Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft

Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft is a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Kiel. It is part of the ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems 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 in 1968. The company's shipyard was formerly used by Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft until the end of World War II.HistoryHDW was founded October 1, 1838 in Kiel by engineer August Howaldt and entrepreneur Johann Schweffel 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 the 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.