The company was founded by local businessmen, who bought the production facilities from previously ceased Åbo Mekaniska Verkstads Ab.

Vulcan had a facility also in Saint Petersburg, where it produced military supplies for the Imperial Russian Army.

The company manager Allan Staffans joined Vulcan with its competitor Ab Crichton, creating Crichton-Vulcan shipyard.

Vulcan originated from 1874 established Åbo Mekaniska Verkstads Ab, which was located on east bank of Aura River.

The founder was Carl Korsman and the 400 000 marks' share capital was primarily funded by C.M Dahlström's trading house and alderman Gustaf Wikeström.

Therefore, in 1907 Vulcan bought a facility in Saint Petersburg which only focused on military supplies, and it soon passed the Turku works in sales.

In 1918, after Finland had declared its independence, Vulcan possessed two semi-finished 350-tonne, ice-strengthened ships ordered by Russians.

It was sold already in 1921 to the state of Finland and modified at Vulcan to serve year round between Åland and the mainland.

Vulcan made an exceptional agreement together with its main funding company Yhdyspankki in December 1921: the bank cut the liabilities by six million marks in exchange to 50% of shares.

Germany was not allowed to build submarines after the Versailles peace treaty, and therefore the contact was handled via the Dutch dummy company NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw (IvS).

Frigate captain Blume from IvS and Staffans signed a secret contract about submarine building in Finland on 15 November 1923.

Another significant point on the agenda was a merger plan with the neighbour company and competitor, Ab Crichton.