Torpedoboote und Zerstorer Helling, Trockendock Schwimming

[alan griffis]

Good morning:  I am still having trouble finding the building slip numbers, building dock numbers or Schwimming numbers for Torpedoboats and Destroyers builts from 1925 thru the end of the war.  I just cant the information.  Would someone be able to help me find this information?  If someone can point me in the right direction I would gladly do the work.  Note:  I have lots of paperwork on this topic, but for example, I was given the dimensions of Dock I, Wilhelmshaven.  But it is about 30 metres short for a picture I have of a destroyer being repaired in it.  I know the length of the destroyer and it just to long to fit in it using the data I was given.  Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Alan

[harold]

Hi Alan,

for us it would be an important help and but little work for you, if you could give the sources you did look through within your research (for not giving you informations twice you've got yet).
If you are interested in the timeframe 1934 onwards, there's
Harnack, Wolfgang: Zerstörer unter deutscher Flagge 1934-45
as a good starting point for your interest (just for the destroyers, the T-Boote or other vessels are not mentioned here).
E.g., on page 17 you might find the responsible construction yards and the "Baunummer" (= i.e. yard construction number) of all ~40 delivered ship constructions, plus those cancelled, or broken up on the slipway, or those which were taken over from foreign navies (some few more).

I am sure that our real experts on this item (you did call for the used building docks or slipways, too, as I can understand) will switch in the next days, so be a little patient with our community - or do allow us to better understand the backgrounds of your very specific interest.---

BTW, a heartily welcome as one of the very first of our "5-thousenders" 
- we do not count member numbers one-by-one (as we have to skip some idiotic spam adresses day-by-day; but these are not included in our "general counter"; and, sadly said, some of our members which still are present here with their writings ... did pass away in those last eight years).

[halina]

hallo Alan , the Dimensions of Dry-Dock I + II in Wilhelmshaven 1925 ca. 131 meter .
the Length of Torpedoboats in this Time ca. 93 meter + Destroyer  ca. 121 meter .   best Regards  Halina

[alan griffis]

Good morning everyone:  Sorry it took so long to to reply to the very nice people here in this forum.  I have most of the popular books by Groner, Breyer, Koop, Schmolke, and many many others.  It seems that alot of authors just dont talk about dimensions of slips, construction docks or floating docks.  Additionally, I cant find ONE that talks about where ships smaller than Light Cruisers were built (slip wise that is).  Example, Z-1 thru Z-4 were built at DW Kiel, in Docks I, II, III or IV, but which ships in which docks?  Z-5 thru Z-8 built at Deschimag, Bremen, but where?  I can find 5 slips there, I dont know their dimensions either.  And so on and so on thru all destroyers and Torpedoboots.  So it seems to me that this information has not been recorded by anyone. I love the German Navy from WWI thru WWII.  And it appears that shipyard information has not been recorded for future generations, and documentation on ships smaller than Light Cruisers have not been completed.  So this is why I am doing this and any help you can provide me would be great.  Thank you in advance for any suggestions or help.

Alan

[t-geronimo]

In this posting you can find an excel file from our member Thor where he noted some ships and where they were build. At least some destroyers are mentioned:
http://www.forum-marinearchiv.de/smf/index.php/topic,2123.msg120649.html#msg120649

In the following postings you maybe can find further information.

[Wink]

Hello Alan,

You have undertaken a difficult if not impossible task.  The specific numbers of slipways and dry docks used to produce destroyers and torpedo boats for the Kriegsmarine are not generally considered to be of sufficient importance to put in print.  Those numbers are of value mostly for production control purposes at the shipyards, and they are usually not of any special interest to the naval history community as a whole.

In the research I did for my book "Naval Shipbuilders of the World," I received complete listings of all of the ships produced by many government and private shipyards.  The most shipyard data that they ever provided were the yard numbers (production sequence) and the dates of launching and completion.  There was never any mention of the slipway or dry dock number where the ships were produced.

The most comprehensive data that I ever received was a 41-page listing of all of the ships produced by Blohm & Voss from 1877 to 1977.  They produced the destroyers Friedrich Ihn (Z-14), Erich Steinbrink (Z-15), and Friedrich Eckholdt (Z-16) in 1938.  The data provided on these ships included the yard number, type of ship, name of ship, launch date, completion date, customer, size, machinery, and speed, but nothing on the slipway or dry dock number.

I believe that you may have to research the production records of each individual shipyard to find the information you want, but that may be difficult for a number of reasons.  Some records may have been destroyed during the war or shortly thereafter.  As shipyards expanded and added slipways and dry docks, some renumbered their facilities for production control purposes.  Also, 30 torpedo boats were built by Schichau-Elbing, which is now in Poland.

With regard to the dimensions of slipways, dry docks, and floating docks, you almost have to go to the individual histories of each shipyard to get that type of information.  Earlier editions of Jane Fighting Ships did provide some details on the facilities of many shipyards, but that practice was discontinued some time after World War I.

When I was doing research for my first book "The Bismarck Chase," I found that there was no single book that addressed naval shipbuilding from the perspective of the government and private shipyards that produced the ships for the world's navies.  That promoted me to write "Naval Shipbuilders of the World," which covered only major warships.  I wish you good luck in your efforts.

Regards,

Robert Winklareth