The first steam engine for naval purposes was built in 1849 for Von der Tann, a gunboat for the small navy of Schleswig-Holstein.

It had been intended to build the boat in Rendsburg but Danish forces advanced too close during the First Schleswig War, so construction was moved to Kiel.

[2] In January 2005, HDW became a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), which also part-owned Kockums of Malmö, Sweden and 24.9% of Hellenic Shipyards Co. of Skaramangas, Greece.

In 2009, HDW worked with Kockums and Northrop Grumman to offer a Visby-class corvette derivative in the American Focused Mission Vessel Study, a precursor to the Littoral combat ship program.

In July 2011, TKMS announced that it has confirmed an existing deal to sell the civilian shipbuilding assets of HDW Gaarden to Abu Dhabi MAR.