Information about the Shipyard Hall

The Stuhr brothers founded the shipyard in 1912. During World War I the shipyard expanded rapidly in order to build the many transport ships required by the war. After the war the demand for ships diminished, and the City of Aalborg had to take over the shipyard in 1927. The shipping company J. Lauritzen bought the shipyard from the City in 1937 and renamed it Aalborg Værft A/S. It became the town’s largest employer until it was closed down in 1988. The story of the shipyard is described in a comprehensive photomontage.

The exhibition has a some models of ships built by Aalborg Værft. SS JACQUES DUROUX was a HANSA type built during World War II, when the German Occupation Force ordered this type put into mass production at all Danish shipyards. Aalborg Værft succeeded in obstructing the work so much that only a few of these vessels were actually built there.

The model of the Russian reefer AKADEMIK N. VARILOV is a typical example of the kind of ships built by the shipyard as early as in the 1940’s. Aalborg Værft specialized in building refrigerator ships and ships specially designed for arctic waters for the J. Lauritzen shipping company. Two models of this type are on exhibition. The last and greatest performance of the shipyard was the building of two cruise liners TROPICAL and HOLIDAY. You will find a model of the latter in the exhibition.

The boiler-division of the shipyard still exists under the name “Aalborg Industries” (Alfa Laval). There is a model of a Marine-boiler produced by this division on show.
On the end wall of the hall is a model of Aalborg Værft as it looked at the time of its closure, together with a collection of special tools all produced at the shipyard.
The models next to the EXIT show ships which were part of the fleet of “Den kgl. Grønlandske Handel”, (KGH), (The Royal Greenland Trading Company) during the 19th and 20th century. For more than two centuries the KGH were responsible for the trade and supplies to and from Greenland – using Aalborg as a port of embarkation during the last part of this period. In 1992 KGH was transferred to the Greenland Home Rule Authority.

One of the models is of a floating battery called “Det Gernerske Flydebatteri” or the “Naval Battery No. 1”. This battery took part in the Battle of Copenhagen 2nd April 1801, where it was commanded by the 18 years old sub lieutenant Peter Willemoes.
You also see a model of a gunboat, which were built for the Royal Danish Navy after 1807, when most of the ships of the Navy were conquered by the British Navy after the bombardment of Copenhagen.