Howaldtswerke, Kiel
Energy and technical skill made in little more than a quarter of a century the Howaldt Works one of the largest in Germany, and illustrated a page in the history of the German iron ship and marine engine building. These works were started and opened as a shipyard in 1876 by their founder, Howaldt, and have only shortely before the Great War was turned into a limited liability company, up to which time they were the private property of the Howaldt family. The yards were in Kiel Harbor. This company has a capital of M.7,750,000. They had difficulties, and no dividend has been paid, but by 1911 there was every ground for believing that this period of adversity was over.
Beginning in a small way in 1877 with a vessel 96 ft. in length, 181 register tons, and 120 Hp., the size, tonnage, and speed were gradually increased. In 1881 the Diogenes and Socrates were built for the Peruvian and American Navies, and a cargo vessel in the following year of 258 ft. in length, 1,840 register tons, and 660 Hp. Work for this yard came rapidly, and in 1883, after only having been established six years, they launched their 100th ship, and from a small beginning of 25 to 30 men, the number of employees rose to 700 in January, 1881, and 1,200 in 1883. Between 1881 and 1884, 83 ships were built, with a displacement of 80,807 tons, included in the number being the American cruisers Diogenes and Topeka, the Peruvian cruiser Socrates (now Linio), and the Nan Ting and Nan Schuin for the Chinese Government.
In 1889 the concern was formed into a joint stock company, and further developments were immediately commenced. At the opening of the works in 1876 the yard covered an area of about 528 square yards, and they had about five acres of adjoining land. In 1886 the yard covered 41 acres, and they had acquired 38 acres of land. Ten years later the yard was increased to five acres and 50 acres of land acquired, and by 1908 the works covered nearly nine acres and the surrounding land about 180 acres, which, should the necessity arise, would enable the works to be enlarged to double their size.
In 1876 there were only 450 square meters covered with buildings, and a total ground area of 20,000 square metres. By 1911 there were 35,515 square metres covered with workshops, and the total area amounted to 735,695 square meters. The yards can, therefore, be very much enlarged. In these yards there was evidence - more, perhaps, than in any other - of the extraordinary growth of German shipbuilding. The old yard remained, but new and enlarged shipyards had been constructed. The original shipyard was principally utilized for the lighter and least important work, but the work was centralized. The Howaldt works have a water-front of fully two kilometers, one of which is arranged as a quay.
The shipyard had six slips, one of over 200 meters in length, two over 150, two over 100, and four less than 100 meters long. There was also a floating dock. The number of employees amounted to 3,500. A turbine manufactory was in process of construction as of 1911.
In August 1897, they launched their 300th ship. Since the establishment of the works through 1907, a total of 433 ships of all kinds had been built, which included fast cruisers for the German and foreign navies, training and transport ships for the Russian Navy, small coast steamers, and some of the largest mail and passenger steamers for the Atlantic, steam yachts and torpedo-boats, floating docks, floating cranes, dredgers, harbor boats, pinnaces - in fact, nothing is too large or too small for this magnificent yard.
Modern naval construction by this firm was comparatively recent. Their first modern cruiser, the Undine, was begun there in 1901. There soon followed a battleship of 20,000 tons - namely, the Helgoland. In 1901-02 the Gauss was constructed at this yard for the German South Polar expedition. The vessel was 168 ft. in length, 39 ft. beam, and was constructed entirely of wood.
A whole town had been created round the works, and the care of the comfort of their workmen studied, as is evidenced by the magnificent model dwellings, lodging houses, club, library, reading-room, and meeting-hall provided for their use. The works are replete with the latest modern electrically-driven plant, engine shops, boiler shops, smelting and casting foundries, carpenters' workshops are installed with the latest modern German. English, and American machinery, which enables the work turned out to be of the highest class, and the name Howaldt always had been synonymous with the highest quality. It was expected that the Howaldt yards would be in a position equal to that of any other German yards for building large men-of-war.
The efforts of the German Government artificially to stimulate shipbuilding had not been an unmixed blessing to the yards whose services to the Navy were to have been rewarded by extended business and increased profits. Before the Howaldt works received an order for a cruiser in 1901, and, by the promise of more important naval commissions, was encouraged to lay down expensive special plant for the construction of large warships, they had never paid a smaller dividend than 5 percent. What the subsequent results of their operations have been is indicated in part by the severity of the crisis of 1910, when the company was driven to desperate financial devices in order to complete the battleship Helgoland, and at one time actually contemplated the sale of the greater portion of its site at Kiel as the only sure method of staving off irretrievable disaster. Its difficulties were ultimately surmounted by a combined condensation of old and issue of new capital, the existing shareholders supplying the funds necessary to save the situation. It is not known to what extent, if any, the Imperial Ministry of Marine contributed to the rescue of the establishment, the disappearance of which would have seriously interfered with its plans.
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