Naval warfare branch of Germany's armed forces (1935?1945)
Military unit
The
Kriegsmarine
(
German pronunciation:
[?k?iːksma??iːn?]
,
lit.
'
War Navy
'
) was the
navy
of
Nazi Germany
from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the
Imperial German Navy
of the
German Empire
(1871?1918) and the inter-war
Reichsmarine
(1919?1935) of the
Weimar Republic
. The
Kriegsmarine
was one of three official
branches
, along with the
Heer
and the
Luftwaffe
, of the
Wehrmacht
, the German armed forces from 1935 to 1945.
In violation of the
Treaty of Versailles
, the
Kriegsmarine
grew rapidly during
German naval rearmament
in the 1930s. The 1919 treaty had limited the size of the German navy and prohibited the building of
submarines
.
[2]
Kriegsmarine
ships were deployed to the waters around Spain during the
Spanish Civil War
(1936?1939) under the guise of enforcing
non-intervention
, but in reality supporting the
Nationalists
against the
Spanish Republicans
.
In January 1939,
Plan Z
, a massive shipbuilding programme, was ordered, calling for surface naval parity with the
British
Royal Navy
by 1944. When
World War II
broke out in September 1939, Plan Z was shelved in favour of a crash building programme for submarines (
U-boats
) instead of
capital
surface warships, and land and air forces were given priority of strategic resources.
The Commander-in-Chief of the
Kriegsmarine
(as for all branches of the armed forces during the period of absolute Nazi power) was
Adolf Hitler
, who exercised his authority through the
Oberkommando der Marine
('High Command of the Navy').
Among the
Kriegsmarine
's most significant ships were its U-boats, most of which were constructed after Plan Z was abandoned at the beginning of World War II.
Wolfpacks
were rapidly assembled groups of submarines which attacked British convoys during the first half of the
Battle of the Atlantic
, but this tactic was largely abandoned by
May 1943
, when U-boat losses mounted. Along with the U-boats, surface
commerce raiders
(including
auxiliary cruisers
) were used to disrupt Allied shipping in the early years of the war, the most famous of these being the heavy cruisers
Admiral Graf Spee
and
Admiral Scheer
and the battleship
Bismarck
. However, the adoption of
convoy escorts
, especially in the Atlantic, greatly reduced the effectiveness of surface commerce raiders against convoys.
Following the end of World War II in 1945, the
Kriegsmarine
's remaining ships were divided up among the
Allied powers
and were used for various purposes including
minesweeping
. Some were loaded with superfluous
chemical weapons
and scuttled.
[3]
History
[
edit
]
Post?World War I origins
[
edit
]
Under the terms of the 1919 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 or
aircraft carriers
. Military aircraft were also banned, so Germany could have no
naval aviation
. Under the treaty Germany could only build new ships to replace old ones. All the ships allowed and personnel were taken over from the
Kaiserliche Marine
, which was renamed the
Reichsmarine
.
From the outset, Germany worked to circumvent the military restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles. The Germans continued to develop U-boats through a submarine design office in the Netherlands (
NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw
) and a torpedo research program in Sweden where the
G7e torpedo
was developed.
[4]
Even before the
Nazi seizure of power
on 30 January 1933 the German government decided on 15 November 1932 to launch a prohibited naval re-armament program that included U-boats, airplanes, and an aircraft carrier.
The launching of the first
pocket battleship
,
Deutschland
in 1931 (as a replacement for the old
pre-dreadnought battleship
Preussen
) was a step in the formation of a modern German fleet. The building of the
Deutschland
caused consternation among the French and the British as they had expected that the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles would limit the replacement of the pre-dreadnought battleships to
coastal defence ships
, suitable only for defensive warfare. By using innovative construction techniques, the Germans had built a heavy ship suitable for offensive warfare on the high seas while still abiding by the letter of the treaty.
Nazi control
[
edit
]
When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Hitler soon began to more brazenly ignore many of the Treaty restrictions and accelerated German naval rearmament. The
Anglo-German Naval Agreement
of 18 June 1935 allowed Germany to build a navy equivalent to 35% of the British surface ship tonnage and 45% of British submarine tonnage; battleships were to be limited to 35,000 tons. That same year the
Reichsmarine
was renamed as the
Kriegsmarine
. In April 1939, as tensions escalated between the United Kingdom and Germany over
Poland
, Hitler unilaterally rescinded the restrictions of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement.
The building-up of the German fleet in the time period of 1935?1939 was slowed by problems with marshaling enough manpower and material for ship building. This was because of the simultaneous and rapid build-up of the German Army and Air Force which demanded substantial effort and resources. Some projects, like the
D-class cruisers
and the
P-class cruisers
, had to be cancelled.
Spanish Civil War
[
edit
]
The first military action of the
Kriegsmarine
came during the Spanish Civil War (1936?1939). Following the outbreak of hostilities in July 1936 several large warships of the German fleet were sent to the region. The heavy cruisers
Deutschland
and
Admiral Scheer
, and the light cruiser
Koln
were the first to be sent in July 1936. These large ships were accompanied by the 2nd Torpedo-boat Flotilla. The German presence was used to covertly support
Francisco Franco's
Nationalists although the immediate involvement of the
Deutschland
was humanitarian relief operations and evacuating 9,300 refugees, including 4,550 German citizens. 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
Cabo de Oropesa
. Numerous vessels served as part of these duties including
Admiral Graf Spee
. On 29 May 1937 the
Deutschland
was attacked
off
Ibiza
by two bombers from the
Republican Air Force
. Total casualties from the Republican attack were 31 dead and 110 wounded, 71 seriously, mostly burn victims. In retaliation the
Admiral Scheer
shelled Almeria
on 31 May killing 19?20 civilians, wounding 50 and destroying 35 buildings.
[5]
Following further attacks by Republican submarines against the
Leipzig
off the port of
Oran
between 15 and 18 June 1937 Germany withdrew from the Non-Intervention Patrol.
U-boats also participated in covert action against Republican shipping as part of
Operation Ursula
. At least eight U-boats engaged a small number of targets in the area throughout the conflict. (By comparison the Italian
Regia Marina
operated 58 submarines in the area as part of the
Sottomarini Legionari
.)
Plan Z
[
edit
]
The
Kriegsmarine
saw as her main tasks the controlling of the
Baltic Sea
and winning a war against
France
in connection with the German army, because France was seen as the most likely enemy in the event of war. But in 1938 Hitler wanted to have the possibility of winning a war against Great Britain at sea in the coming years. Therefore, he ordered plans for such a fleet from the
Kriegsmarine
. From the three proposed plans (X, Y and Z) he approved Plan Z in January 1939. This blueprint for the new German naval construction program envisaged building a navy of approximately 800 ships during the period 1939?1947. Hitler demanded that the program be completed by 1945. The main force of Plan Z were six
H-class battleships
. In the version of Plan Z drawn up in August 1939, the German fleet was planned to consist of the following ships by 1945:
Personnel strength was planned to rise to over 200,000.
The planned naval program was not very far advanced by the time World War II began. In 1939 two
M-class cruisers
and two H-class battleships were laid down and parts for two further H-class battleships and three
O-class battlecruisers
were in production. The strength of the German fleet at the beginning of the war was not even 20% of Plan Z. On 1 September 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. Because of the long time it would take to get the Plan Z fleet ready for action and shortage in workers and material in wartime, Plan Z was essentially shelved in September 1939 and the resources allocated for its realisation were largely redirected to the construction of U-boats, which would be ready for war against the United Kingdom more quickly.
[6]
World War II
[
edit
]
The
Kriegsmarine
took part in the
Battle of Westerplatte
and the
Battle of the Danzig Bay
during the
invasion of Poland
. In 1939, major events for the
Kriegsmarine
were the sinking of the British aircraft carrier
HMS
Courageous
and the British battleship
HMS
Royal Oak
and the loss of
Admiral Graf Spee
at the
Battle of the River Plate
. Submarine attacks on Britain's vital maritime supply routes (
Battle of the Atlantic
) started immediately at the outbreak of war, although they were hampered by the lack of well placed ports from which to operate. Throughout the war the
Kriegsmarine
was responsible for
coastal artillery
protecting major ports and important coastal areas. It also operated anti-aircraft batteries protecting major ports.
[7]
In April 1940, the German Navy was heavily involved in the
invasion of Norway
, where it suffered significant losses, which included the
heavy cruiser
Blucher
sunk by artillery and torpedoes from Norwegian shore batteries at the
Oscarsborg Fortress
in the
Oslofjord
. Ten destroyers were lost in the
Battles of Narvik
(half of German destroyer strength at the time), and two light cruisers, the
Konigsberg
which was bombed and sunk by Royal Navy aircraft in Bergen, and the
Karlsruhe
which was sunk off the coast of Kristiansand by a British submarine. The
Kriegsmarine
did in return sink some British warships during this campaign, including the aircraft carrier
HMS
Glorious
.
The losses in the
Norwegian Campaign
left only a handful of undamaged heavy ships available for the planned, but never executed, invasion of the United Kingdom (
Operation Sea Lion
) in the summer of 1940. There were serious doubts that the invasion sea routes could have been protected against British naval interference. The
Fall of France
and the conquest of Norway gave German submarines greatly improved access to British shipping routes in the
Atlantic
. At first, British
convoys
lacked escorts that were adequate either in numbers or equipment and, as a result, the submarines had much success for few losses (this period was dubbed the
First Happy Time
by the Germans).
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 Mediterranean submarines sank 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.
[8]
In 1941, one of the four modern German battleships,
Bismarck
sank
HMS
Hood
while breaking out into the Atlantic for commerce raiding. The
Bismarck
was in turn hunted down by much superior British forces after being crippled by an air-launched torpedo. She was subsequently scuttled after being rendered a burning wreck by two British battleships.
In November 1941 during the Battle of the Mediterranean, German submarine
U-331
sank the British battleship
Barham
, which had a magazine explosion and sank in minutes, with the loss of 862, or 2/3 of her crew.
[9]
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
. This course of events were the result of the American decision to support Britain with its
Lend-Lease
program and the subsequent decision to escort Lend-Lease convoys with US war ships through the western part of the Atlantic.
The Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor
and the subsequent
German declaration of war against the United States
in December 1941 led to another phase of the Battle of the Atlantic. In Operation Drumbeat and subsequent operations until August 1942, a large number of Allied merchant ships were sunk by submarines off the US 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 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.
In February 1942, the three large warships stationed on the Atlantic coast at
Brest
were evacuated back to German ports for deployment to Norway. The ships had been repeatedly damaged by air attacks by the
RAF
, the supply ships to support Atlantic sorties had been destroyed by the Royal Navy, and Hitler now felt that Norway was the "zone of destiny" for these ships. The two battleships
Scharnhorst
and
Gneisenau
and the heavy cruiser
Prinz Eugen
passed through the English Channel (
Channel Dash
) on their way to Norway despite British efforts to stop them.
[10]
[11]
[12]
Not since the
Spanish Armada
in 1588 had any warships in wartime done this. It was a tactical victory for the
Kriegsmarine
and a blow to British morale, but the withdrawal removed the possibility of attacking allied convoys in the Atlantic with heavy surface ships.
With the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 Britain started to send
Arctic convoys
with military goods around Norway to support their new ally. In 1942 German forces began heavily attacking these convoys, mostly with bombers and U-boats. The big ships of the
Kriegsmarine
in Norway were seldom involved in these attacks, because of the inferiority of German
radar
technology,
[13]
and because Hitler and the leadership of the
Kriegsmarine
feared losses of these precious ships. The most effective of these attacks was the near destruction of
Convoy PQ 17
in July 1942. Later in the war German attacks on these convoys were mostly reduced to U-boat activities and the mass of the allied freighters reached their destination in Soviet ports.
The
Battle of the Barents Sea
in December 1942 was an attempt by a German naval surface force to attack an Allied Arctic convoy. 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 new U-boats, and the surface fleet became a lesser threat to the Allies.
After December 1943 when
Scharnhorst
had been sunk in an attack on an Arctic convoy in the
Battle of North Cape
by
HMS
Duke of York
, most German surface ships in bases at the Atlantic were blockaded 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. The largest of these ships, the battleship
Tirpitz
, was stationed in Norway as a threat to Allied shipping and also as a defence against a potential Allied invasion. When she was sunk, after several attempts, by British bombers in November 1944 (
Operation Catechism
), several British capital ships could be moved to the Far East.
From late 1944 until the end of the war, the surviving surface fleet of the
Kriegsmarine
(heavy cruisers:
Admiral Scheer
,
Lutzow
,
Admiral Hipper
,
Prinz Eugen
, light cruisers:
Nurnberg
,
Koln
,
Emden
) 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 Baltic Sea parts of Germany (
Mecklenburg
,
Schleswig-Holstein
) in large rescue operations. Large parts of the population of
eastern Germany
fled the approaching
Red Army
out of fear for Soviet retaliation (mass rapes, killings, and looting by Soviet troops did occur
[
citation needed
]
). The
Kriegsmarine
evacuated two million civilians and troops in the
evacuation of East Prussia
and
Danzig
from January to May 1945. It was during this activity that the catastrophic sinking of several large passenger ships occurred:
Wilhelm Gustloff
and
Goya
were sunk by Soviet submarines, while
Cap Arcona
was sunk by British bombers, each sinking claiming thousands of civilian lives. The
Kriegsmarine
also provided important assistance in the evacuation of the fleeing German civilians of
Pomerania
and
Stettin
in March and April 1945.
A desperate measure of the
Kriegsmarine
to fight the superior strength of the Western Allies from 1944 was the formation of the
Kleinkampfverbande
(Small Battle Units). These were special naval units with
frogmen
, manned torpedoes, motorboats laden with explosives and so on. The more effective of these weapons and units were the development and deployment of
midget submarines
like the
Molch
and
Seehund
. In the last stage of the war, the
Kriegsmarine
also organised a number of divisions of infantry from its personnel.
[7]
Between 1943 and 1945, a group of U-boats known as the
Monsun
Boats
(
Monsun Gruppe
) operated in the
Indian Ocean
from Japanese bases in the occupied
Dutch East Indies
and
Malaya
. Allied convoys had not yet been organised in those waters, so initially many ships were sunk. However, this situation was soon remedied.
[14]
During the later war years, the
Monsun
Boats were also used as a means of exchanging vital war supplies with Japan.
During 1943 and 1944, due to Allied
anti-submarine tactics
and better equipment, the U-boat fleet started to suffer heavy losses. The turning point of the Battle of the Atlantic was during
Black May
in 1943, when the U-boat fleet started suffering heavy losses and the number of Allied ships sunk started to decrease. Radar, longer range air cover,
sonar
, improved tactics, and new weapons all contributed. German technical developments, such as the
Schnorchel
, attempted to counter these. Near the end of the war a small number of the new
Elektroboot
U-boats (types
XXI
and
XXIII
) became operational, the first submarines designed to operate submerged at all times. The
Elektroboote
had the potential to negate the Allied technological and tactical advantage, although they were deployed too late to see combat in the war.
[15]
War crimes
[
edit
]
Following the capture of
Liep?ja
in
Latvia
by the Germans on 29 June 1941, the town came under the command of the
Kriegsmarine
. On 1 July 1941, the town commandant
Korvettenkapitan
Stein ordered that ten hostages be shot for every act of sabotage, and further put civilians in the zone of targeting by declaring that Red Army soldiers were hiding among them in civilian attire.
On 5 July 1941
Korvettenkapitan
Bruckner, who had taken over from Stein, issued a set of anti-Jewish regulations
[17]
in the local newspaper,
Kurzemes V?rds
.
[16]
Summarized, the regulations were as follows:
[18]
- All Jews were to wear the
yellow star
on the front and back of their clothing;
- Shopping hours for Jews were restricted to 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Jews were only allowed out of their residences for these hours and from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.;
- Jews were barred from public events and transportation and were not to walk on the beach;
- Jews were required to leave the pavement if they encountered a German in uniform;
- Jewish shops were required to display the sign "A Jewish-owned business" in the window;
- Jews were to surrender all radios, typewriters, uniforms, arms, and means of transportation
On 16 July 1941,
Fregattenkapitan
Dr. Hans Kawelmacher was appointed the German naval commandant in Liep?ja.
[19]
On 22 July, Kawelmacher sent a telegram to the German Navy's Baltic Command in
Kiel
, which stated that he wanted 100
SS
and fifty
Schutzpolizei
(protective police) men sent to Liep?ja for "quick implementation Jewish problem".
[20]
Kawelmacher hoped to accelerate the killings, complaining: "Here about 8,000 Jews... with present SS-personnel, this would take one year, which is untenable for [the] pacification of Liep?ja."
[21]
Kawelmacher telegram on 27 July 1941 read: "Jewish problem Libau largely solved by execution of about 1,100 male Jews by Riga SS commando on 24 and 25.7."
[20]
In September 1939, U-boat commander
Fritz-Julius Lemp
of
U-30
sank
SS Athenia (1922)
after mistaking it for a legitimate military target, resulting in the deaths of 117 civilians. Germany did not admit responsibility for the incident until after the war. Lemp was killed in action in 1941. U-247 was alleged to have shot at sunken ship survivors, but as the vessel was lost at sea with its crew, there was no investigation.
In 1945, U-boat Commander
Heinz-Wilhelm Eck
of
U-852
was tried along with four of his crewmen for shooting at survivors. All were found guilty, with three of them, including Eck, being executed. In 1946,
Hellmuth von Ruckteschell
was sentenced to 10 years in prison, reduced to 7 years on appeal, for the illegal sinking of ships and criminal negligence for failing to protect the downed crew of the
SS Anglo Saxon
. Ruckteschell died in prison in 1948.
Post-war division
[
edit
]
After the war, the German surface ships that remained afloat (only the cruisers
Prinz Eugen
and
Nurnberg
, and a dozen destroyers were operational) were divided among the victors by the
Tripartite Naval Commission
. The US used the heavy cruiser
Prinz Eugen
in
nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll
in 1946 as a target ship for the
Operation Crossroads
. Some (like the unfinished aircraft carrier
Graf Zeppelin
) were used for target practice with conventional weapons, while others (mostly destroyers and torpedo boats) were put into the service of Allied navies that lacked surface ships after the war. The training
barque
SSS
Horst Wessel
was recommissioned
USCGC
Eagle
and remains in active service, assigned to the
United States Coast Guard Academy
. The British, French, and Soviet navies received the destroyers, and some torpedo boats went to the Danish and Norwegian navies. For the purpose of mine clearing, the Royal Navy employed German crews and minesweepers from June 1945 to January 1948,
[22]
organised in the
German Mine Sweeping Administration
(GMSA), which consisted of 27,000 members of the former
Kriegsmarine
and 300 vessels.
[23]
The destroyers and the Soviet share light cruiser
Nurnberg
were all retired by the end of the 1950s, but five escort destroyers were returned from the French to the new West German Navy in the 1950s and three 1945 scuttled type XXI and XXIII U-boats were raised by
West Germany
and integrated into their new navy. In 1956, with West Germany's accession to
NATO
, a new navy was established and was referred to as the
Bundesmarine
(Federal Navy). Some
Kriegsmarine
commanders like
Erich Topp
and
Otto Kretschmer
went on to serve in the
Bundesmarine
. In
East Germany
the
Volksmarine
(People's Navy) was established in 1956. With the
reunification of Germany
in 1990, it was decided to use the name
Deutsche Marine
(
German Navy
).
Major wartime operations
[
edit
]
- Wikinger
("Viking") (1940) ? foray by destroyers into the North Sea
- Weserubung
("Operation
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
- Rheinubung
("
Rhine
exercise") (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
- Rosselsprung
("
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
- Neuland
("New Land") (1942) ? U-boat campaign in the Caribbean Sea; launched in conjunction with Operation Drumbeat
- Regenbogen
("Rainbow") (1942) ? failed attack on Arctic convoy JW 51B, by
Admiral Hipper
and
Lutzow
- 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 Spitzbergen (Svalbard)
- Hannibal
(1945) ? evacuation proceedings from
Courland
,
Danzig-West Prussia
, and
East Prussia
- Deadlight
(1945) ? the British Royal Navy's postwar scuttling of
Kriegsmarine
U-boats
Ships
[
edit
]
By the start of World War II, much of the
Kriegsmarine
were modern ships: fast, well-armed, and well-armoured. This had been achieved by concealment but also by deliberately flouting World War I peace terms and those of various naval treaties. However, the war started with the German Navy still at a distinct disadvantage in terms of sheer size with what were expected to be its primary adversaries ? the navies of France and Great Britain. 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. The sheer disparity in size when compared to the other European powers navies prompted Raeder to write of his own navy once the war began "The surface forces can do no more than show that they know how to die gallantly." A number of captured ships from occupied countries were added to the German fleet as the war progressed.
[24]
Though six major units of the
Kriegsmarine
were sunk during the war (both
Bismarck
-class battleships and both
Scharnhorst
-class battleships, as well as two heavy cruisers), there were still many ships afloat (including four heavy cruisers and four light cruisers) as late as March 1945.
Some ship types do not fit clearly into the commonly used ship classifications. Where there is argument, this has been noted.
Surface ships
[
edit
]
The main
combat ships of the
Kriegsmarine
(excluding U-boats):
Aircraft carriers
[
edit
]
Construction of
Graf Zeppelin
was started in 1936 and construction of an
unnamed sister ship
was started two years later in 1938, but neither ship was completed. In 1942 conversion of three German passenger ships (
Europa
,
Potsdam
,
Gneisenau
) and two unfinished cruisers, the captured French light cruiser
De Grasse
and the German heavy cruiser
Seydlitz
, to auxiliary carriers was begun. In November 1942 the conversion of the passenger ships was stopped because these ships were now seen as too slow for operations with the fleet. But conversion of one of these ships, the
Potsdam
, to a training carrier was begun instead. In February 1943 all the work on carriers was halted because of the German failure during the Battle of the Barents Sea, which convinced Hitler that large warships were useless.
All engineering of the aircraft carriers like catapults, arresting gears and so on were tested and developed at the
Erprobungsstelle See
Travemunde
(Experimental Agency Sea in Travemunde) including the airplanes for the aircraft carriers, the
Fieseler Fi 167
ship-borne biplane torpedo and reconnaissance bomber and the naval versions of two key early war
Luftwaffe
aircraft: the
Messerschmitt Bf 109
T fighter and the
Junkers Ju 87
C Stuka dive bomber.
Battleships
[
edit
]
The
Kriegsmarine
completed four battleships during its existence. The first pair were the 11-inch gun
Scharnhorst
class
, consisting of the
Scharnhorst
and
Gneisenau
, which participated in the invasion of Norway in 1940, and then in commerce raiding until the
Gneisenau
was heavily damaged by a British air raid in 1942 and the
Scharnhorst
was sunk in the
Battle of the North Cape
in late 1943. The second pair were the 15-inch gun
Bismarck
class
, consisting of the
Bismarck
and
Tirpitz
. The
Bismarck
was sunk on her first sortie into the Atlantic in 1941 (
Operation Rheinubung
) although she did sink the battlecruiser
Hood
and severely damaged the battleship
Prince of Wales
, while the
Tirpitz
was based in Norwegian ports during most of the war as a fleet in being, tying up Allied naval forces, and subject to a number of attacks by British aircraft and submarines. More battleships were planned (the H-class), but construction was abandoned in September 1939.
Pre-dreadnought battleships
[
edit
]
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, with the latter bearing the distinction of firing the opening shots of World War II.
Zahringen
and
Hessen
were converted into radio-guided target ships in 1928 and 1930 respectively.
Hannover
was decommissioned in 1931 and struck from the naval register in 1936. Plans to convert her into a radio-controlled target ship for aircraft was cancelled because of the outbreak of war in 1939.
Battlecruisers
[
edit
]
Three O-class battlecruisers were ordered in 1939, but with the start of the war the same year there were not enough resources to build the ships.
Panzerschiffe
and Heavy cruisers
[
edit
]
The
Deutschland-class cruisers
were the
Deutschland
(renamed
Lutzow
),
Admiral Scheer
, and
Admiral Graf Spee
. Modern commentators favour classifying these as "heavy cruisers" and the
Kriegsmarine
itself reclassified these ships as such (
Schwere Kreuzer
) in 1940.
[25]
In German language usage these three ships were designed and built as "armoured ships" (
Panzerschiffe
) ? "pocket battleship" is an English label.
The
Graf Spee
was scuttled by her own crew in the Battle of the River Plate, in the
Rio de la Plata
estuary in December 1939.
Admiral Scheer
was bombed on 9 April 1945 in port at Kiel and badly damaged, essentially beyond repair, and rolled over at her moorings. After the war that part of the harbor was filled in with rubble and the hulk buried.
Lutzow
(ex-
Deutschland
) was bombed 16 April 1945 in the Baltic off Schwinemunde just west of Stettin, and settled on the shallow bottom. With the Red Army advancing across the Oder, the ship was destroyed in place to prevent the Soviets capturing anything useful. The wreck was dismantled and scrapped in 1948?1949.
[26]
The
Admiral Hipper-class cruisers
in active service were
Admiral Hipper
,
Blucher
, and
Prinz Eugen
. Cruisers
Seydlitz
,
Lutzow
were never completed.
Light cruisers
[
edit
]
The term "
light cruiser
" is a shortening of the phrase "light
armoured cruiser
". Light cruisers were defined under the
Washington Naval Treaty
by gun calibre. Light cruiser describes a small ship that was armoured 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. The Kriegsmarine light cruisers were as follows:
Never completed: three M-class cruisers
Never completed: KH-1 and KH-2 (
Kreuzer
(cruiser) Holland 1 and 2). Captured in the Netherlands 1940. Both being on the stocks and building continued for the
Kriegsmarine
.
In addition, the former
Kaiserliche Marine
light cruiser
Niobe
was captured by the Germans on 11 September 1943 after the capitulation of Italy. She was pressed into
Kriegsmarine
service for a brief time before being destroyed by British MTBs.
Auxiliary cruisers
[
edit
]
During the war, some
merchant ships
were converted into "auxiliary cruisers" and nine were used as
commerce raiders
sailing under false flags to avoid detection, and operated in all oceans with considerable effect. The German designation for the ships was '
Handelstorkreuzer
' thus the HSK serial assigned. Each had as well an administrative label more commonly used, e.g. Schiff 16 = Atlantis, Schiff 41 = Kormoran, etc. The auxiliary cruisers were:
- Orion
(HSK-1, Schiff 36)
- Atlantis
(HSK-2, Schiff 16)
- Widder
(HSK-3, Schiff 21)
- Thor
(HSK-4, Schiff 10)
- Pinguin
(HSK-5, Schiff 33)
- Stier
(HSK-6, Schiff 23)
- Komet
(HSK-7, Schiff 45)
- Kormoran
(HSK-8, Schiff 41)
- Michel
(HSK-9, Schiff 28)
- Coronel
(HSK number not assigned, Schiff 14, never active in raider operations.)
- Hansa
(HSK not assigned, Schiff 5, never active in raider operations, used as a training ship)
[27]
Destroyers
[
edit
]
Although the German World War II destroyer (
Zerstorer
) fleet was modern and the ships were larger than conventional destroyers of other navies, they had problems. 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.
[
citation needed
]
Torpedo boats
[
edit
]
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. Two classes of fleet torpedo boats were planned, but not built, in the 1940s.
E-boats (
Schnellboote
)
[
edit
]
The E-boats were
fast attack craft
with
torpedo tubes
. Over 200 boats of this type were built for the
Kriegsmarine
.
Troop ships
[
edit
]
Cap Arcona
,
Goya
,
General von Steuben
,
Monte Rosa
,
Wilhelm Gustloff
.
Miscellaneous
[
edit
]
Thousands of smaller warships and auxiliaries served in the
Kriegsmarine
, including
minelayers
,
minesweepers
, mine transports, netlayers, floating AA and torpedo batteries, command ships, decoy ships (small merchantmen with hidden weaponry),
gunboats
, monitors, escorts, patrol boats, sub-chasers, landing craft, landing support ships, training ships, test ships, torpedo recovery boats, dispatch boats, aviso, fishery protection ships, survey ships, harbor defense boats, target ships and their radio control vessels, motor explosive boats, weather ships, tankers, colliers, tenders, supply ships, tugs, barges, icebreakers, hospital and accommodation ships, floating cranes and docks, and many others. The
Kriegsmarine
employed hundreds of auxiliary
Vorpostenboote
during the war, mostly civilian ships that were drafted and fitted with military equipment, for use in coastal operations.
Submarines
[
edit
]
The Submarine Arm of the
Kriegsmarine
was titled the
U-bootwaffe
("submarine force"). At the outbreak of war, it had a fleet of 57 submarines.
[28]
This was increased steadily until mid-1943, when losses from Allied counter-measures matched the new vessels launched.
[29]
The principal types were the
Type IX
, a long range type used in the western and southern Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans; the
Type VII
, the most numerous type, used principally in the north Atlantic; and the small
Type II
, for coastal waters.
Type X
was a small class of minelayers and
Type XIV
was a specialised type used to support distant U-boat operations ? the "
Milchkuh
" (Milkcow).
Types XXI and XXIII, the "
Elektroboot
", could have negated much of the Allied anti-submarine tactics and technology, but only a few of this new type of U-boat became ready for combat at the end of the war. Post-war, they became the prototype for modern conventional submarines, such as the Soviet
Zulu 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.
[30]
Top 10 U-boat aces in World War II
Name
|
Shipping sunk
|
Otto Kretschmer
|
274,333 tons (47 ships sunk)
|
Wolfgang Luth
|
225,712 tons (43 ships)
|
Erich Topp
|
193,684 tons (34 ships)
|
Karl-Friedrich Merten
|
186,064 tons (29 ships)
|
Victor Schutze
|
171,164 tons (34 ships)
|
Herbert Schultze
|
171,122 tons (26 ships)
|
Georg Lassen
|
167,601 tons (28 ships)
|
Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock
|
166,596 tons (22 ships)
|
Heinrich Liebe
|
162,333 tons (30 ships)
|
Gunther Prien
|
160,939 tons (28 ships),
plus the British battleship
HMS
Royal Oak
inside
Scapa Flow
|
Captured ships
[
edit
]
The military campaigns in Europe yielded a large number of captured vessels, many of which were under construction. Nations represented included Austria (riverine craft), Czechoslovakia (riverine craft), Poland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Yugoslavia, Greece, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States (several landing craft), and Italy (after the armistice). Few of the incomplete ships of destroyer size or above were completed, but many smaller warships and auxiliaries were completed and commissioned into
Kriegsmarine
during the war. Additionally many captured or confiscated foreign civilian ships (merchantmen, fishing boats, tugboats etc.) were converted into auxiliary warships or support ships.
Major enemy warships sunk or destroyed
[
edit
]
The first warship sunk in World War II was the destroyer
ORP
Wicher
, of the
Polish Navy
, by Junkers Ju 87
dive bombers
from the carrier air group of aircraft carrier
Graf Zeppelin
on 3 September 1939. This carrier air group (Tragergeschwader 186) was part of the
Luftwaffe
, but at that time under command of the
Kriegsmarine
.
[31]
[32]
Organisation
[
edit
]
Command structure
[
edit
]
Adolf Hitler was the Supreme Commander of all German forces, including the
Kriegsmarine
. 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 des Stabes der Seekriegsleitung
), and a Chief of Naval Operations (
Chef der Operationsabteilung
).
[33]
The first Commander-in-Chief of the OKM was
Erich Raeder
who was the Commander-in-Chief of the
Reichsmarine
when it was renamed and reorganised in 1935. Raeder held the post until falling out with Hitler after the German failure in the Battle of the Barents Sea. He was replaced by
Karl Donitz
on 30 January 1943 who held the command until he was appointed
President of Germany
upon Hitler's suicide in April 1945.
Hans-Georg von Friedeburg
was then Commander-in-Chief of the OKM for the short period of time until Germany surrendered in May 1945.
Subordinate to these were regional,
squadron
, and temporary
flotilla
commands. Regional commands covered significant naval regions and were themselves sub-divided, as necessary. They were commanded by a
Generaladmiral
or an
Admiral
. There was a
Marineoberkommando
for the Baltic Fleet,
Nord
,
Nordsee
,
Norwegen
,
Ost/Ostsee
(formerly Baltic),
Sud
, and
West
. The
Kriegsmarine
used a form of encoding called
Gradnetzmeldeverfahren
to denote regions on a map.
Each squadron (organised by type of ship) also had a command structure with its own
Flag Officer
. The commands were Battleships, Cruisers, Destroyers, Submarines (
Fuhrer der Unterseeboote
), Torpedo Boats, Minesweepers, Reconnaissance Forces, Naval Security Forces, Big Guns and Hand Guns, and Midget Weapons.
Major naval operations were commanded by a
Flottenchef
. The
Flottenchef
controlled a flotilla and organized its actions during the operation. The commands were, by their nature, temporary.
The
Kriegsmarine
's
ship design bureau, known as the
Marineamt
, was administered by officers with experience in sea duty but not in ship design, while the
naval architects
who did the actual design work had only a theoretical understanding of design requirements. As a result, the German surface fleet was plagued by design flaws throughout the war.
[34]
Communication was undertaken using an eight-rotor system of
Enigma
encoding.
Air units
[
edit
]
The
Luftwaffe
had a near-complete monopoly on all German military aviation, including naval aviation, a source of great
interservice rivalry
with the
Kriegsmarine
. Catapult-launched spotter planes like
Arado Ar 196
twin-float seaplanes were manned by the so-called
Bordfliegergruppe 196
(shipboard flying group 196).
[35]
Tragergeschwader 186
(Carrier Air
Wing
186) operated two
Gruppen
(
Tragergruppe I/186
and
Tragergruppe II/186
) equipped with navalized Messerschmitt Bf 109T and Junkers Ju 87C Stuka; these units were intended to serve aboard the aircraft carrier
Graf Zeppelin
which was never completed, yet provided the
Kriegsmarine
with some air-power from bases on land.
[36]
Five coastal groups (
Kustenfliegergruppen
) with
reconnaissance aircraft
,
torpedo bombers
,
Minensuch
aerial minesweepers
, and
air-sea rescue
seaplanes supported the
Kriegsmarine
, although with lesser resources as the war progressed.
[37]
Coastal artillery, flak and radar units
[
edit
]
The coastal batteries of the
Kriegsmarine
were stationed on the German coasts. With the conquering and occupation of other countries coastal artillery was stationed along the coasts of these countries, especially in France and Norway as part of the
Atlantic Wall
.
[38]
Naval bases were protected by
flak-batteries
of the
Kriegsmarine
against enemy air raids. The
Kriegsmarine
also manned the
Seetakt
sea radars
on the coasts.
[38]
Marines
[
edit
]
At the beginning of World War II, on 1 September 1939, the
Marine Stoßtrupp Kompanie
(Naval Shock Troop Company) landed in Danzig from the old battleship
Schleswig-Holstein
for conquering a Polish bastion at Westerplatte. A reinforced
platoon
of the
Marine Stoßtrupp Kompanie
landed with soldiers of the German Army from destroyers on 9 April 1940 in
Narvik
. In June 1940 the
Marine Stoßtrupp Abteilung
(Marine Attack Troop Battalion) was flown in from France to the
Channel Islands
to occupy this British territory.
In September 1944 amphibious units unsuccessfully tried to capture the strategic island
Suursaari
in the
Gulf of Finland
from Germany's former ally Finland (
Operation Tanne Ost
).
With the
invasion of Normandy
in June 1944 and the Soviet advance from the summer of 1944 the
Kriegsmarine
started to form
regiments
and
divisions
for the battles on land with superfluous personnel. With the loss of naval bases because of the Allied advance more and more navy personnel were available for the ground troops of the
Kriegsmarine
. About 40 regiments were raised and from January 1945 on six divisions. Half of the regiments were absorbed by the divisions.
[39]
Personnel strength
[
edit
]
|
Personnel strength of the
Kriegsmarine
1943
[40]
Category
|
Strength
|
Commissioned officers
|
22,000
|
Officials
(
Wehrmachtbeamte
)
|
14,000
|
Petty officers and seamen
|
613,000
|
Ranks and uniforms
[
edit
]
Many different types of uniforms were worn by the
Kriegsmarine
; here is a list of the main ones:
- Dienstanzug
(Service suit)
- Kleiner Dienstanzug
(Lesser service uniform)
- Ausgehanzug
(Suit for walking out)
- Sportanzug
(Sportswear)
- Tropen-und Sommeranzug
(Tropical and summer suit) ? uniforms for hot climates
- Große Uniform
(Parade uniform)
- Kleiner Gesellschaftsanzug
(Small party suit)
- Großer Gesellschaftsanzug
(Full dress uniform)
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
"Wehrmacht > WW2 Weapons"
. 28 June 2019.
- ^
"Peace Treaty of Versailles, Articles 159-213, Military, Naval and Air Clauses"
.
net.lib.byu.edu
.
- ^
Chemical Weapons Dumped in the Ocean After World War II Could Threaten Waters Worldwide
smithsonianmag.com November 11, 2016
- ^
Wolves Without Teeth: The German Torpedo Crisis in World War Two
p. 24
- ^
Thomas, Hugh.
The Spanish Civil War
. Penguin Books. London. 2006. p.665
- ^
Siegfried Breyer:
Der Z-PLAN.
Podzun-Pallas-Verlag. Wolfersheim-Berstadt 1996.
ISBN
3-7909-0535-6
- ^
a
b
"Organization of the Kriegsmarine in the West 1940-45"
.
Feldgrau
. 4 August 2020.
- ^
Uboat.net
, U-boats in the Mediterranean ? Overview
- ^
"Battleship HMS Barham - Militar Wissen"
. Retrieved
21 July
2021
.
- ^
Garzke, William H.; Dulin, Robert O. (1985).
Battleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II
. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. pp. 145?146.
ISBN
978-0-87021-101-0
.
- ^
Koop, Gerhard; Schmolke, Klaus-Peter (1999).
Battleships of the Scharnhorst Class
. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. p. 111.
ISBN
978-1-55750-045-8
.
- ^
Hellwinkel, Lars (2014).
Hitler's Gateway to the Atlantic: German Naval Bases in France 1940-1945
(Kindle, English Translation ed.). Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. p. Kindle location 731 of 4855.
ISBN
978-184832-199-1
.
- ^
Sieche, Erwin (4 May 2007).
"German Naval Radar to 1945"
. Naval Weapons of the World
. Retrieved
23 December
2012
.
- ^
Uboat.net
, U-boat Operations ? The Monsun U-boats
- ^
Submarines: an illustrated history of their impact
Paul E. Fontenoy p.39
- ^
a
b
(in Latvian)
Kurzemes V?rds
, 5 July 1941, page 1, at website of National Library of Latvia.
Archived
30 October 2018 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Ezergailis,
The Holocaust in Latvia
, at page 209
- ^
Ezergailis,
The Holocaust in Latvia
, at page 233, n.26 and page 287
- ^
Dribins, Leo, G?tmanis, Armands, and Vestermanis, Mar?ers, Latvia's Jewish Community: History, Tragedy, Revival (2001) at page 224
- ^
a
b
Anders and Dubrovskis,
Who Died in the Holocaust
, at pages 126 and 127
- ^
"Liep?ja"
(PDF)
.
Liep?ja Jews in WWII
.
- ^
German Mine Sweeping Administration (GMSA)
Archived
20 April 2008 at the
Wayback Machine
(in German), accessed: 9 June 2008
- ^
Google book review:
German Seaman 1939?45
Page: 41, author: Gordon Williamson, John White, publisher: Osprey Publishing, accessed: 9 July 2008
- ^
"Captured Ships"
.
German Naval History
.
- ^
"Deutschland History"
.
german-navy.de
.
- ^
E. Groner, Die Schiffe der deutschen Kriegsmarine. 2nd Edition, Lehmanns, Munchen, 1976. C. Bekker, Verdammte See, Ein Kriegstagebuch der deutschen Marine. Koln, Neumann / Gobel, no date.1976,
- ^
E. Groner, Die Schiffe der deutschen Kriegsmarine. 2nd Edition. 1976, Munchen, Lehmanns Verlag.
- ^
Ireland, Bernard
(2003).
Battle of the Atlantic
. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. p. 32.
ISBN
1-84415-001-1
.
- ^
Ireland, Bernard
(2003).
Battle of the Atlantic
. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Books. p. 225.
ISBN
1-84415-001-1
.
- ^
"U-boats after World War Two - Fates - German U-boats of WWII - Kriegsmarine - uboat.net"
.
uboat.net
. Retrieved
8 May
2018
.
- ^
"Battleships sunk by the Kriegsmarine"
.
german-navy.de
.
- ^
"Carriers sunk by the Kriegsmarine"
.
german-navy.de
.
- ^
Pipes, Jason (1996?2006).
"Organization of the Kriegsmarine"
.
Feldgrau.com
. Retrieved
31 August
2007
.
- ^
Lienau, Peter (22 October 1999).
"The Working Environment for German Warship design in WWI and WWII"
. Naval Weapons of the World
. Retrieved
23 December
2012
.
- ^
"Bordfliegergruppe 196"
.
Feldgrau
. 4 August 2020.
- ^
"Tragergruppe 186"
.
Feldgrau
. 4 August 2020.
- ^
"Seefliegerverbande 1939-45"
.
www.wlb-stuttgart.de
.
- ^
a
b
J. P. Mallmann-Showell:
Das Buch der deutschen Kriegsmarine 1935?1945
. Publisher Motorbuch. Stuttgart 1995
ISBN
3-87943-880-3
p. 75-91
- ^
Jorg Benz:
Deutsche Marineinfanterie 1938?1945
. Publisher Husum Druck. Husum 1996.
ISBN
3880427992
- ^
Gesamtstarke der Kriegsmarine am 1. Mai 1943
Archived
8 February 2019 at the
Wayback Machine
2012-09-27.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Bird, Keith.
Weimar, the German Naval Officer Corps, and the Rise of National Socialism.
Amsterdam: Gruner, 1977.
- Bird, Keith.
German Naval History: A Guide to the Literature.
New York: Garland, 1985.
- Brackow, Werner.
Die Geschichte des deutschen Marine- Ingenieuroffizierskorps.
Hamburg: Stalling, 1974.
- Breyer, Siegfried, and Gerhard Koop.
Die deutsche Kriegsmarine,
7 vols., Friedberg: Podzun- Pallas, 1985.
- Dulffer, Jost.
Weimar, Hitler, und die Marine.
Dusseldorf: Droste, 1973.
- Dulffer, Jost. "Die Reichs- und Kriegsmarine, 1918-1939." In
Deutsche Marinegeschichte der Neuzeit,
337?488. Munich: Bernard und Graefe, 1977.
- Guth, Rolf. "Bild einer Crew."
Marine Rundschau
61, no. 3 (1964): 131?41.
- Guth, Rolf. "Die Organisation der deutschen Marine in Krieg und Frieden, 1913-1933." In
Deutsche Marinegeschichte der Neuzeit,
263?336. Munich: Bernard und Graefe, 1977.
- Guth, Rolf. "Die Organisation der Kriegsmarine bis 1939." In
Wehrmacht und Nationalsozialismus, 1933-1939,
401?500. Munich: Bernard und Graefe, 1978.
- Kruger, Peter. "Die Verhandlungen uber die deutsche Kriegs-und Handelsflotte auf der Konferenz von Potsdam 1945."
Marine Rundschau
63, no. 1 (1966): 10?19, 81?94.
- Lohmann, Walter, and Hans H. Hildebrandt.
Die deutsche Kriegsmarine, 1939-1945.
3 vols. Bad Nauheim: Podzun, 1956.
- Lowke, Udo F.
Die SPD und die Wehrfrage, 1949-1955.
Bonn and Bad Godesberg: Neue Gesellschaft, 1976.
- Peifer, Douglas.
The Three German Navies: Dissolution, Transition, and New Beginning.
Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2002.
- Rahn, Werner, and Gerhard Schreiber, eds.
Kriegstagebuch der Seekriegsleitung, 1939-1945.
68 vols. Herford: E.S. Mittler, 1988?1997.
- Rohwer, Jurgen.
Axis Submarine Successes 1939-1945.
Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1983.
- Rohwer, Jurgen and Gert Hummelchen.
Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939-1945.
Translated by Derek Masters. London: Ian Allan, 1974.
- Roskill, Stephen W.
The War At Sea, 1939-1945.
London: HMSO, 1954?61.
- Rossler, Eberhard.
The U-Boat: The Evolution and Technical History of German Submarines.
Translated by Harold Erenberg. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1981.
- Salewski, Michael.
Die deutsche Seekriegsleitung, 1935-1945,
vol. 2,
1942-1945.
Munich: Bernard und Graefe, 1975.
- Tarrant, V. E.
The Last Year of the Kriegsmarine: May 1944-May 1945.
Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1994.
- Thomas, Charles S.
The German Navy in the Nazi Era.
Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1990.
- Thompson, Harold Keith, and Henry Strutz.
Donitz at Nuremberg: A Reappraisal: War Crimes and the Military Professional.
New York: Amber, 1976.
External links
[
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]
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Personnel
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Crimes
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