Bremer Vulkan Bremer Vulkan AG was a prominent German shipbuilding company located at the Weser river in Bremen - Vegesack . It was founded in 1893 and closed in 1997 because of financial problems and mismanagement . Altogether the " Bremer Vulkan " built about 1100 ships - including the ships of the predecessor " Johann Lange Shipyard " - of different types . It is remarkable that the " Bremer Vulkan " with the exception of both World Wars only built civilian ships ; production of naval ships except war times started first in the 1980s . History . Bremer Vulkan AG was founded 1893 in " Vegesack " - a suburb of the city of Bremen – by a group of investors and Bremen merchants and by overtaking the 1805 founded Johann Lange Shipyard . Two years later the Bremer Vulkan bought the " Bremer Schiffbaugesellschaft " – former " H . F . Ulrichs Shipyard " which launched the first ship in 1839 - including all its modern shipbuilding facilities . First director of the Bremer Vulkan became the engineer " Victor Nawatzki " ( 1855 – 1940 ) . In the following years the Bremer Vulkan increased rapidly . By 1908 it already had an area of about 80 acres and a water frontage of 1500 meters . Six slips equipped with modern electric travelling cranes were capable of building the largest vessels of that time . With an average annual delivery of about 40000 BRT it became the greatest civilian shipbuilding company in the " Deutsches Kaiserreich " ( German Empire ) , followed by " Flensburger Schiffbaubetriebe " in Flensburg , " Tecklenborg " in Bremerhaven and Vulcan Stettin in Stettin . The number of co - workers had increased from about 60 at the beginning up to about 3300 in 1912 . During World War I the Bremer Vulkan built warships by force . Altogether 11 minesweepers ( M 39 – M42 and M 54 – M 56 , M71 – M 74 ) and in cooperation with the Germaniawerft in Kiel some submarine hulls and 6 complete submarines ( U 160 – U 163 ) were built for the " Kaiserliche Marine " ( Imperial German Navy ) . After the world war Bremer Vulkan continued its successful development . Different types of ships were built first mainly for German ship owners and with an increasing amount also for foreign ship owners later . An important progress was the change of ship propulsion from steam engines to diesel engines . In cooperation and under licence from MAN the Bremer Vulkan started the production of Diesel ship - engines . During World War II , 74 different VII U - boats were constructed for the " Kriegsmarine " . The Vulkan facility was several times target of the bombing of Bremen in World War II . The greatest bombing attack happened in March 1943 by the US Air Force . By the so called “ precise bombing ” many buildings and u - boats under construction as well as surrounding private buildings were destroyed or damaged . Unfortunately 116 people were killed and additional 118 hurt . Despite the great destruction production of u - boats could be continued within a few weeks . During the war about 10 km downstream from the BV - shipyard between the Bremen suburbs " Rekum " and " Farge " the submarine bunker Valentin was under construction . Here under management of the BV and beginning end of 1945 monthly 15 u - boats should be assembled from prefabricated sections . Those were delivered from the following shipyards " Bremer Vulkan AG " , Deschimag AG Weser in Bremen , Deschimag Seebeck AG in Bremerhaven and " Blohm + Voß " in Hamburg . However , the bunker was not finished before the end of the war and no u - boats were ever built there . The building itself still exists today and is partly used as a memorial to the many forced labourers from nearby concentration camps who worked and died there during construction of the bunker . " Dr . Robert Kabelac " – director of the BV from 1935 to 1960 – managed to avoid the dismantling of the BV after war as this happened to most other German shipyards . The company was allowed to resume shipbuilding already in 1949 . Production could soon be continued , starting with repair of ships and locomotives and the construction of fishing vessel s . Soon later the shipbuilding programme was enlarged and various types of ships were offered to the market as container / multi purpose cargo ships , passenger liners , passenger - cargo vessels , roll - on / roll - off ships , LNG and LPG tankers , supply ships , special - purpose ships , reefer vessels and others . End of the 1970th the BV became world leader in container delivered capacity and in innovative container ship design . Beginning in the 1980th for the first time except wartimes of course also naval ships were built . As the general contractor the BV started in cooperation with other German shipbuilding companies the construction of frigates for the " Deutsche Bundesmarine " ( German Navy ) . In the 1980s the BV merged with other German shipbuilding companies and became the largest shipbuilding company in Germany . The new " Bremer Vulkan Verbund AG " or the so called " Vulkan Group " consisted of the following divisions at that time : Division Shipbuilding , including the seven German shipyards " Bremer Vulkan Werft " ( Bremen - Vegesack ) , " Geeste Metallbau GmbH " ( Bremen ) , " Flender Werft " ( Lübeck ) , " Lloyd Werft " , " Rickmers Lloyd Dockbetrieb GmbH " , Schichau Seebeckwerft ( all in Bremerhaven ) and " Neue Jadewerft " ( Wilhelmshaven ) Division Naval Shipbuilding Division Industry Division Electronic and Systems Technology Division Services After the German reunification in 1990 the Vulkan Group was enlarged by the Division Mecklenburg - Vorpommern , including the east German shipyards " Matthias - Thesen Werft " in Wismar and Volkswerft Stralsund in Stralsund . At that time Vulkan Group included altogether about 22000 co - workers in Germany , of that about 18000 in the shipbuilding divisions . After 1996 bankruptcy because of financial problems and mismanagement , Bremer Vulkan closed the shipyard in Vegesack in 1997 . Some of the affiliated shipyards as the " Lloyd Shipyard " in Bremerhaven and the shipyards in Eastern Germany survived this bankruptcy . The naval shipbuilding division was partly taken over by the Lürssen Shipbuilding Group . See also . city