GDR SHIPYARDS OPERATING AT CAPACITY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700190043-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2011
• Sequence Number: 43
• Publication Date: June 10, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700190043-2
r
COUNTR" GDR
SUBJECT Economic ? 'shipbuilding
HOW
PUBLISHED Daily newapap~r
WHERE
PUBLISHED Hamburg
DATE
PUBLISHED 25 Feb 195k
LANGUAGE German
REPORT
CD N0.
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1953
DATE DIST. /0 dun 195+
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT N0,
GDR SHIPYARDS O:EHATING AT CAPACITY
[The information in the following report appeared in extract
form in Die Welt, which apparently used as its source a 31-page
booklet published by the Federal Ministry of All-German Affairs,
Der Schiffbau in der sow etischen Besatzu szone (Shipbuilding
in the Soviet Zone of Occupation This booklet gives a fairly
detailed account of shipbuilding in the GDR.)
According to findings by the Federal Ministry o~ All-German Affairs, the
GDR employed about 55,000 workers in its shipyards in mid-1953. This is an
increase of about 20,000 o-rer 1950, while before the war there were no more than
6,500 shipyard workers in the present territory of the GDR. Today's employment
Figures may be in accordance with Soviet plans of making the central and eastern
Baltic Sea into a strong naval base, with a sufficient nwuber oP alternate ports;
however, ei:ective production is certainly not commensurate with the effort
expended. One of the reasons for this is probsbly the considerable shortage of
shipbuilding material.
The largest shipyards are the Warnow shipyard in 'darnemuende, the Mathias
Thesen shipyard in W+smar, and the Neptun shipyard in Rostock; each employs
8,000 to 10,000 persons, According to the data of the State Planning Commission,
most of the production of these shipyards goes to the USSR as reparations. Un-
til 1951, 95 percent of production was for reparations purposes. In 1953, the
percentage for reparations 3ropped to 70; in addition, another 5 percent was
exported, also mainly to the USSR. The rest of the ship building production was
for domestic use, According to data by the State Planning Commission and other
data available to the Ministry of All-German Affairs, ships and auxiliary vea-
sels valued at 84 million Dentsche marks DM (East) were delivered to the Soviets
in 1953. This figure seems low in comparison with the high employment figures.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700190043-2
CLASSIFICATION coNFIDErrrlr;i,
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700190043-2
A considerable portion of the work done by the shipyards is repair of sal-
vaged former German merchantmen, including the "Cordilleren," "Hamburg," "Al-
bert Ballin," "Oceans," sad "Iberia." The second item in the shipyard projects
is nex vessels for the naval units of the People's Police and the Border Police.
These unite, in addition to Soviet vessels and vessels of the former German
Na~,~, are also using nex types of vessels. At present the units possess 8 mine-
aweepers, 3 recounaiseance vessels, 17 high-speed patrol boats, 28 coast guard
vessels (including a large number of xartime fishing cutters), an3 an old-type
antiaircraft cruiser. The vessels ordered in 1953 are also mainly destined for
the People's Police. They include 2 destroyers developed Prom the Narvik class,
6 torpedo boats, 5 r~nesweepers, 38 high-speed patrol boats, [6 coast-guard
vessels*], and 27 [armed*~] coast-guard vessels with displacements of up to 400
tons.
The fishing fleet is to be brought up to 1,590 vessels with 212,000 tons
by next year, Up to now there are about 300 fishing vessels registered in the
GDR, It is assumed that most of the new fishing vessels to be built x311 be
of the ocean-going type, The lack oP marine internal-combustion engines x111
necessitate the use of steam engines for a large number of ships,
*[This information was taken Prom Der SchiPfbau is der sox etischen
Besatzungszone.J -
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700190043-2