page_title: Langer Heinrich (crane 1915)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Langer Heinrich (crane 1915) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Title: German Type XVIIB Submarine, August 11, 1945 Caption: German Type XVIIB Submarine is lifted from the water by a large floating crane, at Bremerhaven, Germany, August 11, 1945. Boat is probably U-1406 or U-1407. They were small, fast submarines, powered by Walter Turbines. Note large Tug THOR at left. Photographed by Private First Class W. Gedge.
context_page_description: Langer Heinrich, or in English Long Henry, is a floating crane commissioned in 1915 for the Wilhelmshaven Imperial Shipyard in Wilhelmshaven, Germany and has been located in Genoa, Italy since 1997. At the time of completion she was the largest floating crane in the world, passing up the Ajax crane barge completed in 1914.
context_section_description: The imperial shipyard Wilhelmshaven needed a powerful and high lifting crane to help complete battleships before the outbreak of the World War I. The crane was completed in 1915 and originally was known as the Grosser Schwimmkran, but was christened Langer Heinrich.  The crane was built by Demag in Duisburg and the float pontoon for the crane was built by AG Weser. The crane needed to lift gun turrets, ship components and sometimes entire ship hulls. It was used to assemble the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee and German battleship Tirpitz. The pontoon float is 50.42 m by 30.92 m with a depth draft of 3.05 m. The crane displaces 3,898 tons and was powered by two triple expansion steam engines with 1,000 HP each until being refitted with Diesel engines in 1955. The crane had three smaller hoists for lifting 10, 20 and 50 tons. The main hoist has two 125 tonne lifting units which could be coupled for a combined lift of 250 tonnes. The crane had a maximum jib tower height of 81.4 m. The crane is self-propelled with two propellers and floats on pontoons. The pontoon has 41 compartments, some of which can be flooded to counterbalance the load. The superstructure can be rotated through 360 degrees. The crane has a deadweight of 2,393 tons. It was so famous in its day that it used to be pictured on some German bank notes, Deutsche Marks.
  After the end of World War I, the United Kingdom claimed the crane as war reparation. The move across the North Sea turned out to be too difficult though and was canceled. Instead, as part of the war reparation, similar cranes were built for Portsmouth, England in 1920 and Brest, France in 1935. When the SS Bremen was built in 1928, the Langer Heinrich lifted the boiler plant into the ship's hull. In 1944 she was used in Bremen, Germany for submarine construction at the AG Weser shipyard. During World War II air raids on Bremen, the Langer Heinrich received minor damage and was subsequently moved to Nordenham for safe storage.
caption: German Type XVII submarine is lifted from the water by Langer Heinrich, at Bremerhaven, Germany on August 11, 1945.
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