Nobiskrug was founded in 1905 by
Otto Storck. The company changed to a limited liability company (
GmbH), November 12, 1908, and a canal expansion work brought a steady stream of waterway construction vessels to the shipyard for repairs and refits. By the start of
World War I, the shipyard had built a total of 70 vessels, mainly
pontoons,
barges and
lighters. During the war, the company built a number of
auxiliary ships for the
Kaiserliche Marine and started building
minesweepers. They also launched its first two cargo
steamboats in 1917 for German owners. Germany's defeat in World War I temporarily halted the country's export shipbuilding industry, but the company switched production to deep-sea fishing steamers and later, again, cargo steamers. In 1930 the company scored a major coup with contracts for a series of three-mast
schooner yachts. During the period from 1935 to 1939, the shipyard supplied the German Ministry of Finance with three customs cruisers, the
Nettelbeck, the
York, and the
Freiherr von Stein. Shortly before and during
World War II, the
Kriegsmarine and
Luftwaffe placed orders with Nobiskrug for a range of auxiliary ships including several ocean-going
tugs and
tankers. During the immediate post-war years, the company concentrated on ship conversions and repairs. From 1945 to 1955 advanced in building larger vessels. In 1958, the cargo ship
MS Bleichen was launched, the ship would go on to become a
museum ship in Hamburg. In 1963 the shipyard delivered the then highly sophisticated navy training ship
Deutschland. One year later, Nobiskrug built its first ferry, the
Prins Bertil. Four more ferries were built up until 1968. This period also saw the completion of a number of conventional
freighters and asphalt tankers as well as heavy goods,
RoRo vessels and
ferries. The early 1980s saw the construction of the research vessel
Polarstern, and the diving support vessels
Seabex One and
Seaway Condor. In the mid-1980s the fortunes of the shipyard took a turn for the worse, leading ultimately to the verge of financial collapse in 1986. Under these difficult circumstances, the yard lengthened the ocean cruise liner
Berlin (Ship, 1980) operated by
Peter Deilmann Cruises. This ship is known to German TV viewers as cruise line in the German version of
the Love Boat. The successful completion of this project was a sign of better things to come. Nobiskrug was acquired in 1987 by
Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft and the shipyard was modernized into a compact shipyard, its maritime division specialising exclusively in repairs and conversions. Staffing levels were reduced dramatically, from more than 1,200 at the start of the 1980s to approximately 400. In 1997 the shipyard supplied the forward half of the passenger ship
MS Deutschland and then began work on its first superyacht, the 303-foot (92m) mega-yacht
Tatoosh, which it completed in the summer of 2000. Today Nobiskrug's focus is on engineering, construction, and refit of custom-built superyachts. In the past decade Nobiskrug has delivered some of the award-winning superyachts including Sycara V, Triple Seven, Sapphire, Mogambo, Dytan (project 783), Odessa II. In 2017 Nobiskrug launched the sail-assisted motoryacht
Sailing Yacht A, the largest private sailing yacht ever built. Measuring almost 143 m and a gross tonnage of about 12.600, Sailing Yacht
A became one of the most impressive PYC superyachts in the world in terms of design and technology. Nobiskrug's latest delivery in 2020 is its first hybrid superyacht, 80-meter Artefact. Artefact's many environmentally-friendly features include diesel-electric variable-speed Azipod-propulsion, dynamic-positioning system, wastewater recycling system for re-use as technical water, batteries and solar panels. At 2.999 GT, Artefact is the biggest-volume 80-meter superyacht in the world. Currently there are several yacht projects under construction like the 77m Black Shark or the 62m long superyacht with the Espen Oeino design. This year the Rendsburg shipyard Nobiskrug is celebrating 115 years of shipbuilding since its foundation in 1905. In 2021 the company filed for insolvency - which according to the German law allows business restructuring. The shipyard's insolvency is partially a result of the
Coronavirus pandemic. In July 2021, North German shipbuilding company
Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft was announced as the new owner of Nobiskrug. In 2024 Nobiskrug became
insolvent again and was taken over by
Lürssen. == Yachts ==