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Wilton-Fijenoord was a shipbuilding and repair company in Schiedam in the Netherlands from 1929 to 1999.^[2] Presently, the shipyard of Wilton-Feijnoord is part of Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam.

History

Origins

The roots of Wilton-Feijnoord date back to 1825, when the Maatschappij voor Scheeps- en Werktuigbouw Fijenoord was founded, incorporating the Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij established by Gerhard Mauritz Roentgen in 1823.^[3][4] This company would later merge with NV Dok en Werf Maatschappij to become Wilton-Fijenoord. NV Dok en Werf Maatschappij traces its origin to 7 January 1854 when the blacksmith Bartel Wilton, a house and stove smith, founded his own smithy at the Baan in Rotterdam. Soon he also took on other assignments, such as ship repair, and his smithy grew into a company with more than 35 employees within a few years. In 1876 Wilton, as a subtenant, was able to seize a piece of land behind the parade ground of the militia on the Westzeedijk, measuring 7700 square meters and located on the Maas. In this area a small harbor was constructed with a bank slope, so that small river ships could be repaired here. Soon the center of gravity of the company came to lie on the Westzeedijk. In times when repair orders were scarce, Wilton started to build steam boilers. On March 4, 1895, the sons Bart and John Henry Wilton took over the business from their father. Bart was a businessman, and John Henry a technician who had been trained as a shipbuilder in Delft.^[1]

Since Dutch shipping companies had insufficient confidence in the indigenous industry and were used to ordering their steamers in Great Britain, to break this deadlock, Fijenoord, which had only experience in the construction of steam engines, had to build a big vessel on speculation. Around 1880, this strategy proved to be successful. During the First World War Fijenoord made high profits, which were used to upgrade their facilities in Schiedam.

In 1929, NV Dok en Werf Maatschappij Wilton-Fijenoord was established by merger of NV Maatschappij voor Scheeps- en Werktuigbouw Fijenoord and NV Dok en Werf Maatschappij of Rotterdam. During the 1930s crisis, the shipyard suffered substantial losses. A notorious problem for the Dutch yards before the Second World War, was the lack of design capabilities. Accordingly, Wilton-Fijenoord had to buy the vessel designs from independent design companies and developed only the detailed structures. By a cartel agreement, four Dutch yards including Wilton-Fijenoord formed a joint design office in 1935. As a contractor, the yard contributed mainly its expertise in organizing the construction of ships.^[5]

In 1999, Wilton-Fijenoord was integrated into Rotterdam United Shipyards. In 2003, the company was acquired by Damen Group.

Ships built

• Passenger liners:
  
  
  
  • 
    Fairstar, launched in 1964 for Sitmar Line
  
  
  • 
    Maasdam, launched in 1952 for Holland America Line
    
  
  
  • 
    Statendam, launched in 1956 for Holland America Line
  
  
  
  


• Whaling factory:
  
  • 
    Willem Barendsz (II),^[6]launched in 1955
    
  
  


• Tankships:
  
  
  
  • 
    J.B. Aug. Kessler, launched in 1902 and 29 others built for Shell Royal Dutch^[7]
    
  
  
  • 
    Poitou, launched in 1954 for Société Française de Transports Pétroliers
  
  
  
  


• Cargo/passenger ships:
  
  • 
    Camphuys, launched in 1949 for Koninklijke Java China Paketvaart Lijnen
  
  

Warships

Cruisers

• 
  HNLMS De Ruyter, a unique cruiser launched in 1935


• 
  HNLMS De Ruyter, a De Zeven Provinciën class cruiser launched in 1944

Destroyers

• German destroyer T61, a Flottentorpedoboot 1940 class destroyer
  


• HNLMS Gelderland, a Holland class destroyer
  


• HNLMS Overijssel, a Friesland class destroyer
  

Submarines

• 
  HNLMS O 19, an O 19 class submarine
  


• 
  HNLMS O 20, an O 19 class submarine


• HNLMS O 25, an O 21 class submarine
  


• HNLMS Potvis, a Potvis class submarine
  


• HNLMS Tonijn, a Dolfijn class submarine|Potvis class submarine

Sea Dragon Tiawan Roc

Sea Tiger  Tiawan Roc

Frigates

• 
  Kortenaer (F807) and 7 others - Kortenaer class frigates
  


• 
  KRI Fatahillah (361), a Fatahillah-class frigate for the Indonesian Navy
  


• 
  KRI Malahayati (362), a Fatahillah-class frigate for the Indonesian Navy


• 
  KRI Nala (363), a Fatahillah-class frigate for the Indonesian Navy


• 
  Elli (ΕΛΛΗ) (F450) and Limnos (ΛΗΜΝΟΣ) (F451) - frigates for the Greek Navy
  

Minesweepers

• HNLMS Dokkum, a Dokkum-class minesweeper


• HNLMS Overijssel, a Dokkum-class minesweeper


• HNLMS Roermond, a Dokkum-class minesweeper

References

External links

• 
  Documents and clippings about Wilton-Fijenoord in the 20th Century Press Archives of the German National Library of Economics (ZBW)