Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft

"HDW" redirects here. For other uses, see HDW (disambiguation).

Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (often abbreviated HDW) is a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Kiel. It is part of the ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) group, owned by ThyssenKrupp. 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.

Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH

Company type	Private
Industry	Shipbuilding
Genre	Shipbuilding
Founded	1838
Founder	August Howaldt and Johann Schweffel [de]
Headquarters	Kiel , Germany
Products	Passenger ships Cargo ships U-boats Warships
Owner	ThyssenKrupp
Number of employees	2,400
Parent	ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems
Website	www.hdw.de

History

Share of the Howaldtswerke, issued 19 June 1889

View of HDW-shipyard at Kiel

An early submarine, the Brandtaucher, in the museum in Dresden

HDW was founded October 1, 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.

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 built a Type 2000 submarine in the U.S. using American labor and materials.^[1] Pressure from cheaper competitors in Japan and South Korea caused the closure of the Hamburg yard in 1985.

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.^[2]

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.^[3][4][5][6]

Ships built by HDW (selection)

Civilian

Superfast VIII at Helsinki

• 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

• SMS Helgoland (1911)
• SMS Kaiserin (1913)
• SMS Bayern (1916)

Frigates

SAS Isandlwana

• 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)

• Type VIIC submarines (WWII)
• Type 201 submarines
• Type 205 submarines
• Type 206 submarines
• Type 209 submarines
• Type U 209PN submarines
• Type 212CD submarines
• Type 212 submarines
• Type 214 submarines^[7]
• Type 218 submarines
• Type 800 submarines
• Dolphin class
• Dakar class

Gunboats

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

Current submarine production and sales

Confirmed sales

Class	Subclass	Order / in production	Client	Notes
Dakar class	—	3	Israeli Navy	3 ordered in Jan 2022[8]
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.[9][10]
Type 212CD	—	6	Deutsche Marine	2 ordered in Aug 2021[11] 4 ordered in Dec 2024[12]
		4	Royal Norwegian Navy	4 ordered in Aug 2021[11]
Total		17

Likely sales

Class	Subclass	Likely sales	Client	Notes
Type 212CD	—	2	Royal Norwegian Navy	2 approved to be ordered by the parliament in Jun 2024[13]
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.[14]
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[15]
Total		10

Planned replacements

Ongoing bids and potential sales in new submarine purchase programmes.

Class	Subclass	Potential sales	Client	Notes
Type 209	Type 209NG	3	Argentine Navy	In competition with Naval Group to supply submarines to Argentina.[16]
	—	4	Egyptian Navy	The Egyptian Navy is looking to replace its Romeo-class submarines, and the Type 209 is among the likely competitors.[17]
Type 209NG	Type 209NG	4	Hellenic Navy	The Hellenic Navy is planning to procure 4 submarines, and one of the German models will be offered.[18] They will replace the Glafkos class (Type 209/1100) and Poseidon class (Type 209/1200) submarines.
Type 218	—
Type 212CD	—	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[19]
		3	Polish Navy	The Polish Navy is looking for 3 attack submarines as part of the Orka programme.[20]
		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.[21][22]
—	—	2	Chilean Navy	The Chilean Navy is looking to replace its 2 Thomson class (Type 209/1400-L)[23]
Up to		31

See also

• ThyssenKrupp