built. But the yard and the north port were never realized.
The shipyard where work began in 1871 turned out too small too soon. Close to entrance1, a torpedo shipyard was erected in 1880. Later, the UTO shipyard which specialized in submarines and torpedo boats was added. It started work at the beginning of the World War 1.After that docks IV-VI and the 40 000 t floating dock originated. After the war the UTO shipyard turned into a civilian business for the construction of fishing vehicles. Besides that the scrap business flourished since Germany had to break 112 warships and 82 acting ships up because of the Versaille Treaty.
Only in the middle of the 1930s a new heyday started with the Z Plan. Already in 1937, 7 000 men were employed. The later employment numbers swayed considerably since the navy was very restrained with information. It is a matter of fact that in December 1940 about 42 000 men were busy for the navy and her offices. In the years between 1871 and May 1945, 165 ships and boats were built on the shipyards altogether. The battleship Tirpitz, apart from the battleship Scharnhorst (1936) was the biggest individual making that was launched April 1, 1939.The largest ship that was built in the years of World War I was the cruiser Hindenburg that was named August 1, 1915.
A special mention is due to the planned North shipyard. In 1936 the ports management for new buildings was given order by the Navy supreme command (OKM) to set up a new shipyard large enough to construct ships of the Bismarck class and larger.
The north port should be enlarged and three new docks (VII, VIII, IX) to be built. The northern side of the North harbour was to be reserved to build the even larger lock V. The western side of the IV. Entry was assigned as a berth for aircraft carriers. According to the layout the new shipyard was to be completed by 1943 and employ more than 30 000 workers. To clarify the dimension, here is a data enumeration of the planned capital ships:
O – Q 35 400 t, 256 x 30,0 x 8,0 m
H – N 62 600 t, 278 x 37,0 x 11,2 m
H 41 74 800 t, 282 x 39,0 x 12,2 m
H 42 96 500 t, 305 x 42,8 x 12,7 m
H 43 118 110 t, 330 x 48,0 x 12,9 m
H 44 139 272 t, 345 x 51,5 x 13,5 m
The definite end for the shipyard came on February 15, 1946. The workforce of 14 000 was sacked, the technology dismantled and submitted to the Russians.
