industry shipbuilding founded 1877 founder hermann blohm and ernst voss headquarters hamburg germany owner thyssenkrupp parent thyssenkrupp marine systems website blohmvoss.com blohm voss also shown historically as blohm & voss and blohm und voss is a german shipbuilding and engineering works . it is a subsidiary of thyssenkrupp marine systems . thyssenkrupp announced in december 2011 that it had agreed the sale of blohm voss civil shipbuilding division to british investment company star capital partners pending regulatory approval . 1 2 the company also oversees maintenance and repair of large cruise ships such as rms queen mary 2 and the ms queen victoria . 3 the company built aircraft before and during world war ii initially through its hamburger flugzeugbau subsidiary and then under its own corporate name shortly after the war s outbreak . on september 28 2016 it was announced that l rssen will acquire blohm voss in a long term partnership . 4 contents 1 history 2 history during the nazi era 3 ships and submarines 3.1 tall ships 3.2 ocean liners and other passenger ships 3.3 private yachts 3.4 warships of world war i 3.5 warships of world war ii 3.6 modern warships 4 aircraft 5 see also 6 references 6.1 notes 6.2 bibliography 7 external links history edit blohm & voss in 1877 it was founded on 5 april 1877 by hermann blohm and ernst voss as a general partnership . a shipyard was built on the island of kuhwerder near the free and hanseatic city of hamburg covering 15 000 m with 250 m of water frontage and three building berths two suitable for ships of up to 100 metres length . the company s logo is now a simple dark blue rectangle with rounded corners bearing the white letters blohm voss . the company name was shown with the ampersand until 1955 . the company has continued to build ships and other large machines for 125 years . despite being almost completely demolished after the end of world war ii it now builds warships both for the german navy and for export see meko as well as oil drilling equipment and ships for numerous commercial customers . the company is along with howaldtswerke at kiel and nordseewerke at emden a subsidiary of thyssenkrupp marine systems . history during the nazi era edit with the rise of the nazi party to power in 1933 germany s rearmament in violation of the versailles treaty had begun . this began a sudden change in fortune for the company run then by brothers rudolf and walther blohm which was taken out of a deep crisis . until then specialising in shipbuilding the company began to design and build aircraft for the german state airline pre war deutsche luft hansa and the luftwaffe . the aeronautical section of the company was named hamburger flugzeugbau and the designations of the first planes it produced had the company code ha e.g. ha 135 . in september 1937 the aviation subsidiary was renamed abteilung flugzeugbau der schiffswerft blohm & voss and the company code was replaced by bv . 5 particularly noteworthy were the large flying boats the company produced especially the largest aircraft designed built and flown by any of the axis forces the bv 238 and its ingenious approaches to aircraft building that even featured asymmetric designs bv 141 . from july 1944 to april 1945 the company used inmates of its own concentration subcamp at its shipyard in hamburg steinwerder a subcamp of neuengamme concentration camp . 6 a memorial stands on the site of the camp and the company continues to pay an undisclosed amount to the fund for compensation of forced laborers . 7 ships and submarines edit notable ships built by the company include tall ships edit flying p liners including petschili 1903 pamir 1905 passat 1911 peking 1911 pola 1916 and priwall 1917 prinzess eitel friedrich 1909 later dar pomorza the three mast barques and school ships of the gorch fock class ocean liners and other passenger ships edit prinzessin victoria luise 1900 a hamburg america line ship the first ship built exclusively for cruising rms majestic 1914 a white star line liner and the largest ship in the world until the completion of the normandie in 1935 ss leviathan 1914 a united states lines liner and sistership to the rms majestic . scrapped in 1938 . ss cap arcona 1927 a hamburg s d liner sunk with great loss of life near the end of the second world war ss monte cervantes 1927 a hamburg s d liner lost near tierra del fuego in 1930 ss europa 1928 a norddeutscher lloyd liner and blue riband winner mv monte rosa 1930 a passenger liner and cruise ship that would become better known as the troopship empire windrush ss potsdam 1935 a norddeutscher lloyd turbo electric liner that served as an allied troopship and then the pakistani pilgrim ship safina e hujjaj . ts pretoria 1936 and ts windhuk 1936 deutsche ost afrika linie passenger cargo liners . mv wilhelm gustloff 1937 kraft durch freude strength through joy cruise ship and the world s worst maritime disaster when she was sunk towards the end of the second world war mv aurora 1955 as the wappen von hamburg . it was the first luxury liner to be built after world war ii . mv explorer 2001 used by the semester at sea university study abroad program private yachts edit lady moura in monaco a 394 foot owned by the russian billionaire andrey melnichenko dubai owned by the ruler of the emirate of dubai and the prime minister of the united arab emirates sheikh mohammed bin rashid al maktoum eclipse the second largest private yacht owned by russian businessman roman abramovich . enigma a modern yacht . grille built as the german state yacht 1935 converted to minelayer at the beginning of world war ii later reconverted to state yacht of nazi germany hitler s official maritime conveyance . lady moura the 19th largest private yacht mv savarona built for an american heiress in 1931 . later the turkish presidential yacht and now a charter yacht . still among the largest yachts at 446 feet 136 m long . warships of world war i edit sms scharnhorst sms glyndwr light seaplane carrier converted from a merchant ship sms von der tann battlecruiser sms goeben battlecruiser sms moltke battlecruiser sms scharnhorst armoured cruiser sms seydlitz and sms derfflinger battlecruisers that were heavily damaged in the battle of jutland ; both stayed afloat and brought their crews home . warships of world war ii edit admiral hipper heavy cruiser bismarck battleship many type vii type xvii type xxi and type xxvi u boats modern warships edit aradu f89 a meko 360h1 frigate for the nigerian navy almirante brown class meko 360h2 destroyers for the argentine navy rheinland pfalz f209 a bremen class frigate brandenburg f215 the first brandenburg class frigate sachsen f219 the first sachsen class frigate vasco da gama f330 a vasco da gama class meko 200pn frigate for the portuguese navy z28 class patrol boats for the argentine coast guard blohm voss shipbuilding blohm voss shipyard entrance blohm voss dock 10 in hamburg cruise ship ms freedom of the seas with drydock elbe 17 in the background the cosco brisbane at blohm & voss shipyard april 2005 aircraft edit from 1933 to 1945 the company operated the hamburger flugzeugbau aircraft company . although initially given the factory code ha for the factory s official name the link with blohm & voss shipyards proved too strong and therefore the early aircraft designs were called blohm & voss type ha ... followed by the design number . to end this confusion in 1938 the reichsluftfahrtministerium changed the company code to bv . aircraft and projects designed under the ha and bv designations can be found at list of blohm voss aircraft and projects blohm & voss bv 40 glider interceptor blohm & voss ha 135 two seat single engine sports biplane 1933 blohm & voss ha 136 8 experimental single seat single engine low wing advanced trainer blohm & voss ha 137 prototype dive bomber blohm & voss bv 138 seedrache sea dragon trimotor maritime patrol flying boat early versions designated as ha 138 blohm & voss ha 139 long range seaplane blohm & voss ha 140 torpedo bomber seaplane prototype blohm & voss bv 141 reconnaissance asymmetric blohm & voss bv 142 reconnaissance transport blohm & voss bv 143 glide bomb prototype blohm & voss bv 144 transport blohm & voss bv 155 high altitude interceptor formerly me 155 blohm & voss bv 222 wiking viking six engine transport flying boat blohm & voss bv 226 8 a long range radar homing glide bomb blohm & voss bv 237 8 a single seat single engine asymmetric layout ground attack aircraft project development of the bv 141 blohm & voss bv 238 flying boat prototype the single largest axis aircraft design of the war years to fly blohm & voss bv 246 hagelkorn hailstone long range radar homing glide bomb list of major internal projects of the ww2 era under the rlm blohm & voss bv p. 111 a design similar to the 237 except that it was a flying boat with three engines . blohm & voss bv p. 170 a 1942 design with three engines on the forward wing with the cockpit in the aft . blohm & voss bv p. 178 experimental asymmetric jet powered dive bomber project . blohm & voss p. 194 tactical bomber project blohm & voss p. 208 blohm & voss bv p. 211 a prototype jet fighter for the volksj ger emergency fighter program design competition blohm & voss p. 212 blohm & voss p. 213 a prototype pulsejet miniature fighter for the volksj ger design competition of the emergency fighter program although hamburger flugzeugbau re emerged after the war and under different names and ownerships continues to build aircraft it has no ties with blohm & voss . see also edit elbe 17 references edit this article includes a list of references but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations . please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations . march 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message notes edit bryant chris . thyssenkrupp sells mega yacht division . ft.com . financial times limited . retrieved 12 december 2011 . star capital partners buys blohm & voss civil business . superyachttimes.com . superyachttimes.com . retrieved 12 december 2011 . queen victoria once again at blohm voss . bohm voss . retrieved 5 january 2015 . breaking news l rssen acquires blohm voss . superyachttimes.com . 28 september 2016 . retrieved 28 september 2016 . b v geschichte v. 1933 1938 die r stungskonjunktur ab 1933 the camp blohm & voss is listed as no. 550 hamburg in the official german list list in german herbert diercks der hamburger hafen im nationalsozialismus 2008 a b c blohm voss . wehrmacht history . retrieved 2011 01 28 . bibliography edit gunston bill . world encyclopedia of aircraft manufacturers . stroud uk sutton publishing second edition 2005 . isbn 0 7509 3981 8 . meyhoff andreas . blohm & voss im dritten reich eine hamburger gro werft zwischen gesch ft und politik hamburger beitr ge zur sozial und zeitgeschichte band 38 in german . hamburg germany forschungsstelle f r zeitgeschichte in hamburg 2001 . isbn 3 89244 916 3 . pohlmann herrmann . chronik eines flugzeugwerkes 1932 1945 . b & v blohm & voss hamburg hfb hamburger flugzeugbau in german . motor buch verlag 1979 isbn 3 87943 624 x. prager hans georg and bishop frederick a. transl . . blohm voss ships and machinery for the world . london brassey s publishers limited 1977 . isbn 0 904609 14 6 . witth ft hans j. tradition und fortschritt 125 jahre blohm voss