Вильгельмсхавен: Тарихы мен қазіргі жағдайы

Town in Lower Saxony, Germany
the World War II German merchant ship

Wilhelmshaven (, Wilhelm's Harbour; Northern Low Saxon: Willemshaven) is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmshaven is the centre of the "Jade Bay" business region (which has around 330,000 inhabitants) and is Germany's main military port. The adjacent Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park (part of the Wattenmeer UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site) provides the basis for the major tourism industry in the region.

The 3=Sibetsburg, built before 1383, operated as a pirate stronghold; the Hanseatic League destroyed it in 1433. Four centuries later, the Kingdom of Prussia planned a fleet and a harbour on the North Sea. In 1853, Prince Adalbert of Prussia, a cousin of the Prussian King Frederick William IV, arranged the Jade Treaty (Jade Vertrag) with the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, in which Prussia and the Grand Duchy entered into a contract whereby Oldenburg ceded of its territory at the Jade Bight to Prussia. In 1869 King William I of Prussia (later also German Emperor) founded the town as an exclave of the Province of Hanover and a naval base for Prussia's developing fleet. All the hinterland of the city remained a part of Oldenburg. A shipbuilding yard developed at Wilhelmshaven, the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven (Wilhelmshaven Imperial Shipyard). On 30 June 1934 the "pocket battleship" Admiral Graf Spee was launched at Wilhelmshaven. In 1937 Wilhelmshaven and the adjacent village Rüstringen merged and the united city, named Wilhelmshaven, became a part of the Free State of Oldenburg.

During World War II (1939–1945), Wilhelmshaven served as the main base of the Kriegsmarine. Allied bombing destroyed two thirds of the town's buildings while the main target, the Naval Shipyard Wilhelmshaven, remained operational despite serious damage. A major attack on residential areas of Wilhelmshaven was carried out on 15 October 1944. Various churches, hospitals, schools and many residential buildings were destroyed or severely damaged. During the war, Alter Banter Weg (No. 1582 Wilhelmshaven), functioned as a subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp. On 28 April 1945 the Polish First Armored Division captured Wilhelmshaven, and took the surrender of the entire garrison, including over 200 ships of the Kriegsmarine. The Poles remained as part of the Allied occupation forces until 1947.

In 1947 the city council decided to seek a new emblem for the city. After the Control Commission for Germany – British Element (CCG/BE) had rejected several designs, Wilhelmshaven selected the image of a Frisian warrior (Rüstringer Friese), designed after a nail man erected in the city during the First World War to collect war donations. Between 1947 and 1972 Wilhelmshaven was the home of Prince Rupert School, a comprehensive boarding school for children of British Army of the Rhine and Royal Air Force Germany personnel serving in West Germany. The school relocated to Rinteln in Lower Saxony in 1972, and closed in 2014. There is an active association of former Wilhelmshaven pupils called The Wilhelmshaven Association. After World War II the shipyard was totally disarmed under the British Commander in Chief, and of course many military buildings were damaged or vacant. While it was prohibited to establish any kind of military linked businesses, Wilhelmshaven took the opportunity to provide a convenient location for Olympia Werke, which became one of the most popular quality typewriter factories in the world. A workforce of 7,000 worker was employed there in 1953.

Wilhelmshaven is Germany's only deep water port, and its largest naval base. Concerning the new plans for the Bundeswehr which took shape in 2011 it has become the largest military base in Germany as well. The German defence forces (German Navy, navy arsenal, logistics centre) together with the public sector, are the main pillars of the local employment market. The benefits of the deep shipping channel were already recognised at the end of the 1950s with the construction of the first oil tanker jetty. Wilhelmshaven has been the most important German import terminal for crude oil ever since. Pipelines from here supply refineries in the Rhine Ruhr region and Hamburg. Other major business operations followed, and constructed jetties for crude oil and oil products, coal, and chemical products. Planning for a liquefied natural gas terminal for LNG ships began in 2017, but regulatory impediments delayed construction for years. as gas commitments from the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 undersea Baltic pipelines became unreliable and then unavailable, construction of the Wilhelmshaven LNG terminal was rapidly accelerated from May 2022 to displace some of the pipeline gas imported from Russia. The terminal received its first load of LNG in December 2022. Another element of the "Wilhelmshaven energy hub" programme is the chemical industry (refinery, PVC, and chlorine gas production), as well as power generation (two coal fired power stations, wind power). Two short pipelines connect the LNG reception to the industrial zone. One of the main industrial sectors in Wilhelmshaven is the port industry with its wharves, sea port service companies, service providers and repair businesses, transhipment and handling businesses, agencies, etc The "JadeWeserPort" – Container Terminal Wilhelmshaven (CTW), operational since 2012 and the development of the neighbouring Freight Village provide prospects for employment in areas such as logistics and distribution. In 2016 Eurogate increased transhipment volume up to 480,000 Container (TEU). And since Volkswagen is interested in using the deep water facilities the number of employed workers is assumed to rise from 400 to 600.