Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG is a mouthful for most Americans, so the company simply refers to itself as HDW. The huge sign at the main entrance to the shipbuilding company in Kiel simply reads, "HDW". During the Second World the shipbuilding company concentrated its efforts on submarines and as a result was a primary target for strategic bombing. It was largely destroyed as a result and as a part of reparations much of the undamaged shipbuilding equipment was dismantled and sent off to victorious nations. An example of an HDW piece of equipment thus transferred is the gigantic crane that is a landmark at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard.

For many years submarines were repaired at this facility as well as being the location of a submarine training location.

When HDW restarted its shipbuilding there was need of surface ships able to handle the increasing sea transportation of crude oil. When restrictions on submarine building were lifted the company began a limited program of coastal submarine building for the Federal German Navy. With its experience at cold rolling HY 80 and 100 steel the company was able to craft some impressive little submarines with deep submergence capabilities.

In Sweden research was in full swing on an air independent engine called the Sterling Engine. This research was taking a different route to non-nuclear submerged propulsion than its German counterpart. HDW worked with Siemens, a giant German electrical manufacturing company similar to General Electric. At Siemens the emphasis for submarine propulsive power research was the fuel cell. In simplest terms the fuel cell is a submarine battery that can not only be charged by traditional means of current generation, but can be continuously charged by the chemical generation of renewed electrolyte. While the United States had similar interest in the possibility of a fuel cell in the 1950s it had invested so much money into the development of a submarine nuclear reactor that a basic decision was made to concentrate all resources on the nuclear propulsion program.

Because a fuel cell is quiet and a nuclear power plant in noisy experts on submarine propulsion often argue that total reliance on nuclear propulsion is short-sighted. Additionally, the cost of an HDW submarine is about one fifth the cost of a Virginia class submarine. Having said this, one cannot compare cost since the missions and comprehensive capabilities are so divergent.

HDW's most recent submarines, the U-212 and 214 are popular with other nations and those having even the smallest shore desire the prestige of having a submarine force. As a result the United States needs to have a thorough knowledge of how the fuel cell works and what, if any, the prolification of submarine building might have on our submarine fleet.

The U-214 Project will accomplish this in several aspects:

• How does a fuel cell work?
• How does the Sterling engine work?
• Who is building what types of submarines?
• How does the fuel cell and Sterling AIP submerged propulsion systems impact United States submarine?