O.Thetford, P.Gray German Aircraft of the First World War (Putnam)

K.W.
   Various two-seater seaplanes were designed and built in ones and twos by the Imperial Naval Yards (Kaiserlicht Werft) as follows: Danzig: Nos. 404-405, 467-470, 1105-1106 and 1650. Kiel: Nos. 463-466. Wilhelmshafen: Nos. 401-403, 461-462, 945 and 947.

J.Herris German Seaplanes of WWI (A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes 15)

Kaiserliche Werften Floatplanes

  The Kaiserliche Werften were government-owned shipyards that were responsible for the construction and repair of warships of the Prussian Navy, later the Imperial Navy, from 1871 to 1920. There were three of these shipyards, one each at Danzig, Kiel, and Wilhelmshaven.
  Surprisingly, despite the facts that floatplanes were available from a number of established manufacturers and the Kaiserliche Werften were shipyards with no aviation experience, the three Kaiserliche Werften designed and built a small number of floatplanes. The rationale given was that the output of the major German seaplane manufacturers was taken up producing machines for front-line service. As a consequence, the only machines available for training purposes were those that were obsolete or which had been damaged and rebuilt, and the Kaiserliche Werften designed modern floatplane trainers for the navy.
  No doubt there is an element of truth to that, but it would have been far easier, faster, and cheaper to purchase trainers from an established manufacturing company or build them under license than to invest the time and resources to design new aircraft that were built in ones and twos by shipyards.
  To justify the extra trouble and expense to build what were essentially prototype aircraft, someone in authority at the Kaiserliche Werften must have wanted to not only build but design floatplanes. The fact that the first orders for floatplanes built by the Kaiserliche Werften were placed in late 1914, within a few months of the war's beginning, indicates that the authorities at the Kaiserliche Werften did not want to wait for production trainers from the established manufacturers and preferred to design and build their own. Furthermore, later in the war the Kaiserliche Werften designed and built several armed two-seat floatplanes intended for combat, yet another indication that their primary motivation was to design their own aircraft, not just build them.
  Another interesting aspect of the floatplanes built by the Kaiserliche Werften is that the same design was built by more than one Kaiserliche Werft. Together with some design similarity of aircraft built by the different Kaiserliche Werften, this points strongly to the possibility that there was one central design team that was responsible for most, perhaps all, of these aircraft.


KW Type 401

  The Kaiserliche Werften Type 401 was built at Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven (three aircraft, Marine numbers 401-403) and KW Danzig (two aircraft, Marine numbers 404 & 405). These were unarmed, two-seat trainers powered by 100 hp Mercedes D.I engines. They were conventional, three-bay biplanes with the wire-braced, fabric-covered wood structures typical for the time. Technical details are not known.

M.Dusing German Aviation Industry in WWI. Volume 1 (A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes 84)

Kaiserliche Werften

Foundation:

  The Imperial Shipyards in the German Empire were state-owned shipyards, alongside private shipyards, responsible for the design, construction, repair, modernization, and conversion of warships and submarines of the Imperial Navy in the period from 1871 to 1920. Some of their history began as Royal Shipyards for the Prussian Navy and, from July 7, 1867, for the Navy of the North German Confederation. In addition to the 3 shipyards in the German Empire:
  Kaiserliche Werft Danzig (1852-1920)
  Kaiserliche Werft Kiel (1867-1920)
  Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven (1853-1920)
  the Kaiserliche Werft Antwerpen in Hoboken (1914-1918) continued to exist at the time of WWl.
  The Ottoman Navy also had facilities in Istanbul, Izmit and Gemlik known as Tersane-i Amire (Turkish for Imperial Shipyards).
  Repairs were carried out at the Kaiserliche Werft, as well as the construction of licensed and own designs. In addition, a whole series of experiments were carried out in the interest of naval aviation. At Danzig-Putzig, Coulmann carried out experiments with central floats around 1912, using a converted Albatros fuselage biplane. Around 1917/18, the first catapult starts of a Hansa-Brandenburg from a military ship also took place here.
  Surprisingly, in addition to the already established aircraft companies, the Navy administration decided to develop and build aircraft on its own responsibility from the end of 1914. All 3 above-mentioned shipyards of the Kaiserliche Marine built a total of only 20 floatplanes, a number that seems insignificant when measured against the total number of all aircraft in service with the Navy.


Aircraft Development:

  Marine numbers 404 and 405 were the sole two examples of a unique seaplane design produced for the flying service of the Imperial German Navy during the First World War. By 1917, the output of the major German seaplane manufacturers was taken up producing machines for frontline service. As a consequence, the only machines available for training purposes were those that had been made obsolete or which had been damaged and rebuilt. In order to provide modern trainers for the Navy, the Kaiserliche Werft Danzig undertook the design and construction of two brand-new seaplanes between March and June, unarmed two-seat biplanes. These machines were supplied to the naval base at Putzig along with a batch of four trainers of a different design, numbered 467-470.
  Construction of these unarmed two-seat biplanes took place between October 1916 and March 1917, ahead of a separate order for two more machines of different design that had been assigned lower serial numbers by the Navy (404-405).
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Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven

Foundation:

  Shortly after the commissioning of the war port in the middle of the 19th century, the construction of the third royal Prussian shipyard in Germany was started on the site in 1870, following the already existing royal Prussian shipyards in Danzig and Kiel. With the proclamation of the German Empire in January 1871, the navies of the North German Confederation and Prussia were in turn combined to form the Imperial Navy, and the former “ Konigliche Werften” (Royal Shipyards) were renamed “Kaiserliche Werften” (Imperial Shipyards) accordingly.
  In the meantime, a new town had grown up on the area around the naval facilities, which was given the name Wilhelmshaven in 1869 on the occasion of the inauguration of new harbor facilities by Wilhelm I.
  The company did not turn to aircraft construction until the end of 1914. For this purpose, vacant hangars on the shipyard’s waterside were used.


Aircraft Development:

  Imperial German Navy seaplanes numbers 401 to 403 were the only three examples of a unique seaplane design produced for the Navy’s flying service during the First World War. Production of these types commenced in April 1915 in an effort to supply the navy with a seaplane trainer of contemporary design. With the outbreak of war, the output of Germany’s major seaplane manufacturers was taken up with producing front-line types, and the only trainers available were obsolete or rebuilt machines withdrawn from their original duties. Number 401 and its two siblings were delivered to the Navy in August 1915.
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