Construction & Launch of the
Kalmar Nyckel
Today’s replica Kalmar Nyckel was built at the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation’s shipyard on Wilmington’s historic 7th Street Peninsula and launched into the Christina River on September 28, 1997.
Research and planning for the new
Kalmar Nyckel was conducted over many years in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Designed by naval architects Melbourne Smith and Thomas C. Gillmer, the ship was constructed between 1995 and 1997 under the supervision of Master Shipwright Allen C. Rawl.
The new
Kalmar Nyckel was launched into the Christina River about 200 yards downstream from the original ship’s first landing at “The Rocks.”
The last ship built in Wilmington on the Christina River, the new Kalmar Nyckel brought a fitting close to the city’s long history as one of the nation’s most important shipbuilding centers, a place that launched ten thousand ships and boats over more than 300 years.
