(from the name of the German emperor William I and the German word Hafen—“harbor” or “port”), a city in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in Lower Saxony. Population, 102,500 (1969).
Wilhelmshaven is a big port on the coast of the North Sea, at the mouth of the Ems-Jade Canal (freight turnover up to 15 million tons a year). It is the biggest oil harbor in the country (oil pipeline to the city of Wesseling, 390 km away). Industry is represented by the production of typewriters, calculating machines, harbor hoisting cranes, diesel locomotives, and ships (there are two wharfs, including a naval wharf) and the clothing, textile, and lumber-processing industries. It is also a major fishing city. Wilhelmshaven was built as a naval base in 1853.