Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft

Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH (often abbreviated HDW) was a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Kiel. It is now part of TKMS (ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems). The Howaldtswerke shipyard was founded in Kiel in 1838 and merged with Hamburg-based Deutsche Werft to form Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) in 1968. The company's shipyard was formerly used by Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft until the end of World War II.

History

HDW was founded 1 October 1838 in Kiel by engineer August Howaldt and entrepreneur Johann Schweffel[de] under the name Maschinenbauanstalt und Eisengießerei Schweffel & Howaldt (Machine Factory and Iron Foundry Schweffel & Howaldt), initially building boilers.

The first steam engine for naval purposes was built in 1849 for Von der Tann, a gunboat for the small navy of Schleswig-Holstein. In 1850, the company built an early submarine, Brandtaucher, designed by Wilhelm Bauer. It had been intended to build the boat in Rendsburg but Danish forces advanced too close during the First Schleswig War, so construction was moved to Kiel.

The first ship built under the company's new name Howaldtswerke was a small steamer, named Vorwärts, built in 1865. Business expanded rapidly as Germany became a maritime power and, by the start of the 20th century, around 390 ships had been completed.[citation needed]

In 1892, the company started a subsidiary in Austro-Hungarian Fiume on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. The subsidiary closed ten years later, but the yard remains open under the name 3. Maj.

With Kiel being one of the two main bases of the Kaiserliche Marine, the shipyard also benefited much from navy maintenance, repair and construction contracts. During World War I the company also built a number of U-boats. By 1937, the company had yards in Kiel and in Hamburg, and was taken over by the Kriegsmarine. During World War II, Howaldtswerke built 33 VIIC U-boats in Hamburg and 31 in Kiel.

After the end of World War II, Howaldtswerke was the only major shipyard in Kiel that was not dismantled. The yard flourished during the "economic miracle" of the 1960s, with the construction of freighters and tankers, and again expanded by opening a shipyard in Hamburg. Howaldtswerke merged with Deutsche Werft in Hamburg in 1968, and the company took the new name Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW). In 1982, HDW took out ads in American newspapers offering to sell the U.S. Navy the rights to build a Type 2000 submarine in the U.S. using American labor and materials. Pressure from cheaper competitors in Japan and South Korea caused the closure of the Hamburg yard in 1985.[citation needed]

In March 2002, the American financial investor One Equity Partner (OEP) took over the majority of Babcock AG at HDW. Shortly after that, Babcock AG had to file for insolvency and called for a reserved transaction, but the OEP was able to avoid this.

In January 2005, HDW became a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), which also part-owned Kockums of Malmö, Sweden and 24.9% of Hellenic Shipyards Co. of Skaramangas, Greece. The group employs around 6,600 workers. In 2009, HDW worked with Kockums and Northrop Grumman to offer a Visby-class corvette derivative in the American Focused Mission Vessel Study, a precursor to the Littoral combat ship program.

In July 2011, TKMS announced that it has confirmed an existing deal to sell the civilian shipbuilding assets of HDW Gaarden to Abu Dhabi MAR.

Ships built by HDW (selection)

Civilian

Bungsberg (1924)
Christina O (1954), luxury yacht conversion from naval vessel for Aristotle Onassis
Otto Hahn (1968), nuclear powered freighter
Tor Britannia (1975), cruiseferry
Tor Scandinavia (1976), cruiseferry
Bahamas Celebration (1981), cruiseferry
Astor (1981), cruise ship
Polarstern (1982), research icebreaker
Astor (1987), cruise ship
Superfast V (2001), fast ropax ferry
Superfast VII (2001), fast ropax ferry
Superfast VIII (2001), fast ropax ferry
Superfast IX (2002), fast ropax ferry
Superfast X (2002), fast ropax ferry

Naval

Battleships

Frigates

Hamburg, a Sachsen-class frigate
Kasturi-class frigate, two frigates built for the Royal Malaysian Navy
Almirante Padilla-class frigate, frigates built for the Colombian Navy
SAS Isandlwana
SAS Mendi
Schleswig-Holstein, a Brandenburg-class frigate

Corvettes

Braunschweig-class corvettes

Submarines (U-boats)

Gunboats

USS Topeka (PG-35) (built (only) by Howaldtswerke as Diogenes, a steamer (1881))

Current classes sold and in production

Submarines

Confirmed sales

Class	Subclass	Order / in production	Client	Notes
Dakar class	—	3	Israeli Navy	3 ordered in Jan 2022
Type 214	Reis class	4	Turkish Navy	Part of a class of 6 submarines ordered in Jul 2009, 4 still in production, made under licence by the Gölcük Naval Shipyard in Turkey.
Type 212CD	—	6	Deutsche Marine	2 ordered in Aug 2021 4 ordered in Dec 2024
6	Royal Norwegian Navy	4 ordered in Aug 20212 ordered in Dec 2025
Type 218	Invincible class	2	Republic of Singapore Navy	In Mar 2025, the Defence Minister announced a plan to purchase 2 additional submarines of this class The order was confirmed in May.
Total	21

Likely sales

Class	Subclass	Likely sales	Client	Notes
Type 214	—	6	Indian Navy	Class selected in Jan 2025, as part of the Project P-75I, likely to be produced under licence in India.
Total	6

Planned replacements

Ongoing bids and potential sales in new submarine purchase programmes.

Class	Subclass	Potential sales	Client	Notes
Type 209	Type 209NG class	3	Argentine Navy	In competition with Naval Group to supply submarines to Argentina.
Type 209	—	4	Egyptian Navy	The Egyptian Navy is looking to replace its Romeo-class submarines, and the Type 209 is among the likely competitors.
Type 209	Type 209NG class	4	Hellenic Navy	The Hellenic Navy is planning to procure 4 submarines, and one of the German models will be offered. They will replace the Glafkos class (Type 209/1100) and Poseidon class (Type 209/1200) submarines.
Type 212	Type 212CD class
Type 212	U212NFS class
Type 218	—
Type 212	Type 212CD class	3	Deutsche Marine	According to the Zielbild Marine 2035+ plan, the German will operate from 6 to 9 Type 212 CD, therefore up to 3 additional Type 212 CD
Type 212	U212NFS class	2	Philippine Navy	The U212NFS is made in partnership with Fincantieri.
Type 212	Type 212CD class	12	Royal Canadian Navy	Canada unveiled its plan for the future of its navy, which includes up to 12 submarines. Norway and Germany offered a partnership with the Type 212CD.The competitor is Hanwha Ocean.
—	—	2	Royal Malaysian Navy	Two planned to be procured between 2031 and 2035.
Dolphin AIP class	—	2	Royal Moroccan Navy	In 2025, Morocco expressed an interest to purchase 2 to 3 submarines.
Type 209	Type 209-1400 class
Up to	32

Surface war ships

Current production

Class	Subclass	Order / in production	Client	Notes
K130 corvette	Braunschweig class - batch 2	4	German Navy	5 ordered in 2017, 4 remaining to be delivered.
MEKO A-200DE		3	German Navy	3 ordered in 2026.
MEKO A100	Tamandaré class	4	Brazilian Navy	4 ordered in Mar 2020, local production (4 additional planned)
MEKO A-200EN	Al-Aziz class	3	Egyptian Navy	6 ordered, 3 in service, 3 in production, partial local production.
Total	14

Potential sales

Class	Subclass	Order / in production	Client	Notes
MEKO A100	Tamandaré class	4	Brazilian Navy	4 additional planned
MEKO A400 AMD	F127 class	8	German Navy	8 planned to be purchased
Total	12

Notes

External links

2009-06-11 at the Wayback Machine
2005-06-23 at the Wayback Machine
in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

54°19′08″N 10°09′20″E/54.31889°N 10.15556°E/ 54.31889; 10.15556