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Kriegsmarine

Kriegsmarine Jack
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Kriegsmarine Jack
 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.

The main battles the navy fought were 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.

The German Navy of today is called Deutsche Marine.

Contents

Comparative Ranks (during WWII)

Submarines (U-boote) WWII

German Navy U.S./British Navy
Großadmiral
(Grandadmiral)
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.)
Leutnant zur See Ensign/Sub-Lieutenant
Oberfähnrich zur See Cadet/Midshipman (Senior)
Fähnrich zur See Cadet/Midshipman (Junior)
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 Mertn
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

Last updated: 08-06-2005 20:48:53
Last updated: 08-27-2005 18:18:07