Kriegsmarine (KM)
Kriegsmarine Ensign
Active	1935–1945
Country	Nazi Germany
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Type	Navy
Engagements	World War II
Commanders
Notable commanders	Erich Raeder Karl Dönitz

The Kriegsmarine (English: "War navy") was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945, during the Nazi regime, superseding the Reichsmarine, and the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I. The German Navy ( Deutsche Marine ( is the Navy of Germany and part of the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers The Reichsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany. The Kaiserliche Marine or Imperial Navy was the German Navy created by the formation of the German Empire. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht. Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945

Contents 1 Command structure 1.1 Regions 1.2 Squadrons 1.3 Flotillas 2 History 2.1 Post-World War I origins 2.2 Build-up during the interwar period 2.3 Spanish Civil War 2.4 World War II 2.5 Epilogue 3 Major Kriegsmarine wartime operations 4 Ships 4.1 Surface ships 4.1.1 Aircraft carriers 4.1.2 Battleships 4.1.3 Battlecruisers 4.1.4 Pre-dreadnought battleships 4.1.5 Pocket battleships (Panzerschiff) 4.1.6 Heavy cruisers 4.1.7 Light cruisers 4.1.8 Auxiliary cruisers 4.1.9 Destroyers 4.1.10 Torpedo boats 4.1.11 Troop ships 4.1.12 Miscellaneous 4.2 Submarines (U-boat) 5 Captured ships 6 Major warships sunk by the Kriegsmarine 7 Comparative ranks (during World War II) 8 Uniforms 9 See also 10 Notes 11 External links

Command structure

The Führer, Adolf Hitler, was commander-in-chief of all German armed forces, including the Kriegsmarine. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately His authority was exercised through the Oberkommando der Marine, or OKM, with a Commander-in-Chief (Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine), a Chief of Naval General Staff (Chef der Stabes der Seekriegsleitung) and a Chief of Naval Operations (Chef der Operationsabteilung). The Oberkommando der Marine (or OKM for short was Germany 's Naval High Command until 1945 ^[1]

Below these were regional, squadron and temporary flotilla commands:

Regions

These covered significant naval regions (commanded by a Generaladmiral or Admiral) and were themselves sub-divided, as necessary. General Admiral was a Danish Dutch German Russian and Spanish naval rank. Please see " Admiral " for other nations which use this rank Admiral is a rank of the German Navy that first appeared in There was a Marineoberkommando for the Baltic Fleet, Nord, Nordsee, Norwegen, Ost/Ostsee (formerly Baltic), Süd and West.

Squadrons

Each type of ship also had a command structure with its own Flag Officer. A flag officer is a commissioned officer who is senior enough to be entitled to fly a Flag to represent where he exercises command The commands were Battleships, Cruisers, Destroyers, Submarines, Torpedo Boats, Minesweepers, Reconnaissance Forces, Naval Security Forces, Big Guns and Hand Guns, and Midget Weapons.

Flotillas

Major naval operations were commanded by a Flottenchef. The commands were, by their nature, temporary.

History

Post-World War I origins

Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was only allowed a minimal navy of 15,000 personnel, six capital ships of no more than 10,000 tons, six cruisers, twelve destroyers, twelve torpedo boats and no submarines. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. The capital ships of a Navy are its "important" warships the ones with the heaviest Firepower and Armor. A cruiser is a large type of Warship, which had its prime period from the late 19th century to the end of the Cold War. In naval terminology a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance Warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, Convoy A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval Ship designed to carry Torpedoes into battle A submarine is a Watercraft that can operate independently below water as distinct from a Submersible that has only limited underwater capability However, even before the Nazi takeover German naval rearmament had begun with the launching of the first pocket battleship, Deutschland in 1931. Description German capital ships were restricted by the Treaty of Versailles to a displacement of 10000 tons for "armoured ships" Description Their size and characteristics were severely limited by the Treaty of Versailles, which limited Germany to ships of no more than 10000 tons displacement

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Adolf Hitler soon began to ignore many of the Treaty restrictions and accelerated German rearmament. Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately The Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 18 June 1935 then allowed Germany to build a navy equivalent to 35% of British surface ship tonnage and 45% of British submarine tonnage; battleships were to be limited to no more than 35,000 tons. The Anglo-German Naval Agreement (AGNA of June 18 1935 was a Bilateral agreement between the United Kingdom and the German ''Reich'' Events 618 - Coronation of the Chinese governor Li Yuan as Emperor Gaozu of Tang, the new Emperor of China, initiating three centuries Year 1935 ( MCMXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located That same year the Reichsmarine was renamed as the Kriegsmarine. The Reichsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany.

Build-up during the interwar period

Main article: Plan Z

Following the 1938 crisis caused by the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Germany abandoned all pretensions of adherence to treaty limitations on its navy. Plan Z was the name given to the planned re-equipment and expansion of the Nazi German Navy ( Kriegsmarine) ordered by Adolf Hitler on January 27 1939 Following the Anschluss of Nazi Germany and Austria in March 1938 Nazi leader Adolf Hitler 's next target for annexation was Czechoslovakia

Plan Z, the blueprint for the German naval construction program finalized in 1938, envisaged building a navy of approximately 800 ships between the period 1939 — 1947. Plan Z was the name given to the planned re-equipment and expansion of the Nazi German Navy ( Kriegsmarine) ordered by Adolf Hitler on January 27 1939 The building programme was to include:

• ten new design battleships and battlecruisers,
• four aircraft carriers, fifteen armored ships (Panzerschiffe),
• five heavy cruisers, forty-four light cruisers,
• 158 destroyers and torpedo boats, and
• 249 submarines, as well as numerous smaller crafts. The cancelled German H class battleships went through two different design iterations H class battleship (1939 H class battleship (1944 The heavy cruiser was a type of Cruiser, a naval Warship designed for long range high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 8in in calibre A light cruiser is a Warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light Armoured cruiser " describing a small ship that carried armour in the same way

Personnel strength was planned to rise to over 200,000.

Since the simultaneous and rapid build-up of the German army and airforce demanded substantial effort and resources, the planned naval program was not very far advanced by the time World War II began. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Implementation only began in January 1939 when three H-class battleships and two M-class light cruisers were laid down. On September 1, 1939, the navy still had a total personnel strength of only 78,000, and it was not at all ready for a major role in the war. Events 462 - Possible start of first Byzantine indiction cycle. Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. With expectations in Germany of a quick victory by land, Plan Z was essentially shelved and the resources initially allocated for its realization were largely redirected to the construction of U-boats. U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word, itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot ( undersea boat) and refers

Spanish Civil War

The first military action of the Kriegsmarine came during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict in Spain that started after an attempted Coup d'état committed by parts of the army against the government of Following the outbreak of hostilities in July 1936 several capital ships of the German fleet were sent to the region. The Deutschland, Admiral Scheer, and light cruiser Köln were the first to be sent in July 1936. Description Their size and characteristics were severely limited by the Treaty of Versailles, which limited Germany to ships of no more than 10000 tons displacement History During World War II Admiral Scheer, under Captain Theodor Krancke, was by far the most successful capital ship Commerce raider of the war Combat history Köln patrolled Spanish waters during the Spanish Civil War. These capital ships were accompanied by the 2nd Torpedo-boat Flotilla. Ostensively, the German presence was used to covertly support Franco's Nationalists although the immediate involvement of the Deutschland was humanitarian relief operations and the rescuing of 9,300 refugees from the fighting, including 4,550 Germans. Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde (born December 4, 1892 in Ferrol, died November 20, 1975 in Madrid The Spanish State ( Estado Español) was the formal name given to Spain from 1939 to 1978 by the régime of Francisco Franco Following the brokering of the International Non-Intervention Patrol to enforce an international arms embargo the Kriegsmarine was allotted the patrol area between Cabo de Gata (Almeria) and Oropesa. Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park is a nature reserve near Almería, Spain. An Oropesa is a streamlined towed body used in the process of minesweeping. Numerous vessels served as part of these duties including Admiral Graf Spee. Description Admiral Graf Spee was a Deutschland class cruiser. Uboats also participated in covert action against Republican shipping as part of Operation Ursula. At least eight uboats engaged a small number of targets in the area throughout the conflict. By way of comparison the Italian Navy, Regia Marina, operated fifty-eight submarines in the area as part of Sottomarini Legionari. The Regia Marina ( Italian Royal Navy) dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification. On 29 May 1937 the Deutschland was attacked in the Deutschland incident off Ibiza by two bombers from the Republican Airforce. Events 363 - Roman Emperor Julian defeats the Sassanid army in the Battle of Ctesiphon, under the walls of the Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Ibiza (Eivissa is an island located in the Mediterranean Sea about 80 km off the coast of Spain Total casualties from the Republican attack were 31 dead and 110 wounded, 71 seriously, mostly burn victims and in retaliation the Admiral Scheer shelled the harbour of Almeria on 31 May. Events 1279 BC - Rameses II (The Great (19th dynasty becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. Following further attacks by Republican submarine forces against the Leipzig off port of Oran between 15 — 18 June 1937 Germany withdrew from the Non-Intervention Patrol although maintained a continuous presence in the area until the end of the conflict. Commanding Officers KzS Hans-Herbert Stobwasser - 8 October 1931 - 24 September 1933 FK / KzS Otto Hormel - 24 September 1933 - 29 September 1935 (Promoted Oran ( Arabic:ar وهران pronounced Wahran; also transliterated as Ouahran, Spanish: Orán. Events 618 - Coronation of the Chinese governor Li Yuan as Emperor Gaozu of Tang, the new Emperor of China, initiating three centuries Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

World War II

The major events for the Kriegsmarine during the first year of the war were the Battle of the River Plate, the sinking of the battleship HMS Royal Oak and the aircraft carrier HMS Courageous by submarines. The Battle of the River Plate ( December 13, 1939) was the first major naval battle in World War II. Construction The Revenge class to which Royal Oak belonged was ordered in the 1913&ndash14 Estimates Genesis The design was for a light Battlecruiser; while having 15 inch guns she was actually classed by the British Navy as a Light cruiser because of her The Battle of the Atlantic started this year, although the German submarine fleet was hampered by the lack of good ports from which to attack Allied shipping. The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous Military campaign of World War II, (though some say it was a series of naval Military campaigns

In April 1940, the main action the navy was involved in was the invasion of Norway, where it suffered quite heavy losses, including the heavy cruiser Blücher sunk by Oscarsborg Fortress in the Oslofjord, ten destroyers lost in the Battles of Narvik and two light cruiser lost elsewhere during the campaign. Operation Weserübung was the codename for Nazi Germany 's assault on Denmark and Norway during World War II and the opening operation Design The Hipper class were built to a design that flouted the Washington Naval Treaty, to which major maritime Oscarsborg Fortress ( Oscarsborg festning) is a coastal fortress in the Oslofjord, close to the small city of Drøbak. The Oslofjord (Oslofjorden is a Bay in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the Torbjørnskjær and Færder lighthouses The Battles of Narvik were fought from 9 April until 8 June 1940 as a naval battle in the Ofotfjord and as a land battle in the mountains surrounding The Kriegsmarine did however sink a number of British ships, including the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious. Genesis Glorious was built by Harland and Wolff, Belfast. The design was for a light Battlecruiser; while having guns she was actually

The losses in the Norwegian Campaign meant that only a handful of heavy ships were ready for action for the planned, but never executed, invasion of Britain (Operation Sealion) in the summer of 1940. The Norwegian Campaign, lasting from 9 April to 10 June 1940, led to the first direct land confrontation between the military forces of the Allies Operation Sealion (Unternehmen Seelöwe was Germany's plan to invade the United Kingdom during World War II, beginning in 1940 There were serious doubts that the invasion sea routes could have been protected against British naval action. After the fall of France and the conquest of Norway, the German submarine fleet was brought much closer to the British shipping lanes in the Atlantic. In World War II, the Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries At first, the British merchant convoys lacked radar equipped escorts; as such, the submarines were very hard to detect during their nighttime surface attacks. Radar is a system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range altitude direction or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as Aircraft, ships This year was for these reasons one of the most successful, as measured in terms of merchant shipping sunk compared to submarines lost.

Italy entered the war in June 1940, and the Battle of the Mediterranean began: from September 1941 to May 1944 some 62 German submarines were transferred there, sneaking past the British naval base at Gibraltar. The Kingdom of Italy ( Italian: Regno d'Italia) was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom For the most part the Battle of the Mediterranean was waged between the forces of the Italian Royal Navy ( Regia Marina) and the forces Gibraltar (dʒɨˈbrɒltər is a British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar The Mediterranean submarines sunk 24 major Allied warships (including 12 destroyers, 4 cruisers, 2 aircraft carriers and 1 battleship) and 94 merchant ships (449,206 tons of shipping). None of the Mediterranean submarines made it back to their home bases as they were all either sunk in battle or scuttled by their crews at the end of the war^[2]

In 1941 one of the four modern German battleships, the Bismarck sank HMS Hood while breaking out into the Atlantic for commerce raiding. Background Design of the ship started in the early 1930s following on from Germany's development of the ''Deutschland'' class cruisers and the ''Scharnhorst'' class History Construction Construction of Hood began at the John Brown & Company shipyards in Clydebank, Scotland, on 1 September However, the Bismarck was in turn hunted down by much superior British forces after receiving crippling damage from a torpedo plane and scuttled after taking a heavy beating from two British battleships.

Throughout the war the Kriegsmarine was responsible for coastal artillery protecting major ports and important coastal areas and also anti-aircraft batteries protecting major ports. Coastal artillery is the branch of Armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship Artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal Fortifications. ^[3]

During 1941, the Kriegsmarine and the United States Navy became de facto belligerents, although war was not formally declared, leading to the sinking of the USS Reuben James. History Reuben James was laid down on April 2 1919 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden New Jersey, launched The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent German declaration of war against the USA in December 1941 led to another phase of the Battle of the Atlantic. The attack on Pearl Harbor (or Hawaii Operation, as it was called by the Imperial General Headquarters) was a surprise Military strike conducted by The United States of America —commonly referred to as the In Operation Drumbeat and subsequent operations until August 1942, a large number of Allied merchant ships were sunk by submarines off the American coast as the Americans had not prepared for submarine warfare, despite clear warnings (this was the so-called Second happy time for the German navy). The Second Happy Time was the informal name for a phase in the Second Battle of the Atlantic during which Axis Submarines attacked Merchant shipping The Second Happy Time was the informal name for a phase in the Second Battle of the Atlantic during which Axis Submarines attacked Merchant shipping The situation became so serious that military leaders feared for the whole allied strategy.

The vast American ship building capabilities and naval forces were however now brought into the war and soon more than offset any losses inflicted by the German submariners. In 1942, the submarine warfare continued on all fronts, and when German forces in the Soviet Union reached the Black Sea, a few submarines were eventually transferred there. The Black Sea is an inland Sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolian peninsula ( Turkey

The Battle of the Barents Sea was an attempt by a German naval force to attack an Allied Arctic convoy. The Battle of the Barents Sea took place on December 31, 1942 between British ships escorting Convoy JW  51B to Kola The Arctic Convoys of World War II travelled from the United Kingdom and the United States to the northern ports of the Soviet However, the advantage was not pressed home and they returned to base. There were serious implications: this failure infuriated Hitler, who nearly enforced a decision to scrap the surface fleet. Instead, resources were diverted to the U-boats, and the surface fleet became a lesser threat to the Allies.

After 1943 when the Scharnhorst had been sunk in the Battle of North Cape by HMS Duke of York, most of the German surface ships were pent up in or close to their ports as a fleet in being, for fear of losing them in action and to tie up British naval forces. For the German armoured cruiser commissioned in 1907 see SMS Scharnhorst The sisters - Scharnhorst and Gneisenau The In the World War II naval Battle of the North Cape, ships of the Royal Navy sank the German Battlecruiser ''Scharnhorst'' off Norway In Naval warfare, a fleet in being is a naval force that extends a controlling influence without ever leaving port The largest ship of these ships, the battleship Tirpitz, was stationed in Norway as a threat to Allied shipping and also as a defense against a potential Allied invasion. Operational history This battleship was launched on 1 April 1939 and she was planned to be deployed in a manner similar to the ''Bismarck'', as a Commerce raider When she was sunk by British bombers in late 1944 (Operation Catechism), several British capital ships could be moved to the Pacific. Operation Catechism was the November 12 1944 RAF Bomber Command attack on the World War II German battleship Tirpitz.

From late 1944 until the end of the war, the surface fleet of Kriegsmarine was heavily engaged in providing artillery support to the retreating German land forces along the Baltic coast and in ferrying civilian refugees to the western parts of Germany (Lübeck, Hamburg) in large rescue operations. Lübeck ( is the second largest City in Schleswig-Holstein, in Northern Germany, and one of the major Hamburg (English, German: ˈhambʊɐk local pronunciation Low German / Low Saxon: Hamborg) is the second-largest city in Germany Large parts of the population of eastern Germany fled the approaching Red Army out of fear for Soviet retaliation and mass rapes and killings. The former eastern territories of Germany (ehemalige deutsche Ostgebiete describes collectively those Provinces or Regions east of the current eastern The Red Army ( Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия R aboche- K rest'yanskaya K rasnaya A rmiya The Kriegsmarine evacuated large numbers of civilians in the evacuation of East Prussia and Danzig in January 1945. The evacuation of East Prussia refers to the evacuation of the German civilian population and military personnel in East Prussia and the Klaipėda region Gdańsk ( Polish pronunciation; 'Danzig', Gduńsk Gedania Dantiscum is the City at the centre of the fourth-largest Metropolitan area in Poland It was during this activity that the catastrophic sinking of several large passenger ships occurred: the Wilhelm Gustloff and the Goya was sunk by Soviet submarines, while the SS Cap Arcona was sunk by British bombers, each sinking claiming thousands of civilian lives. Ship history The Wilhelm Gustloff was the first purpose-built cruise liner for the Nazi Kraft durch Freude (KdF (" Strength Through Joy " History of the ship The Goya was originally built as a freighter by the Akers Mekanika Verksted shipyard in Oslo in 1940. History The 27561 gross ton Cap Arcona, named after Cape Arkona on the island of Rügen in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, was The Kriegsmarine also provided important assistance in the evacuation of the fleeing German civilians of Pomerania and Stettin in March and April 1945. In the last stage of the war, the Kriegsmarine also organized a number of divisions of infantry from its personnel (submarine crews and so on). ^[4]

During 1943 and 1944, due to Allied anti-submarine tactics and better equipment the U-boat fleet started to suffer heavy losses. Anti-submarine warfare (ASW or in older form A/S is a branch of Naval warfare that uses surface Warships Aircraft, space craft or other Submarines Radar, longer range air cover, improved tactics and new weapons all contributed. Radar is a system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range altitude direction or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as Aircraft, ships German technical developments, such as the Schnorchel, attempted to counter these. A submarine snorkel is a device that allows a Submarine to operate submerged while still taking in air from above the surface New U-boat types, the Elektroboote, were in development and, had these become operational in sufficient numbers, the Allied advantage would have been eroded.

Between 1943 and 1945 a group of U-boats (the "Monsun boats" or Monsun Gruppe) operated in the Indian Ocean from Japanese bases in occupied Indonesia. The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's Oceanic divisions covering about 20% of the water on the Earth 's surface The Republic of Indonesia ( (Republik Indonesia is a Country in Southeast Asia. As the Allied merchant convoys had not yet been organized in those waters, the initial sinkings were plentiful. This situation was soon remedied, however. ^[5] During the later war years, U-boats were also used as a means of exchanging vital war supplies with Japan.

Epilogue

After the war, the German surface ships that remained afloat (only two large warships were operational) were divided among the victors. Some (like the unfinished aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin) were used for target practice, while others (mostly destroyers and torpedo boats) were put into the service of Allied navies that lacked surface ships after the war. The British, French and Soviet navies received the destroyers, and some torpedo boats went to the Danish and Norwegian navies. The destroyers were all retired by the end of the 1950s, but some of the torpedo boats were returned to the new West German navy in the 1960s.

In 1956, with West Germany's accession to NATO, a new navy was established and was referred to as the Bundesmarine (Federal Navy). West Germany ( Inf German: Westdeutschland or West-Deutschland) was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany ( The North Atlantic Treaty Some Kriegsmarine commanders like Erich Topp and Otto Kretschmer went on to serve in the Bundesmarine. Erich Topp ( 2 July 1914 - 26 December 2005) was the third most successful German U-Boot Experten commander of Commodore Otto Kretschmer ( May 1, 1912 - August 5, 1998) was a German U-boat Commander of the In East Germany the Volksmarine (People's Navy) was established some time after the war. The German Democratic Republic ( GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Socialist state Volksmarine ( People’s Navy) was the official designation of the maritime forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR With the reunification of Germany in 1990, it was decided to simply use the name Deutsche Marine (German Navy). The German Navy ( Deutsche Marine ( is the Navy of Germany and part of the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces

Major Kriegsmarine wartime operations

• Wikinger (1940) — foray by destroyers into the North Sea
• Weserübung ("Exercise Weser") (1940) — invasion of Denmark and Norway
• Juno (1940) — operation to disrupt Allied supplies to Norway
• Nordseetour (1940) — first Atlantic operation of Admiral Hipper
• Berlin (1941) — Atlantic cruise of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau
• Rheinübung ("Exercise Rhine") (1941) — breakout by Bismarck and Prinz Eugen
• Doppelschlag ("Double blow") (1942) — anti-shipping operation off Novaya Zemlya by Admiral Scheer and Admiral Hipper
• Sportpalast (1942) — aborted operation (including Tirpitz) to attack Arctic convoys
• Rösselsprung ("Knights Move") (1942) — operation (including Tirpitz) to attack Arctic convoy PQ-17
• Wunderland (1942) — anti-shipping operation in Kara Sea by Admiral Scheer
• Paukenschlag ("Drumbeat" ("Beat of the Kettle Drum")); "Second Happy Time") (1942) — U-boat campaign off the United States east coast
• Regenbogen ("Rainbow") (1942) — failed attack on Arctic convoy JW-51B, by Admiral Hipper and Lützow
• Cerberus (1942) — movement of capital ships from Brest to home ports in Germany (Channel Dash)
• Ostfront ("East front") (1943) — final operation of Scharnhorst, to intercept convoy JW-55B
• Domino (1943) — second aborted Arctic sortie by Scharnhorst, Prinz Eugen and destroyers
• Zitronella ("Lemon extract") (1943) — raid upon Allied-occupied Spitsbergen (Svalbard)
• Deadlight (1945) — postwar scuttling of U-boats

Ships

See also: List of Kriegsmarine ships

By the start of World War II, much of the Kriegsmarine were modern ships: fast, well-armed and well-armoured. Operation Wikinger (German for Viking was a sortie into the North Sea by the 1st Destroyer Flotilla of the Kriegsmarine, in February 1940 Operation Weserübung was the codename for Nazi Germany 's assault on Denmark and Norway during World War II and the opening operation The Weser (ˈveːzɐ is a River in north-western Germany. Formed at Hann Operation Juno was a German naval offensive late in the Norwegian campaign. Operation Nordseetour was the first Atlantic sortie of the German heavy Cruiser Admiral Hipper during December 1940 "Operation Berlin" redirects here For the rescue attempt during Operation Market Garden, see Operation Berlin (Arnhem rescue The Rhine (Rhein Rijn Rhin Reno Rain Rhenus is one of the longest and most important Rivers in Europe at 1320 kilometres (820 mi with an average discharge Novaya Zemlya (Но́вая Земля́ also spelled Novaja Zemlja, lit Operation Sportpalast was the action by Tirpitz and its escorting destroyers against Arctic convoys PQ-12 and QP-8 The knight (♘ ♞ sometimes referred to by players as a 'horse' is a piece in the Game of Chess, representing a Knight (armoured cavalry Operation Wunderland (German Unternehmen Wunderland) was a large-scale operation undertaken in summer 1942 by the Kriegsmarine during the Second World War The Second Happy Time was the informal name for a phase in the Second Battle of the Atlantic during which Axis Submarines attacked Merchant shipping Unternehmen Ostfront ("Operation Ostfront" or "Operation East Front" was the Sortie into the Arctic Ocean by the German Operation Zitronella, also known as Operation Sizilien, was the German raid and temporary occupation of Spitsbergen on September 6&ndash9 1943 Operation Deadlight was the code name for the Scuttling of U-boats surrendered to the Allies after the defeat of Germany near the end The list of Kriegsmarine ships includes all Ships commissioned into the Kriegsmarine, the German Navy of the Third Reich period during This had been achieved by concealment but also by deliberately flouting World War I peace terms and those of various naval treaties. Although a major re-armament of the navy (Plan Z) was planned, and initially begun, the start of the war in 1939 meant that the vast amounts of material required for the project were diverted to other areas. Plan Z was the name given to the planned re-equipment and expansion of the Nazi German Navy ( Kriegsmarine) ordered by Adolf Hitler on January 27 1939 A number of captured ships from occupied countries were added to the German fleet as the war progressed.

Some ship types do not fit clearly into the commonly used ship classifications. Where there is argument, this has been noted.

Surface ships

The main combat ships (not U-boats) of the Kriegsmarine:

Aircraft carriers

Construction of the Graf Zeppelin was started in 1936 with an unnamed sister ship started two years later in 1938, but neither ship was completed. The list of naval ships of Germany includes all Naval ships which have been in service of the German Navy or its predecessors U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word, itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot ( undersea boat) and refers Planning and construction Wilhelm Hadeler had been Assistant to the Professor of Naval Construction at the Technical University of Berlin for nine years when he was appointed to draft In 1942 conversion to auxiliary carriers was begun on three German passenger ships and two unfinished cruisers—the captured French light cruiser De Grasse and the German heavy cruiser Seydlitz—but by 1943 all the conversion work was halted for lack of materials and the deteriorating military situation. Initial Design The Seydlitz was a Heavy cruiser of the German navy, fourth in the Hipper class, but was never completed [1] With no carriers in train, orders for the Fieseler Fi 167 ship-borne biplane torpedo and reconnaissance bomber were canceled. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout

Battleships

Bismarck and Tirpitz

Battlecruisers

Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Background Design of the ship started in the early 1930s following on from Germany's development of the ''Deutschland'' class cruisers and the ''Scharnhorst'' class Operational history This battleship was launched on 1 April 1939 and she was planned to be deployed in a manner similar to the ''Bismarck'', as a Commerce raider For the German armoured cruiser commissioned in 1907 see SMS Scharnhorst The sisters - Scharnhorst and Gneisenau The Construction She was laid down in February 1934 at Deutsche Werke Kiel. The classification of these ships is problematic. The "battlecruiser" designation is largely a British and Royal Naval usage (arguing that 11" armament would not be adequate) while the Germans in particular describe them as "battleships" or "Schlachtschiff".

Pre-dreadnought battleships

The World War I era Pre-dreadnought battleships Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein were used mainly as training ships, although they also participated in several military operations. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Pre-dreadnought battleship is the general term for all of the types of sea going Battleships built between the mid-1890s and 1905 Design Dimensions and machinery Schlesien was at the waterline and overall History SMS Schleswig-Holstein was one of five Pre-dreadnought, ''Deutschland''-class battleships not to be confused with a later class of Pocket Hessen was converted into a radio-guided target ship in 1930. Design Dimensions and machinery Hessen was 413ft long at the waterline and overall

Pocket battleships (Panzerschiff)

The "Pocket battleships" Deutschland / Lützow, Admiral Scheer, and Admiral Graf Spee. Description German capital ships were restricted by the Treaty of Versailles to a displacement of 10000 tons for "armoured ships" Description Their size and characteristics were severely limited by the Treaty of Versailles, which limited Germany to ships of no more than 10000 tons displacement History During World War II Admiral Scheer, under Captain Theodor Krancke, was by far the most successful capital ship Commerce raider of the war Description Admiral Graf Spee was a Deutschland class cruiser. Modern commentators favour classifying these as "heavy cruisers" and indeed the Kriegsmarine itself reclassified these ships as such (Schwere Kreuzer) in 1940. ^[6]

Heavy cruisers

Admiral Hipper, Blücher, and Prinz Eugen

Light cruisers

The term "light cruiser" is a shortening of the phrase "light armoured cruiser. History Admiral Hipper took part in the German invasion of Norway ( Operation Weserübung) Design The Hipper class were built to a design that flouted the Washington Naval Treaty, to which major maritime Early war The Prinz Eugen suffered repeated damage before deployment A light cruiser is a Warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light Armoured cruiser " describing a small ship that carried armour in the same way The armored cruiser, or armoured cruiser (see spelling differences) is a type of Cruiser, a naval warship. " Light cruisers were defined under the Washington Naval Treaty by gun calibre. The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, limited the naval armaments of its five signatories the United States of America, the Light cruiser describes a small ship that carried armour in the same way as an armoured cruiser. In other words, like standard cruisers, light cruisers possessed a protective belt and a protective deck. Prior to this, smaller cruisers tended to be of the protected cruiser model and possessed only an armoured deck. Protected cruisers were a type of naval Cruiser of the late 19th century so known because their deck armour offered protection for vital machine spaces from shrapnel caused Germany's light cruisers are as follows:

• Emden
• Königsberg
• Karlsruhe
• Köln
• Leipzig
• Nürnberg

Auxiliary cruisers

During the war, nine merchant ships were converted into "auxiliary cruisers" and used as commerce raiders, particularly in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. Commanding Officers KzS Richard Foerster - 15 October 1925 - 23 September 1928 FK / KzS Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière - 23 September 1928 Norway In early April 1940 Königsberg participated in Gruppe 3 of the invasion of Norway ( Operation "Weserübung") transporting troops Commanding Officers Construction Indoctrination - FK Eugen Lindau - 10 October 1929 - 6 November 1929 FK / KzS Eugen Lindau - 6 November 1929 - 25 September 1931(Promoted Combat history Köln patrolled Spanish waters during the Spanish Civil War. Commanding Officers KzS Hans-Herbert Stobwasser - 8 October 1931 - 24 September 1933 FK / KzS Otto Hormel - 24 September 1933 - 29 September 1935 (Promoted Commanding officers (Germany Chief Equipping Officer - KzS Hubert Schmundt - 27 September 1935 - 2 November 1935 KzS Hubert Schmundt - 2 November 1935 - Armed Merchantmen has come to mean merchant ships equipped with guns usually for defensive purposes either by design or after the fact Armed Merchantmen has come to mean merchant ships equipped with guns usually for defensive purposes either by design or after the fact Commerce raiding is to destroy the logistics (supplies of an enemy on the open sea rather than engaging the combatants themselves or enforcing a Blockade against them The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's Oceanic divisions covering about 20% of the water on the Earth 's surface The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions The German auxiliary cruisers were:

• Orion (HSK-1)
• Atlantis (HSK-2)
• Widder (HSK-3)
• Thor (HSK-4)
• Pinguin (HSK-5)
• Stier (HSK-6)
• Komet (HSK-7)
• Kormoran (HSK-8)
• Michel (HSK-9)
• Coronel (HSK-10)
• Hansa (HSK-11)

Destroyers

Main article: German World War II destroyers

Although the German World War II destroyer (Zerstörer) fleet was modern and the ships were larger than conventional destroyers of other navies, they had problems. Construction and conversion The Orion was built in 1930 by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg as a freighter for HAPAGthe Hamburg-America Line. Early history Formerly a Freighter named Goldenfels, she was built by Bremer Vulkan in 1937 and was owned and operated by the Hansa Line Early history Built for HAPAG the Hamburg America Line, at Howaldtswerke, Kiel, she was launched in 1930 as the freighter Neumark Early history Formerly a Freighter named Santa Cruz, she was built by Deutsche Werft Hamburg (DWH in 1938 and was owned and operated by the Oldenburg Portuguese Early history Formerly a Freighter named Kandelfels, she was built by AG Weser in 1936 and was owned and operated by the Hansa Line Bremen Early history Built by Germaniawerft in 1936 as the freighter Cairo, she was operated by the Atlas Levant Line (ALL until being requisitioned for Kriegsmarine Construction and conversion Launched on 16 January 1937 as the Merchant ship Ems at DeSchiMAG shipyards in Bremen Early history Kormoran was built by Germaniawerft of Kiel and launched on 15 September 1938 as the merchant ship Steiermark of HAPAG Construction and conversion After the AMC Widder returned to Germany, her engines were worn out History The Togo was launched in August 1938 She had been built for the Woermann Line and carried the name M/S History Hansa was originally conceived as the cargo ship Glengarry. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the German Navy, the Kriegsmarine, had 21 Destroyers ( Ger: Zerstörer) Early classes were unstable, wet in heavy weather, suffered from engine problems and had short range. Some problems were solved with the evolution of later designs, but further developments were curtailed by the war and, ultimately, by Germany's defeat. In the first year of World War II, they were used mainly to sow offensive minefields in shipping lanes close to the British coast.

Torpedo boats

Main article: German torpedoboats of World War II

These vessels evolved through the 1930s from small vessels, relying almost entirely on torpedoes, to what were effectively small destroyers with mines, torpedoes and guns. German torpedoboats armed principally if not exclusively with torpedoes varied widely in size however they should not be confused with destroyers nor torpedo-armed motor torpedo boats Two classes of fleet torpedo boats were planned, but not built, in the 1940s.

Troop ships

Cap Arcona, Goya, Steuben, Wilhelm Gustloff. History The 27561 gross ton Cap Arcona, named after Cape Arkona on the island of Rügen in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, was History of the ship The Goya was originally built as a freighter by the Akers Mekanika Verksted shipyard in Oslo in 1940. Prologue Operation Hannibal Along with the Wilhelm Gustloff and many other vessels she was part of the largest evacuation by sea in modern times Ship history The Wilhelm Gustloff was the first purpose-built cruise liner for the Nazi Kraft durch Freude (KdF (" Strength Through Joy "

Miscellaneous

Minelayers, Minesweepers, Gunboats, E-boats and Watchboats. Minelaying is the act of deploying explosive mines Historically this has been carried out by ships submarines and aircraft A minesweeper is a Naval Warship designed to counter the threat posed by Naval mines The dedicated purpose-built minesweeper first appeared during A gunboat is literally a Boat carrying one or more Guns The term is rather broad and the usual connotation has changed over the years (sometimes encompassing History After the Treaty of Versailles most of Germany's military production was severely curtailed Catapult-launched spotter planes: Arado Ar 196. The Ar 196 was a shipboard Reconnaissance aircraft built by the German firm Arado starting in 1936

Submarines (U-boat)

At the outbreak of war, the Kriegsmarine had a relatively small fleet of submarines (U-boats) - 57. U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word, itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot ( undersea boat) and refers This was increased, particularly after Hitler lost patience with the large surface ships. It is arguable that, had more resources been put more into U-boats earlier, then Britain would not have been able to defend its convoys quickly enough to avoid defeat. In fact after a year of war, production of new ships had only kept up with losses.

The principal types were the Type IX, a long range type used in the western and southern Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans; and the Type VII, the most numerous type, used principally in the north Atlantic. Type IXA Type IXB Type IXC Type IXC/40 Type IXD Type VIIA The Type VIIA boats were designed in 1933 until 1934 as the first of a new generation of attack U-boats Most were built at Deschimag AG Weser in Bremen with U33-36 Type X was a small class of mine-layers and Type XIV was a specialised type used to support distant U-boat operations - the "Milchkuh" (Milkcow). Type X (XB U-boats were a special type of German Submarine ( U-boat) Sources "The Milkcows" at uboatnet

Types XXI and XXIII, the "Elektroboot", would have negated much of the Allied anti-submarine tactics and technology, but they were never deployed in sufficient numbers. Description The key improvement in the Type XXI was greatly increased battery capacity roughly three times that of the Type VIIC. Background When development began on the Type XXI U-boat in late 1942 it was proposed to simultaneously develop a smaller version incorporating the same advanced technology to replace Post-war, they became the prototypes for modern submarines, in particular, the Soviet W-class.

During World War II, about 60% of all U-boats commissioned were lost in action; 28,000 of the 40,000 U-boat crewmen were killed during the war and 8,000 were captured. The remaining U-boats were either surrendered to the Allies or scuttled by their own crews at the end of the war.

Top 10 U-Boat Aces in World War II
274,333 tons (47 ships sunk)	Otto Kretschmer
225,712 tons (43 ships)	Wolfgang Luth
193,684 tons (34 ships)	Erich Topp
186,064 tons (29 ships)	Karl-Friedrich Merten
171,164 tons (34 ships)	Victor Schütze
171,122 tons (26 ships)	Herbert Schultze
167,601 tons (28 ships)	Georg Lassen
166,596 tons (22 ships)	Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock
162,333 tons (30 ships)	Heinrich Liebe
160,939 tons (28 ships), plus the British battleship Royal Oak inside Scapa Flow	Günther Prien

Captured ships

The military campaigns in Europe yielded a number of captured vessels, many of which were under construction. Commodore Otto Kretschmer ( May 1, 1912 - August 5, 1998) was a German U-boat Commander of the Erich Topp ( 2 July 1914 - 26 December 2005) was the third most successful German U-Boot Experten commander of Captain Karl-Friedrich Merten ( August 15 1905 - May 2 1993) was a German U-boat Commander during Captain Viktor Schütze ( February 16 1906 - September 23 1950) was a German Kriegsmarine U-boat Lieutenant Commander Herbert Schultze ( July 24 1909 &ndash June 3 1987) was a German U-boat commander of the Lieutenant Commander Georg Lassen (born May 12 1915) is a former German U-boat Captain who served with the Kriegsmarine Commander Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock ( December 11 1911 &ndash April 18 1986) was a German naval officer and a Commander Heinrich Liebe ( 29 January 1908 - 27 July 1997) was a highly decorated German naval officer who served as a Construction The Revenge class to which Royal Oak belonged was ordered in the 1913&ndash14 Estimates Scapa Flow ( Old Norse: Skalpaflói) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands Lieutenant Commander Günther Prien ( 16 January 1908 &ndash 7 March 1941) was one of the outstanding German U-boat aces Nations represented included Soviet Union, Norway, the Netherlands, France, Italy (after the armistice), Yugoslavia and Greece. Few of the incomplete ships were actually commissioned; they were abandoned, wrecked or broken up.

Major warships sunk by the Kriegsmarine

Warships
Ship	Type	Date	Action
HMS Royal Oak (UK)	Battleship	October 14, 1939	torpedoed at anchor by submarine U-47
HMS Hood (UK)	Battlecruiser	May 24, 1941	sunk by the battleship Bismarck
HMS Barham (UK)	Battleship	November 25, 1941	torpedoed by submarine U-331
HMS Courageous (UK)	fleet aircraft carrier	September 17, 1939	torpedoed by submarine U-29 while on convoy escort
HMS Glorious (UK)	fleet aircraft carrier	June 8, 1940	sunk by battlecruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst
HMS Ark Royal (UK)	fleet aircraft carrier	November 14, 1941	torpedoed by submarine U-81
HMS Audacity (UK)	escort carrier	December 21, 1941	torpedoed by submarine U-751
HMS Eagle (UK)	aircraft carrier	August 11, 1942	torpedoed by submarine U-73
HMS Avenger (UK)	escort carrier	November 15, 1942	torpedoed by submarine U-155
USS Block Island (US)	escort carrier	May 29, 1944	torpedoed by submarine U-549

^[7][8]

Comparative ranks (during World War II)

Kriegsmarine	US Navy/Royal Navy
Großadmiral	Fleet Admiral/Admiral of the Fleet
Generaladmiral	Admiral
Admiral	Vice Admiral
Vizeadmiral	Rear Admiral (Upper Half)
Konteradmiral	Rear Admiral (Lower Half)
Kommodore	Commodore
Kapitän zur See	Captain
Fregattenkapitän	Commander
Korvettenkapitän	Lieutenant Commander
Kapitänleutnant	Lieutenant
Oberleutnant zur See	Lieutenant (Jg.); Sub-Lieutenant
Leutnant zur See	Ensign/ --
Oberfähnrich zur See	Midshipman (Senior)
Fähnrich zur See	Cadet/Midshipman (Junior)

Uniforms

Many different types of uniforms were worn by the Kriegsmarine, here is a list of the main ones:

German	English
Dienstanzug	Service Suit
kleiner Dienstanzug	Small Service Suit
Ausgehanzug	Suit for Walking Out
Sportanzug	Sports Suit
Tropen-und Sommeranzug	Tropical and Summer Suit
große Uniform	Parade Uniform
kleiner Gesellschaftsanzug	Small Party Suit
großer Gesellschaftsanzug	Parade Party Suit

See also

• List of Kriegsmarine ships
• List of ships of the German navies
• Alwin-Broder Albrecht
• Erich Raeder
• Karl Dönitz
• Horst Wessel

Notes

External links

• German U-Boats and Battle of the Atlantic. uboataces. com. Retrieved on 2007-01-20. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 250 - Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome.
• Kriegsmarine History. german-navy. de. Retrieved on 2007-01-20. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 250 - Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome.
• The U-boat War 1939-1945. uboat. net. Retrieved on 2007-01-20. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 250 - Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome.
• Bismarck & Tirpitz. bismarck-class. dk. Retrieved on 2007-01-20. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 250 - Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome.
• Deutschland in Spanish Civil War. bismarck-class. dk. Retrieved on 2007-01-20. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 250 - Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome.

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