Kriegsmarine

Kriegsmarine Jack and Ensign 1933-35
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Kriegsmarine Jack and Ensign 1933-35
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Nazi_war_flag.png
Kriegsmarine Ensign 1935-45
 and Regent Horthy of Hungary observing Kriegsmarine U-Boat maneuvers in 1938
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Hitler and Regent Horthy of Hungary observing Kriegsmarine U-Boat maneuvers in 1938

The Kriegsmarine (or "War Navy") was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945, during the Nazi regime, superseding the Reichsmarine. The main war vessels available to the Kriegsmarine were U-boats, three pocket battleships, two battleships (Bismarck and Tirpitz), two battlecruisers (Scharnhorst and Gneisenau), three heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, and various smaller ships such as destroyers, torpedo boats, minelayers, minesweepers, gunboats and E-boats. Two old WW-I battleships were used mainly as training ships. Construction of an aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin, had been started in 1936, but the vessel was never fully completed.

The main actions the navy was involved in were the invasion of Norway in April 1940, the Battle of the Atlantic and the Battle of the River Plate. Somewhat smaller engagements included the sinkings of the HMS Royal Oak, HMS Glorious, Bismarck, HMS Hood, Scharnhorst and Cap Arcona. Most of the German surface ships were pent up in or close to their ports as fleet in being, for fear of losing them in action and to tie up British naval forces. From late 1944 until the end of the war, they were heavily engaged in providing artillery support to the retreating German land forces along the Baltic coast and in ferrying refugees to the western parts of Germany.

The German Navy of today is called Deutsche Marine.

Contents

Comparative Ranks (during WWII)

German Navy U.S./British Navy
Großadmiral Fleet Admiral/Admiral of the Fleet
Generaladmiral (none)
Admiral Admiral
Vizeadmiral Vice Admiral
Konteradmiral Rear Admiral
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)

Submarines (U-boote) WWII

Top 10 U-Boat Aces WWII
266,629 tons (44 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

See also

External links

fi:Kriegsmarine fr:Kriegsmarine nl:Kriegsmarine ja:ドイツ海軍 pl:Kriegsmarine pt:Kriegsmarine

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