 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary (KG) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Shipbuilding[1] |
| Predecessor | H. C. Stülcken Sohn  |
| Founded | 1877 |
| Founders | Hermann Blohm Ernst Voss |
| Headquarters | , Germany, France |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Klaus Borgschulte, Tim Wagner, Dirk Malgowski, Lena Ströbele[2] |
| Products | Ships andyachts |
| Services | Repair, refit and new construction |
| Owner | Lürssen Yachts,Rheinmetall naval ships |
Number of employees | 447 (2021)[3][4] |
| Parent | LürssenRheinmetall |
| Website | blohmvoss.com |
Blohm+Voss (B+V), also written historically asBlohm & Voss,Blohm und Voß etc., is a German shipbuilding and engineering company. Founded inHamburg in 1877 to specialise in steel-hulled ships, its most famous product was theWorld War II battleshipBismarck. In the 1930s, its owners established theHamburger Flugzeugbau aircraft manufacturer which, shortly before the outbreak of World War II, adopted the name of its parent company. Following a difficult period after the war, B+V was revived, changing ownership among several owners, such asThyssen Group and Star Capital. In 2016 it became a subsidiary ofLürssen and supplied both the military and civilian markets before becoming subsidiary ofRheinmetall in 2025.[5]
The company serves two areas – new construction ofwarships as NVL B.V. & Co. KG, and new construction and refitting ofmegayachts.[1]
Blohm & Voss was founded on 5 April 1877 byHermann Blohm andErnst Voss (or Voß) as a general partnership, to build steel-hulled ships. It established a shipyard on the island ofKuhwerder, near the Free andHanseatic City ofHamburg, covering 15,000 m2 (160,000 sq ft) with 250 m (820 ft) of water frontage and three building berths, two suitable for ships of up to 100 m (330 ft) length. The company name was shown with theampersand, as B&V, until 1955.
Shipbuilding was at that time dominated by the British, with even German customers preferring to buy from them. Initial business was confined to ship repairs, although B&V managed to build and later sell the three-masted barqueNational. Eventually the first new-build order arrived for the small cargo paddle-steamerBurg, and the business took off. By 1882, the company had gained a reputation for quality and punctuality and was prospering.[6]
Initially, their products were steel-hulled sailing ships designed for long sea voyages. At that time steamships had a relatively short range, while many of the advantages of steel construction still applied to sailing ships as much as to steam. The company built its first steamship in 1900, while still continuing to build sailing ships until the late 1930s.[7]
When Hermann Blohm died, his two sonsRudolf Blohm [de] andWalther Blohm [de] took over. Ernst Voss left soon afterwards. By this time the company was in financial crisis, so the Blohm brothers diversified into aircraft, setting up theHamburger Flugzeugbau (see below) in the summer of 1933.[8]
With the rise of theNazi Party to power in 1933, Germany began to rearm and both companies became increasingly involved in the programme. The shipyard built both civilian craft and warships for the government, including the battleshipBismarck, before manufacturingU-boats in quantity.
In 1944 a subcamp ofNeuengamme concentration camp was set up at the company's shipyard inHamburg-Steinwerder.[9] It supplied labour to the company from July 1944 to April 1945. A report dated 29 August states:
500 foreign female concentration camp prisoners, political, and criminal. Adjacent barracks camp, 11 guards, 17,000 m barbed wire, 380 Volts, tripwire. . . . The German foremen should be replaced by prisoners because the inmate overseers take a tougher line. Work performance is highly satisfactory. Productivity is higher than with the same number of German workers because work hours are longer and absenteeism is lower. . . . The gentlemen are of the opinion that the conditions sound harsher than they actually are.[10]
Rudolf Blohm was present during this visit.[10]
A memorial stands on the site of the camp and the company continues to pay an undisclosed amount to theFund for Compensation of Forced Laborers.[11] Steinwerder was badly damaged during thebombing of Hamburg in World War II and at the end of it, shipbuilding was forbidden.[12]
In 1933 Blohm & Voss was suffering a financial crisis from lack of work. Its owners, brothersRudolf andWalther Blohm, decided to diversify into aircraft manufacture, believing that there would soon be a market for all-metal, long-rangeflying boats, especially with the German state airlineDeutsche Luft Hansa. They also felt that their experience with all-metal marine construction would prove an advantage. They formed the Hamburger Flugzeugbau that summer.[13][8]
Most of the aircraft built by HFB/B&V would in fact be other companies' designs and major subassemblies, contracted under license, including tens of thousands of aircraft each forDornier,Heinkel,Junkers andMesserschmitt.[8] Alongside its volume manufacturing the company also maintained its own design office and workshops which continued to develop and build new types throughout the company's life. The first planes it produced were designated with theofficial RLM company code "Ha".
The aircraft produced by Hamburger Flugzeugbau were still commonly associated with Blohm & Voss and this was causing confusion, so in September 1937 Hamburger Flugzeugbau was renamedAbteilung Flugzeugbau der Schiffswerft Blohm & Voss and the RLM changed its company code to "BV".[14]
Its most significant designs wereflying boats, mainly used by the Luftwaffe for maritime patrol and reconnaissance. Most numerous was theBV 138Seedrache (initiated as the Ha 138), atwin-boomtrimotor, while theBV 222Wiking was much larger. Largest of all was theBV 238 prototype, the largest aircraft built by any of theAxis forces. Other notable types include the asymmetricBV 141, which was built in moderate numbers but did not enter production.
At the end of the war, aircraft production was shut down.Hamburger Flugzeugbau GmBH (HFB) re-emerged in 1956, still under the ownership of Walther Blohm but no longer connected to B+V. It reopened theformer B+V aircraft factory at Finkenwerder and subsequently underwent various further changes of ownership and company name,[15] eventually becoming part ofAirbus.
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After the Second World War, the British continued to demolish the shipyards of Steinwerder. B&V, unable to restart shipbuilding work, all but ceased to exist for several years.
In 1950, B&V created a new subsidiary company, Steinwerder Industrie AG, to manufacture machinery and boilers on the site. Its shipyard fortunes began to revive in 1952 when the new company was allowed to restart ship repair work and the City of Hamburg subsequently guaranteed it credit. By 1953 some 900 workers were back in employment.[12] The building of new ships would later also be allowed again; the first ship built was theWappen von Hamburg in 1955. During this period of resurrection the level of investment required meant that B&V moved out of private hands and became a publicly quoted company, 50% owned by Phoenix-Rheinrohr AG, itself soon to be consolidated into theThyssen Group.[16] Even so, B&V would never regain its former size. In 1966 it took over neighbouring shipbuilderH. C. Stülcken Sohn.[17]
During the postwar years, B+V builtoil rigs and developed a market for other offshore products such as support ships and pipelines.[18][19][20] The company has also built ships for numerous commercial customers, including luxury yachts.Eclipse, built for Russian billionaireRoman Abramovich, is 162 metres (531 ft 6 in) in length making it the second longest private yacht in the world. B+V still administers theElbe 17 dry dock at Hamburg. The semi-submersible drilling rig "Chris Chenery" was constructed in 1974 for The Offshore Co. of Houston, US. WhenThyssen AG andKrupp merged in 1999, B+V became a subsidiary ofThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.
In December 2001, Blohm+Voss,Nordseewerke andFriedrich Lurssen Werft were awarded the contract to build the first five K130MEKO frigates for theGerman Navy. The first of them,Braunschweig, was built at Blohm+Voss, launched in April 2006 and commissioned in April 2008.[21] Several problems with the equipment fit delayed commissioning, and the last was commissioned in 2013.[22][23]
In 2011 ThyssenKrupp agreed the sale of the Blohm+Voss civil shipbuilding division to British investment company STAR Capital Partners.[24][25] The military division remained with ThyssenKrupp.[26]
In October 2016, regulatory approval was given forLürssen to acquire Blohm+Voss from STAR Capital Partners.[27][28] In April 2017 the company dismissed 300 employees from which were 1000.[29]
In September 2017, the German Navy commissioned the construction of fiveK130 corvettes by a consortium of North German shipyards including ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, Blohm+Voss, and the German Naval Yards inKiel. TheLürssen Group, which would be the main contractor in the production of the vessels, distributed its work between the two sites atWolgast and B+VHamburg to build only two,Köln in 2021 andEmden in 2022. The contract was worth around 2 billion euros.[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]
On 25 July 2019, Peter Lürßen invested €20 million into the shipyard. Dock 10 was covered with a roof 200m-long and 50m-high for a cost of €13 million.[40] The mounting of steel pillars above the dock's walls started in October 2020. On 29 April 2021, the hull of the yachtOpera, also calledCoral Ocean, was transferred from Dock 17 to Dock 10 and both were tugged toBerne, Germany to stay at least 2 years. The previous 146-mSassi, which was burned to the point that only the engine section block remained, formed part ofOpera. Lürßen's Dock 3 was transferred to the Jade shipyard atWilhelmshaven. In Berne, a hall was extended.Mein Schiff 3 then docked in Dock 17, followed byAIDAcara andAIDAmar, the latest cruise ships to visit the dock.[41][42]
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According to an interview and meeting published inHamburger Morgenpost on 30 September 2021 and repeated atHamburger Abendblatt,[43] the workforce was advised that Lürssen would no longer refit cruise ships in Hamburg anymore. The new building department was dissolved. All six floating docks were in review. The repair division was not a success. Despite the around 20 million euros invested in modern shipyard technology, the subletting of many halls and the shrinkage to only around a third of the used shipyard area, the costs were still too high and is not yet fit for the future. The location is too expensive compared to other shipyards, so structural measures and cost adjustments were necessary.
In a statement, NVL B.V. & Co. KG, military naval ships construction, which belonged to Lürssen was sold toRheinmetall in September 2025.[44][45]
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Blohm & Voss was established in the days of sail and, although it built ships with steel hulls from the first, it did not produce a significant steamship until 1900. Of the many hundreds of ships built by B+V, notable examples include:
Ships built using the MEKO system are listed atMEKO.
Other modern warships designed and built by B&V include:
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