Blohm+Voss (B+V), also written historically as Blohm & Voss, Blohm und Voß etc., is a German shipbuilding and engineering company. Founded in Hamburg in 1877 to specialise in steel-hulled ships, its most famous product was the World War II battleship Bismarck. In the 1930s, its owners established the Hamburger 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, as Thyssen Group and Star Capital. In 2016, it became a subsidiary of Lürssen and continues to supply both the military and civilian markets. It serves two areas – new construction of warships as NVL B.V. & Co. KG, and new construction and refitting of megayachts. The company has been in operation, building ships and other large machinery, almost continuously for 147 years.
Tango Maru (丹後丸) was a cargo motor ship that was built in Germany in 1926 and sunk off the coast of Bali in 1944. She was launched as Rendsburg for the Deutsch-Australische Dampfschiffs-Gesellschaft (DADG), which in 1926 merged with Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG).
The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), known in English as the Hamburg America Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, in 1847. Among those involved in its development were prominent citizens such as Albert Ballin, Adolph Godeffroy, Ferdinand Laeisz, Carl Woermann, August Bolten, and others, and its main financial backers were Berenberg Bank and H. J. Merck & Co. It soon developed into the largest German, and at times the world's largest, shipping company, serving the market created by German immigration to the United States and later, immigration from Eastern Europe. On 1 September 1970, after 123 years of independent existence, HAPAG merged with the Bremen-based North German Lloyd to form Hapag-Lloyd AG.
SS Cleveland was a German transatlantic ocean liner that was launched in 1908 and scrapped in 1933. Cleveland was built for the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) as a sister ship for Cincinnati.
SS Potsdam was a steam ocean liner that was launched in Germany in 1899 for Holland America Line. In 1915 Swedish American Line acquired her and renamed her Stockholm.
SS Assyrian was a cargo ship that was built in Hamburg for German owners in 1914, transferred to British owners in 1920 as war reparations and sunk by a U-boat in 1940. She was launched as MS Fritz, and when she changed owners in 1920 she was renamed MS Assyrian. She had been built as a motor ship but in 1925 she was converted to a steamship and became SS Assyrian.
Stettin was a 2,646 GRT cargo ship which was built in 1923 for the Stettiner Dampfer Compagnie. In 1930 she was sold to Norddeutscher Lloyd and renamed Akka. She was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine in 1940. Akka was seized as a war prize in 1945, passing to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and being renamed Empire Calder.
Wahehe was a 4,690 GRT cargo ship which was built in 1922 as Wadigo by Reiherstieg Schiffswerfte und Maschinenfabrik, Hamburg for Woermann Linie AG. She was converted to a refrigerated cargo liner in about 1934.
Mironave was a 1,125 GRT cargo ship that was built as a passenger ship in 1938 by Schiffbau-Gesellschaft Unterweser AG, Wesermünde, Germany for German owners. In 1940, she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine. Seized by the Allies in 1945, she was passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed Empire Concave. In 1946, she was passed to the Norwegian Government and renamed Galtnes. She was sold into merchant service in 1947 and renamed Ila. In 1952, she was sold to Brazil and was renamed São Leopoldo. In 1965, a further sale saw her renamed Mironave. She was still in active service in 1982, when a further sale took place.
Borussia was a 948 GRT coaster that was built in 1912 by Nüscke & Co, Stettin for German owners. She was renamed Timandra in 1939. She was seized by the Allies at Rendsburg in May 1945, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed Empire Confal. In 1947, she was sold into merchant service and renamed Woodwren. She was renamed Artemis in 1953 and hulked. The hulk was scrapped in 1960.
TS Pretoria was a ship that had a long and varied career as first a German cargo liner, then a U-boat depot ship, hospital ship, British troop ship, Muslim pilgrim ship and finally an Indonesian naval accommodation ship.
Dollart was a 535 GRT coaster that was built in 1912 by Stettiner Oderwerke AG, Stettin, Germany for German owners. She was seized by the Allies in May 1945, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and was renamed Empire Constancy. In 1947, she was sold into merchant service and renamed Polzeath. In 1951, she was sold to Turkey and renamed Meltem. Further sales saw her renamed Yener 9 in 1956 and Yarasli in 1959. She went missing in the Ionian Sea in January 1961.
Memel was a 1,102 GRT cargo ship that was built in 1925 as Reval by Schiffs-und Dockbauwerft Flender AG, Lübeck, Germany for German owners. A sale in 1934 saw her renamed Memel. She was seized by the Allies in May 1945, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and was renamed Empire Constellation. In 1946, she was transferred to the Soviet Union and renamed Ivan Sechenov.
Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie was a shipping line, established in 1890 as an alternative to the existing shipping services to East Africa, including German East Africa (1891–1919), then dominated by United Kingdom shipping lines.
Thuringia was an 11,251 GRT ocean liner that was built in 1922 by Howaldtswerke, Kiel, Germany for the Hamburg Amerikanische Paketfahrt AG, Hamburg. In 1930, she was renamed General San Martin. In 1934, she was chartered by Hamburg-Südamerikanische Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft and sold to them in 1936. She was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine in 1940 and served until 1945 as a barracks ship, and then as passenger ship during the evacuation of civilians from the Baltic.
Monte Pascoal was a Monte-class ocean liner built in 1930 by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg for the Hamburg-Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft (HSDG). She managed to reach Germany after the outbreak of World War II and was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine for use as an accommodation ship. She was sunk in 1944 during an Allied air raid on Wilhelmshaven. Subsequently, refloated, she was seized by the Allies post war and was scuttled in the Skaggerak with a cargo of gas bombs in 1946.
Empire Fowey was a 19,121 GRT ocean liner that was built in 1935 as Potsdam by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg for the Hamburg America Line. She was sold before completion to Norddeutscher Lloyd. While owned by Norddeutscher Lloyd she was one of three sister ships operating the service between Bremen and the Far East. Her sister ships were SS Scharnhorst and SS Gneisenau.
Jagiełło was a medium-sized passenger-cargo ship, sailing under the Polish flag between 1948 and 1949, and then decommissioned due to unprofitable and post-war political conditions, which were not conducive to the development of the Polish passenger fleet, and then transferred to the Soviet Union as Pyotr Velikiy, operating Black Sea passenger services until 1973. The ship had been built by Blohm & Voss for Turkish operators, taken over after completion by the German government. After World War 2 it taken over by the British and then the Soviet Government.
Goslar is a partly-submerged shipwreck in the Suriname River in Paramaribo, Suriname. It is the remains of a Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) steam turbine cargo ship that was built in 1929. When the Second World War began in 1939, she sought refuge in Surinam, which was then a Dutch colony. When Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940, her crew scuttled her.
SS Reliance was one of a pair of transatlantic steam ocean liners that were launched in 1914 in Germany for the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG), sold to a Dutch shipping line in 1916, and seized by the United States as World War I reparations in 1922. United American Lines (UAL) operated her until 1926, when HAPAG bought her back.
