A Scottish founder in Gothenburg

Götaverken was founded in 1841 by the Scottish businessman Alexander Keiller as Keillers Werkstad i Göteborg. After bankruptcy in 1867 it became Göteborgs Mekaniska Verkstad, and in 1916 took the name AB Götaverken. It grew into one of the biggest shipyards in the world, and in 1963 its new Arendal yard was internationally unusual for doing most of its building indoors. In 1906 Hugo Hammar and Sven Almqvist took over most of the shares.

Aircraft in the joinery shop

At a board meeting in 1934 the managing director, Hugo Hammar, raised the idea of building aircraft. By January 1935 the yard had a contract for three Hawker Harts. Lacking trained staff, it sent about ten craftsmen to CVM to learn the techniques, hired Bo Lundberg as designer and test pilot, and set up in the shipyard’s joinery workshop. It built 14 GV-38s, a licence-built Rearwin sports plane, and assembled Fiat and Lysander aircraft for Finland in 1940. Its own GP 8 design lost to the Saab 18.

The end of the yard

Shipbuilding dominated to the end. Salénrederierna took over in 1971 and the state-owned Svenska Varv in 1977 during the Swedish shipyard crisis. The icebreaker Oden, delivered in 1989, was the last ship Götaverken built. The old city yard closed in 1968; the Cityvarvet repair business survived the crisis and was bought by Damen in 2000 before closing in 2015. Svenska Varv steered the yard towards icebreakers, ferries and refrigerated ships.

Factories

• Gothenburg shipyard · Hisingen, Gothenburg — Aircraft built in the yard’s joinery workshop
• Arendal yard · Arendal, Gothenburg — Indoor shipyard completed 1963

People

• Alexander Keiller · founder — Scottish businessman who founded the works in 1841
• Hugo Hammar · managing director — Proposed aircraft manufacture in 1934
• Bo Lundberg · designer and test pilot — Hired to lead the aircraft department