50 • Summer 2018 • http://www.shipsmonthly.com
From humble beginnings, Blohm and Voss went on to become one of the
world’s premier shipbuilding yards. Patrick Boniface looks back over the
company’s 140-year history and at some of the ships it built.
SHIPBUILDING
POWERHOUSE
A
muddy and
desolate
Steinwarder
Island in the
Elbe River was
what Hermann Blohm and
partner Ernest Voss saw in
the early 1870s as the perfect
location for their proposed
shipyard. The Elbe was a
large, powerful river with a
deep bed that would allow for
the construction of the largest
vessels then envisaged.
The two men had been
friends for decades and trusted
each other. Blohm was the
businessman, while Voss had
a more practical and technical
mind. They had learnt their
trade at British shipyards
and saw the potential for
a shipyard in Germany.
However, despite their
optimism and the perceived
need for a modern shipyard in
Hamburg in the 1870s, local
shipping lines were content
to buy from British yards, one
shipowner going so far as to
state publicly that they did not
need ‘strangers at the other
side of the river.’
Blohm and Voss, however,
persevered, and the muddy
island was transformed
into a new shipyard called
Blohm and Voss shipyard
and machine factory, which
began operations on 5 April
1877, specialising in steel-
hulled ships. After ship repair
work, the fi rst ship to be built
there was the three-masted
barque National for their own
account. In 1878 the company
secured their fi rst commercial
order, for the Hamburg South
African Steam Ship Company,
who ordered the small cargo
vessel Burg. This was followed
with orders from Hamburg
Sud Laeisz, Hamburg-America
Line, Reichspost Steamers,
Norddeutscher Lloyd and
Hapag, as well as warships for
the German Imperial Navy.
Blohm and Voss developed
a reputation for building
exceptional sailing vessels,
which included Pamir, Passat,
Peking and Petschili. Another
built at Hamburg was the
record-breaking Potrimpos.
Delivered to her owners in
1887, she took just 61 days to
sail from the English Channel
to Valparaiso, breaking
the existing record for the
crossing. Pamir ultimately SMS Von der Tann was the first battlecruiser built by Blohm and Voss for the German Kaiserliche Marine, as well as
Germany’s first major turbine-powered warship. Prinzessin Victoria Luise was a German passenger ship of the Hamburg-
America Line (HAPAG) of 4,409grt, credited with being the first purpose-built
cruise ship. Launched on 29 June 1900, she served with HAPAG until 16
December 1906, when she accidentally grounded off Jamaica.