Kriegsmarine from past to present
XXXIII-type nuclear submarine in North Sea.
The foundations of new Navy, the Kriegsmarine, were laid upon the remnants of the Kaiserliche Marine that was abolished by the ”peace treaty” of Versailles. The new Reichsmarine that operated in the years of the Weimar republic was allowed to maintain only a small unit of pre-1914 era ships for coastal defense – a force clearly not adequate to defend even the most critical sea zones. At the time the navy was regarded as the symbol of nation´s power and welfare, and an important indicator of independence and freedom. The reductions of navy dictated by the Entente Powers were thus aimed to forever disgrace this iron shield of the German people.
Although the overall status of the navy looked very grim in the 1920´s, this problem was not considered as a stranglehold but more like a challenge that could surely be overcome with German intellect like so many problems before it. The submarine program that had performed so well in the Great War was brought back to life, and expert groups supported by Krupp started to design new, advanced U-Boot-models. Due the restrictions of Versailles Germany herself was not allowed to built them, but their licenses were sold to Spain, Turkey and Finland. While the submarine fleet would be an important part of deterring the danger, a new surface fleet was still considered to be necessary for the future needs of Germany. Restrictions imposed by the Versailles treaty forced Weimar republic to strictly follow a harsh tonnage-limit for any new ships build. The new Panzerschiff-program, initiated in 1929, circumvented these insane restrictions and resulted to a ship with a brilliant design: It was theoretically able to sink anything faster than it, while it was simultaneously able to outrun it´s heavier opponents at will. The first ship of the class was first called Deutschland, later Lützow, and her launching marked the new rise of the German naval forces.
Grand plans
When the chaos and corruption of the Weimar years was finally swept away, the new National Socialist Germany took a strong stand to the issue of rebuilding her previously disgraced Navy. To symbolize the change of course the whole Navy was renamed to Kriegsmarine, a name used even today. The production plans of 1933 included a new flagship, the battlecruiser Scharnhorst, planned to meet the challenge of the French Dunkerque that was in turn designed solely to counter the design of Lützow. Naturally the Führer also released Germany from the previous navy restrictions along with the rest of the "shackles of Versailles", and by 1934 a new battlecruiser Gneisenau was finished. During the same year a number of 28 new VII-class submarines were launched. The new leader of the German fleet was first Grand Admiral Raeder, who was later replaced with Admiral Karl Dönitz who was known as a skillful and bold tactician, characteristics well suited to a man with a task of leading Kriegsmarine to victory.
Karl Dönitz, the legendary wartime commander of Kriegsmarine.
The neighbouring states of Germany were alarmed with the rise of a new and powerful Kriegsmarine, and supported by the League of Nations they tried to stop the new naval armament program, but aware of her status as a major European power Germany rejected all suggested deals. In the year 1937 the Führer realized that a sentiment of envious hostility was taking root in Great Britain, and being aware of the terrible toll of the Entente naval embargo during the Weltkrieg he launched the Z-Plan that was planned to counter possible future aggression by the Royal Navy. The plan included 6 new battleships, 12 heavy cruisers, 6 light cruisers, 4 aircraft carriers and 223 submarines, all scheduled to be combat ready within ten years. When considering the state of German drydock industry at the time the Z-plan was a huge task, and this would affect the course of the whole war. Only a small part of all planned ships were ready when the war broke out, however, with especially the German submarine fleet being far from ready.
The strength of Kriegsmarine is tested
When the war began in 1939 the Kriegsmarine took hardly any contact with the small Polish navy, but in the campaign against France it proved to be very efficient force, being capable to successful attacks despite it´s small size. After the French surrender a wide campaign against the British naval superiority was initiated. The sound design of the Panzerschiffe-class was proved in practice in the sea battle of Rio de la Plata, where the Admiral Graf Spee skillfully commanded by Hans Langsdorff clashed with three British cruisers. One of the British ships was badly mauled, and Admiral Graf Spee survived the battle against numerical superiority with small bruises. Another great victory was the sinking of the British aircraft carrier Courageous. The whole German Navy shoved considerable determination and courage in the struggle against the Royal Navy, and by June 1940 the British destroyer fleet that had entered the war with 202 ships had only 79 vessels left. The British merchant fleet suffered heavy casualties when the ”grey wolves” of Atlantic buried hundreds of merchants ships to their watery graves. By the fall 1940 the German battleship Bismarck and the first aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin were finished, and another carrier, Peter Strasser, was launched in the winter of the same year.
The common crewmen of the German U-boat Fleet lived in harsh conditions during the Battle of Atlantic.
Aiming for the decisive battle
Shocked by the early-war successes of Kriegsmarine the British Admiralty came to conclusion that it would be best to seek to challenge the Germans to a decisive battle while the numbers were still strongly favoring the Royal Navy. A major strike force consisting of carriers Formidable, Ark Royal and Illustrious, battleships King George V, Prince of Wales, Valiant, Resolution and battlecruisers Hood, Repulse and Renown accompanied by the heavy cruiser Sheffield and a number of escorting destroyers was assembled. Norwegian Sea was selected as the scene of the battle, because a major victory there would force the Kriegsmarine to withdrew from their bases in Norway, thus easing Britain´s struggle in the Battle of the Atlantic. The main target was the moderately strong German fleet based on Trondheim and nearby fjords. The British plan was to use a convoy of transport ships as a decoy to lure the German ships to the narrow sounds of Froan Isles, where they would then be ambushed and sunk.
The German flagship Bismarck had been launched at 24th of August 1940, leaving the ship´s Commodore Liedemann and his crew only little less than three months to exercise with the new ship. And a fine ship she was indeed, with excellent defensive and offensive capabilities. Impressive main armament of eight 380mm and twelve 150mm cannons was supported by the new ”radiotelemeter”, a new kind of a range finder radar operating at 90cm wave length. The ships main armor was thick, with 320mm at hull, up to 355mm in the towers and 200mm at deck. The wideness and many water-proof compartments of the ship´s hull protected it below the water surface, and it´s 138 000hp engines propelled it with the maximum speed of 30 knots. This brand-new pride of Kriegsmarine was soon to leave to her first combat mission. Admiral Lütjens, the commander of the German battle group would have preferred to wait until Admiral von Tirpitz, the sister-ship of Bismarck would be ready to service, but this would have forced the surface fleet to spend many long weeks idle, a pause the Kriesgmarine could not afford at the time. Lütjens had to come by with the ships that were immediately available: The carrier Graf Zeppelin, battlecruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, Panzerschiffe-class Admiral Graf Spee and Lützow and heavy cruisers Admiral Hipper and Prinz Eugen supported by light cruisers and destroyers.
KMS Bismarck became a symbol of the new Kriegsmarine.
At the dawn of 17th of November 1940, 0532 GTM the Trondheim radar-station picked up several contacts that were identified as transports ships and escorting destroyers on their way north a few miles away from the Froan Islands. One cruiser was also detected. Bismarck, Gneisenau and Scharnhorst were dispatched to intercept the convoy with the task of sinking the destroyers and the lone cruiser. They were escorted with Admiral Hipper that was tasked to destroy the transports. At 0616 GTM Bismarck was the first German ship to make a visual contact with multiple transports and a cruiser that was identified as the Sheffield. Heavy fog was causing problems for the gunners, and thus Scharnhorst was ordered to close in with Sheffield and then sunk it with the support of Gneisenau. At 0623 GTM Scharnhorst opened fire with all of her main guns, scoring multiple hits and forcing the British crew to start to evacuate the doomed ship. But as soon as Scharnhorst had fired, she received a terrible barrage of fire to her side from the fog. Unable to make visual contact and return fire, the Scharnhorst requested help. With the cover of fog Gneisenau sailed forth south from Scharnhorst and detected a large British fleet of three carriers and multiple battleships and -cruisers. Desperate to save the Scharnhorst, the Gneisenau blazed away and engaged.
Meanwhile the German flagship Bismarck had already alerted the reserve force consisting of Graf Zeppelin, Admiral Graf Spee, Lützow and Prinz Eugen, and they were due to arrive to the battle at 20 minutes. Luftwaffe was unable to interfere because of the heavy fog. Despite the difficult weather British carriers Formidable, Ark Royal and Illustrious ordered their Swordfish-squadrons to air, and when they swarmed towards Gneisenau the captain Fritz von Stelle realized his ship was doomed. In a display of extreme courage and honor he kept the course towards the British carriers and accelerated the ship to maximum speed. Under constant fire from the British ships the Gneisenau lunged towards her destiny. At 0637 GTM Gneisenau and Ark Royal collided with fatal consequences to both ships. After the collision to the quickly sinking Ark Royal, Gneisenau was a flaming, wrecked hull that was no longer steerable, and unexpectedly the ship changed course right when the the battleship Valiant that had desperately tried to stop the attacking German closed in to finish her kill. In vain the British crew tried to turn away to avoid collision but failed to do so in time. When Gneisenau collided to the left rear of the British warship, her keel ruptured the British hull and damaged the diesel tanks. A huge explosion littered the foggy North Atlantic, and Valiant turned upwards and quickly sank to the depths.
The explosion that destroyed Valiant and further damaged Gneisenau.
After losing over 800 men and being quickly filled with water, the scarred and burning wreck of Gneisenau was amazingly still floating, albeit just barely. As the Repulse closed in, the heroic martyr captain Von Stelle and his remaining crew turned their last operational guntower towards the enemy and sacrificed their lives for the victory. At 6.43 GTM Gneisenau was destroyed by the heavy fire of Repulse and Prince of Wales. The Reich shall always remember their heroes Fritz von Stelle and his crewmen and honor their undying memory.
After slowly closing in to engagement range Bismarck, determined avenge the loss of Gneisenau opened fire in the mids of mist, firing a full salvo against the Prince of Wales. The British ships immediately returned fire, but their poor positioning prevented them from bringing all their main guns to bear. In addition one of the battleships 356mm main guns malfunctioned and couldn´t be reloaded any more. In a few minutes the unlucky Prince of Wales received a fatal hit to her bridge, costing the lives of all commanding officers except of the Commodore Leach and one signalmen. In addition more technical malfunctions were reported from the ships main guntowers. Leach gave the order to fire a smoke-screen and disengage, but before the order could be carried out a new salvo of 380mm grenades struck home and the British dreadnought vanished to the waves.
The engagement between the Bismarck and Prince of Wales was a true clash of titans, and the last major sea battle between battleships fought in Atlantic.
During the course of this heavy engagement the Bismarck too had taken several heavy blows. The most serious damage caused by Prince of Wales was a hit near to the gas tanks, which were now leaking. Seawater was mixing with the ship´s fuel, thus seriously hampering the ship´s operational capability and leaving a large trail of oil to the sea behind it.
The final phase of the Battle of Froan Islands
At this point heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper was already on the scene supporting the Bismarck, and now both German warships engaged Repulse that had so far been untouched by enemy fire. In a matter of minutes the Royal Navy battlecruiser was hit with four 380mm and three 203mm grenades. Yet their bad luck and setbacks seemed to only increase the British determination, and now the Scharnhorst, Bismarck and Admiral Hipper were finally attacked by the Swordfish-torpedo bombers that had sneaked in trough the fog. The King George V, Hood and Renown started a furious counter-attack with a goal of sinking the German flagship. Bravely Bismarck braced hits from British ships and planes, trying to cover the evacuation of Scharnhorst crew to Admiral Hipper. At 6.51 GTM Graf Zeppelin had sailed close enough, and now she launched her own aircraft to the fray. The German dive bombers were able to set the Hood ablaze, but by this point the devastating AA fire of the British fleet had already crippled the unexperienced German dive bomber squadrons.
KMS Graf Zeppelin in harbour before her first combat assignment.
Despite the air cover provided by Graf Zeppelin, the second attack of the low-flying British Swordfish wings was successful and they scored two new hits to German battleship. The first torpedo exploded rather harmlessly at the lower hull but the second struck to Bismarck´s rear, damaged the engines and jammed the rudders. After trying desperately but without success to get the rudders movingm Lütjens sent his last message: ”We can no longer steer the ship. Will fight to the last grenade. Hurrah for Führer.” After going a full circle due the jammed rudders the Bismarck was now going straight towards the British battleships. The vengeful Royal Navy vessels fired with all the might of their ten 356mm and nine 406mm main guns, until all that remained of Bismarck was a scarred hull, in flames from keel to rear. But few of her guns were still operational, and in the mids of thick clouds of black diesel smoke flashed a distant yellow flame for one last time. The guntowers of forward deck fired their last salvo and after this the huge hull sinked to the icy waters of North Atlantic, flag still flying like once was the grand tradition of old Kaiserliche Marine.
The few BV 155s of Graf Zeppelin were busy protecting the remaining German fleet of the low-flying Swordfish torpedo bombers but were unable to save Bismarck.
At this time the lighter German ships that had accompanied the Graf Zeppelin to the battlefield engaged and torpedoed the badly-damaged Hood, then moving in to harass the battlecruiser Renown. Admiral Tovey understood that the original plan had failed and withdrew the fleet. The few remaining German Stukas followed the British ships in retreat but failed to score any major hits. The outcome of the battle was a major victory for the Kriegsmarine, and it forced the British to reinforce the Home Fleet with several additional ships to secure the Northern Atlantic. During the Battle of the Foan Islands the Royal Navy lost a carrier, five major combat ships and several destroyers. In addition the King George V required massive repairs, and Renown spent the rest of the war undergoing repairs as well.
Final coup de grace
The German losses of the Battle of Foan Islands, 3 capital ships and one devastated CAG were of course a devastating blow for Kriegsmarine as well. The completion of Bismark-class battleship Admiral von Tirpitz and carrier Peter Strasser eased the situation somewhat in the following winter. During the later phases of the war surface fleet was further strengthened with the captured French battleship Clemenceau (Berhard von Bülow from 1941) and the Sovietskaya Ukraine (Gotenland from 1942) captured from the Soviets. In addition other vessels of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet were captured relatively intact in 1943. In German shipyards the two Bismarck-class battleships, Friedrich der Grosse and Grossadmiral Raeder were under construction, but the focus on submarine production and allied bombing campaign delayed their production so much that they were not finished until the end of hostilities.
After Froan Islands the Royal Navy was increasingly hard-pressed to prevent the sinking of majority of her merchant fleet by German merchant raiders and U-boats, but the situation changed radically when the United States entered the war. The casualties of convoy ships still remained high, but finally the Allies seemed to find a solution for the problem when they were able to breach the German Enigma-code used in submarine warfare. Luckily the German secret service Abwehr was able to find out about this setback, and Dönitz recalled all U-Boats back to their bases to be refitted with the new Haifisch-class encryption. This and the introduction of Kriegsmarine´s own airforce gave the German submarine fleet a fighting chance during the grim midwar years, but more still was required to finally crack the British resistance. The solution was finally found with the new XXI and XXII Electro-models of U-Boats and their successful mass production. These first true submarines were truly revolutionary in design. Their important new features included the implementation of the new snorkels and electrical engines that enabled them to remain submerged for much longer periods of time. The research of postwar statistics has shown that over 60% of convoy casualties to trade-, cargo- and troop transport ships were caused by the Electro-type U-boots. It was this trade embargo that finally brought the Britons to realize the insane bloodlust and warmongering of their leaders and that finally led to the resignation of the wartime government. Thus the Kriegsmarine was in a pivotal role in ending the war and laying the foundations of New Europe.
Postwar Kriegsmarine
Nuclear carrier KMS Lemuria.
After the war the Führer was convinced that Germany should continue the naval arms race against the West. In the year 1948 the Z-2 plan was initiated to rearm the navy. The Germans took advance of their advanced submarine technology, and the new U-boats were produced in large numbers in the first post-war years. This forced the NATO-countries to continue the development of their radar- and SONAR-technology even further and in this field it was the Germans who were always one step behind. Another major flaw of postwar Kriegsmarine was the small number of aircraft carriers. Germany had only the old Graf Zeppelin, Peter Strasser, light conversion carriers Bremen and Europa and Adler (formerly Italian Aquila) in their arsenal at the end of the war. To counter this drawback Kriegsmarine quickly adopted the new missile weapons, developed in the late-war years as a pivotal new part of their maritime arsenal. The tests of sea-launched V2- and V3-class missiles had begun during the late-war years, and the shift to even larger cruise missiles and strategic Grossdeutschland-class nuclear powered missile cruisers marked the revival of Kriegsmarine surface fleet.
In 1968 and 1969 the new helicopter support ships Kiel and Lübeck were launched, followed by new nuclear powered aircraft carriers Niebelung, Asgard, Atlantis and Lemuria. The large nuclear "supercarrier" Valkyrie was launched in 1980. The new flagship of Kriegsmarine has a arsenal of nuclear weapons and a direct link to the Adlertag-satellite. The strategic submarine fleet is also constantly enlarged, but information about it is not available in public. The heavy units of German surface fleet have served the Reich for long, the oldest ones being WWII-vintage. Admiral von Tirpitz was recently retired from service with grand ceremonies, and converted to a museum ship. The battleships Friedrich der Grosse and Grossadmiral Raeder were modernized in the 1970´s and are still in active service. They are supported by the last built German battleship, the Grossadmiral Dönitz that has been equipped with extremely strong missile and AA weaponry and launched in 1972 under the insistence of Hoffner. The Kriegsmarine cruisers have a main combat role of anti-air duty. Most of them can also launch cruise missiles and ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. The most numerous models in use are Grossdeutschland- and Enigma-classes.
Kriegsmarine fleets and bases
Polar Fleet (Kola-Haf)
59 nuclear submarines
200 airplanes
64 helicopters
49 frigades and destroyers
North Sea Fleet (Trondheim)
Nuclear carrier Niebelung
Battleship Friedrich der Große
2 helicopter carriers (Kiel, Lübeck)
3 battlecruiser (Siegfried, Admiral Weneker, Admiral von Capelle)
Baltic Fleet (Kiel)
2 battleships (Raeder, Dönitz)
3 battlecruisers (Grossdeutschland, Olympia, Karl Galster)
3 missilecruisers (Königsberg, Karlsruhe, Kolberg)
26 frigates ja destroyers
230 support ships
200 airplanes
Atlantic Fleet (Brest)
Nuclear carrier Asgard
Nuclear carrier Atlantis
248 submarines
Black Sea Fleet (Theoderichshafen)
Battlecruiser Theoderich der Große
6 missilecruisers
26 submarines
7 amphibious assault ships
Minefleet Alarich
Coastal Defence Brigade Erich Kepler
85 helicopters
Mediterranean Fleet (La Spezia)
Nuclear carrier Lemuria
3 missile cruisers
12 destroyers
24 submarines
Modern Kriegsmarine
Walhalla-class nuclear carriers
Valkyrie, 1980
Niebelung-class nuclear carriers
Niebelung
Asgard
Atlantis
Lemuria
Kiel-class helicopter carriers
Kiel
Lübeck
Hindenburg-class battleships
Friedrich der Große
Grossadmiral Raeder
Grossadmiral Dönitz
Grossdeutschland-class cruisers
Grossdeutschland
Olympia
Karl Galster
Siegfried
Admiral Weneker
Admiral von Capelle
Theoderich der Grosse
Enigma-class missile cruisers
Admiral von Koester
Lobgesang
Hammerherz
Schwertz
Danzig
Königsberg
Karlsruhe
Breslau
Kolberg
Flensburg
XXXIII-type nuclear submarines
Von Holtzedorff-type submarine support vessels
Kriegsmarine during WWII
* Graf Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers
o Graf Zeppelin, 1940
o Peter Strasser, 1941
* Bremen-class light carriers
o Bremen, 1942
o Europa, 1943
* Bismarck-class battleships
o Bismarck, 1939 (→1940)
o Admiral Tirpitz, 1941
o Friedrich der Große, 1945
o Grossadmiral Raeder, 1946
* Gneisenau-class battlecruisers
o Gneisenau, 1936 (→1940)
o Scharnhorst, 1936 (→1940)
* Deutschland-class heavy cruisers
o Lützow, 1931
o Admiral Graf Spee, 1933
o Admiral Scheer, 1934 (→1945)
* Admiral Hipper-class cruisers
o Admiral Hipper, 1937
o Blücher, 1937 (→1940)
o Prinz Eugen, 1938
o Seydlitz, 1944
* Captured battleships
o Clemenceau, 1941 (von Bülow)
o Sovietskaya Ukraina, 1942 (Gotenland)
o Parizhskaya Kommuna, 1943 (Horst Wessel)
* Light cruisers
o Emden, 1925
o Königsberg, 1925 (→1940)
o Karlsruhe, 1927 (→1940)
o Köln, 1928 (→1945)
o Leipzig, 1929 (→1946)
o Nürnberg, 1934
* During the war Germany produced 1114 U-boats, and 743 of them were lost.
XXXIII-type nuclear submarine in North Sea.
The foundations of new Navy, the Kriegsmarine, were laid upon the remnants of the Kaiserliche Marine that was abolished by the ”peace treaty” of Versailles. The new Reichsmarine that operated in the years of the Weimar republic was allowed to maintain only a small unit of pre-1914 era ships for coastal defense – a force clearly not adequate to defend even the most critical sea zones. At the time the navy was regarded as the symbol of nation´s power and welfare, and an important indicator of independence and freedom. The reductions of navy dictated by the Entente Powers were thus aimed to forever disgrace this iron shield of the German people.
Although the overall status of the navy looked very grim in the 1920´s, this problem was not considered as a stranglehold but more like a challenge that could surely be overcome with German intellect like so many problems before it. The submarine program that had performed so well in the Great War was brought back to life, and expert groups supported by Krupp started to design new, advanced U-Boot-models. Due the restrictions of Versailles Germany herself was not allowed to built them, but their licenses were sold to Spain, Turkey and Finland. While the submarine fleet would be an important part of deterring the danger, a new surface fleet was still considered to be necessary for the future needs of Germany. Restrictions imposed by the Versailles treaty forced Weimar republic to strictly follow a harsh tonnage-limit for any new ships build. The new Panzerschiff-program, initiated in 1929, circumvented these insane restrictions and resulted to a ship with a brilliant design: It was theoretically able to sink anything faster than it, while it was simultaneously able to outrun it´s heavier opponents at will. The first ship of the class was first called Deutschland, later Lützow, and her launching marked the new rise of the German naval forces.
Grand plans
When the chaos and corruption of the Weimar years was finally swept away, the new National Socialist Germany took a strong stand to the issue of rebuilding her previously disgraced Navy. To symbolize the change of course the whole Navy was renamed to Kriegsmarine, a name used even today. The production plans of 1933 included a new flagship, the battlecruiser Scharnhorst, planned to meet the challenge of the French Dunkerque that was in turn designed solely to counter the design of Lützow. Naturally the Führer also released Germany from the previous navy restrictions along with the rest of the "shackles of Versailles", and by 1934 a new battlecruiser Gneisenau was finished. During the same year a number of 28 new VII-class submarines were launched. The new leader of the German fleet was first Grand Admiral Raeder, who was later replaced with Admiral Karl Dönitz who was known as a skillful and bold tactician, characteristics well suited to a man with a task of leading Kriegsmarine to victory.
Karl Dönitz, the legendary wartime commander of Kriegsmarine.
The neighbouring states of Germany were alarmed with the rise of a new and powerful Kriegsmarine, and supported by the League of Nations they tried to stop the new naval armament program, but aware of her status as a major European power Germany rejected all suggested deals. In the year 1937 the Führer realized that a sentiment of envious hostility was taking root in Great Britain, and being aware of the terrible toll of the Entente naval embargo during the Weltkrieg he launched the Z-Plan that was planned to counter possible future aggression by the Royal Navy. The plan included 6 new battleships, 12 heavy cruisers, 6 light cruisers, 4 aircraft carriers and 223 submarines, all scheduled to be combat ready within ten years. When considering the state of German drydock industry at the time the Z-plan was a huge task, and this would affect the course of the whole war. Only a small part of all planned ships were ready when the war broke out, however, with especially the German submarine fleet being far from ready.
The strength of Kriegsmarine is tested
When the war began in 1939 the Kriegsmarine took hardly any contact with the small Polish navy, but in the campaign against France it proved to be very efficient force, being capable to successful attacks despite it´s small size. After the French surrender a wide campaign against the British naval superiority was initiated. The sound design of the Panzerschiffe-class was proved in practice in the sea battle of Rio de la Plata, where the Admiral Graf Spee skillfully commanded by Hans Langsdorff clashed with three British cruisers. One of the British ships was badly mauled, and Admiral Graf Spee survived the battle against numerical superiority with small bruises. Another great victory was the sinking of the British aircraft carrier Courageous. The whole German Navy shoved considerable determination and courage in the struggle against the Royal Navy, and by June 1940 the British destroyer fleet that had entered the war with 202 ships had only 79 vessels left. The British merchant fleet suffered heavy casualties when the ”grey wolves” of Atlantic buried hundreds of merchants ships to their watery graves. By the fall 1940 the German battleship Bismarck and the first aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin were finished, and another carrier, Peter Strasser, was launched in the winter of the same year.
The common crewmen of the German U-boat Fleet lived in harsh conditions during the Battle of Atlantic.
Aiming for the decisive battle
Shocked by the early-war successes of Kriegsmarine the British Admiralty came to conclusion that it would be best to seek to challenge the Germans to a decisive battle while the numbers were still strongly favoring the Royal Navy. A major strike force consisting of carriers Formidable, Ark Royal and Illustrious, battleships King George V, Prince of Wales, Valiant, Resolution and battlecruisers Hood, Repulse and Renown accompanied by the heavy cruiser Sheffield and a number of escorting destroyers was assembled. Norwegian Sea was selected as the scene of the battle, because a major victory there would force the Kriegsmarine to withdrew from their bases in Norway, thus easing Britain´s struggle in the Battle of the Atlantic. The main target was the moderately strong German fleet based on Trondheim and nearby fjords. The British plan was to use a convoy of transport ships as a decoy to lure the German ships to the narrow sounds of Froan Isles, where they would then be ambushed and sunk.
The German flagship Bismarck had been launched at 24th of August 1940, leaving the ship´s Commodore Liedemann and his crew only little less than three months to exercise with the new ship. And a fine ship she was indeed, with excellent defensive and offensive capabilities. Impressive main armament of eight 380mm and twelve 150mm cannons was supported by the new ”radiotelemeter”, a new kind of a range finder radar operating at 90cm wave length. The ships main armor was thick, with 320mm at hull, up to 355mm in the towers and 200mm at deck. The wideness and many water-proof compartments of the ship´s hull protected it below the water surface, and it´s 138 000hp engines propelled it with the maximum speed of 30 knots. This brand-new pride of Kriegsmarine was soon to leave to her first combat mission. Admiral Lütjens, the commander of the German battle group would have preferred to wait until Admiral von Tirpitz, the sister-ship of Bismarck would be ready to service, but this would have forced the surface fleet to spend many long weeks idle, a pause the Kriesgmarine could not afford at the time. Lütjens had to come by with the ships that were immediately available: The carrier Graf Zeppelin, battlecruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, Panzerschiffe-class Admiral Graf Spee and Lützow and heavy cruisers Admiral Hipper and Prinz Eugen supported by light cruisers and destroyers.
KMS Bismarck became a symbol of the new Kriegsmarine.
At the dawn of 17th of November 1940, 0532 GTM the Trondheim radar-station picked up several contacts that were identified as transports ships and escorting destroyers on their way north a few miles away from the Froan Islands. One cruiser was also detected. Bismarck, Gneisenau and Scharnhorst were dispatched to intercept the convoy with the task of sinking the destroyers and the lone cruiser. They were escorted with Admiral Hipper that was tasked to destroy the transports. At 0616 GTM Bismarck was the first German ship to make a visual contact with multiple transports and a cruiser that was identified as the Sheffield. Heavy fog was causing problems for the gunners, and thus Scharnhorst was ordered to close in with Sheffield and then sunk it with the support of Gneisenau. At 0623 GTM Scharnhorst opened fire with all of her main guns, scoring multiple hits and forcing the British crew to start to evacuate the doomed ship. But as soon as Scharnhorst had fired, she received a terrible barrage of fire to her side from the fog. Unable to make visual contact and return fire, the Scharnhorst requested help. With the cover of fog Gneisenau sailed forth south from Scharnhorst and detected a large British fleet of three carriers and multiple battleships and -cruisers. Desperate to save the Scharnhorst, the Gneisenau blazed away and engaged.
Meanwhile the German flagship Bismarck had already alerted the reserve force consisting of Graf Zeppelin, Admiral Graf Spee, Lützow and Prinz Eugen, and they were due to arrive to the battle at 20 minutes. Luftwaffe was unable to interfere because of the heavy fog. Despite the difficult weather British carriers Formidable, Ark Royal and Illustrious ordered their Swordfish-squadrons to air, and when they swarmed towards Gneisenau the captain Fritz von Stelle realized his ship was doomed. In a display of extreme courage and honor he kept the course towards the British carriers and accelerated the ship to maximum speed. Under constant fire from the British ships the Gneisenau lunged towards her destiny. At 0637 GTM Gneisenau and Ark Royal collided with fatal consequences to both ships. After the collision to the quickly sinking Ark Royal, Gneisenau was a flaming, wrecked hull that was no longer steerable, and unexpectedly the ship changed course right when the the battleship Valiant that had desperately tried to stop the attacking German closed in to finish her kill. In vain the British crew tried to turn away to avoid collision but failed to do so in time. When Gneisenau collided to the left rear of the British warship, her keel ruptured the British hull and damaged the diesel tanks. A huge explosion littered the foggy North Atlantic, and Valiant turned upwards and quickly sank to the depths.
The explosion that destroyed Valiant and further damaged Gneisenau.
After losing over 800 men and being quickly filled with water, the scarred and burning wreck of Gneisenau was amazingly still floating, albeit just barely. As the Repulse closed in, the heroic martyr captain Von Stelle and his remaining crew turned their last operational guntower towards the enemy and sacrificed their lives for the victory. At 6.43 GTM Gneisenau was destroyed by the heavy fire of Repulse and Prince of Wales. The Reich shall always remember their heroes Fritz von Stelle and his crewmen and honor their undying memory.
After slowly closing in to engagement range Bismarck, determined avenge the loss of Gneisenau opened fire in the mids of mist, firing a full salvo against the Prince of Wales. The British ships immediately returned fire, but their poor positioning prevented them from bringing all their main guns to bear. In addition one of the battleships 356mm main guns malfunctioned and couldn´t be reloaded any more. In a few minutes the unlucky Prince of Wales received a fatal hit to her bridge, costing the lives of all commanding officers except of the Commodore Leach and one signalmen. In addition more technical malfunctions were reported from the ships main guntowers. Leach gave the order to fire a smoke-screen and disengage, but before the order could be carried out a new salvo of 380mm grenades struck home and the British dreadnought vanished to the waves.
The engagement between the Bismarck and Prince of Wales was a true clash of titans, and the last major sea battle between battleships fought in Atlantic.
During the course of this heavy engagement the Bismarck too had taken several heavy blows. The most serious damage caused by Prince of Wales was a hit near to the gas tanks, which were now leaking. Seawater was mixing with the ship´s fuel, thus seriously hampering the ship´s operational capability and leaving a large trail of oil to the sea behind it.
The final phase of the Battle of Froan Islands
At this point heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper was already on the scene supporting the Bismarck, and now both German warships engaged Repulse that had so far been untouched by enemy fire. In a matter of minutes the Royal Navy battlecruiser was hit with four 380mm and three 203mm grenades. Yet their bad luck and setbacks seemed to only increase the British determination, and now the Scharnhorst, Bismarck and Admiral Hipper were finally attacked by the Swordfish-torpedo bombers that had sneaked in trough the fog. The King George V, Hood and Renown started a furious counter-attack with a goal of sinking the German flagship. Bravely Bismarck braced hits from British ships and planes, trying to cover the evacuation of Scharnhorst crew to Admiral Hipper. At 6.51 GTM Graf Zeppelin had sailed close enough, and now she launched her own aircraft to the fray. The German dive bombers were able to set the Hood ablaze, but by this point the devastating AA fire of the British fleet had already crippled the unexperienced German dive bomber squadrons.
KMS Graf Zeppelin in harbour before her first combat assignment.
Despite the air cover provided by Graf Zeppelin, the second attack of the low-flying British Swordfish wings was successful and they scored two new hits to German battleship. The first torpedo exploded rather harmlessly at the lower hull but the second struck to Bismarck´s rear, damaged the engines and jammed the rudders. After trying desperately but without success to get the rudders movingm Lütjens sent his last message: ”We can no longer steer the ship. Will fight to the last grenade. Hurrah for Führer.” After going a full circle due the jammed rudders the Bismarck was now going straight towards the British battleships. The vengeful Royal Navy vessels fired with all the might of their ten 356mm and nine 406mm main guns, until all that remained of Bismarck was a scarred hull, in flames from keel to rear. But few of her guns were still operational, and in the mids of thick clouds of black diesel smoke flashed a distant yellow flame for one last time. The guntowers of forward deck fired their last salvo and after this the huge hull sinked to the icy waters of North Atlantic, flag still flying like once was the grand tradition of old Kaiserliche Marine.
The few BV 155s of Graf Zeppelin were busy protecting the remaining German fleet of the low-flying Swordfish torpedo bombers but were unable to save Bismarck.
At this time the lighter German ships that had accompanied the Graf Zeppelin to the battlefield engaged and torpedoed the badly-damaged Hood, then moving in to harass the battlecruiser Renown. Admiral Tovey understood that the original plan had failed and withdrew the fleet. The few remaining German Stukas followed the British ships in retreat but failed to score any major hits. The outcome of the battle was a major victory for the Kriegsmarine, and it forced the British to reinforce the Home Fleet with several additional ships to secure the Northern Atlantic. During the Battle of the Foan Islands the Royal Navy lost a carrier, five major combat ships and several destroyers. In addition the King George V required massive repairs, and Renown spent the rest of the war undergoing repairs as well.
Final coup de grace
The German losses of the Battle of Foan Islands, 3 capital ships and one devastated CAG were of course a devastating blow for Kriegsmarine as well. The completion of Bismark-class battleship Admiral von Tirpitz and carrier Peter Strasser eased the situation somewhat in the following winter. During the later phases of the war surface fleet was further strengthened with the captured French battleship Clemenceau (Berhard von Bülow from 1941) and the Sovietskaya Ukraine (Gotenland from 1942) captured from the Soviets. In addition other vessels of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet were captured relatively intact in 1943. In German shipyards the two Bismarck-class battleships, Friedrich der Grosse and Grossadmiral Raeder were under construction, but the focus on submarine production and allied bombing campaign delayed their production so much that they were not finished until the end of hostilities.
After Froan Islands the Royal Navy was increasingly hard-pressed to prevent the sinking of majority of her merchant fleet by German merchant raiders and U-boats, but the situation changed radically when the United States entered the war. The casualties of convoy ships still remained high, but finally the Allies seemed to find a solution for the problem when they were able to breach the German Enigma-code used in submarine warfare. Luckily the German secret service Abwehr was able to find out about this setback, and Dönitz recalled all U-Boats back to their bases to be refitted with the new Haifisch-class encryption. This and the introduction of Kriegsmarine´s own airforce gave the German submarine fleet a fighting chance during the grim midwar years, but more still was required to finally crack the British resistance. The solution was finally found with the new XXI and XXII Electro-models of U-Boats and their successful mass production. These first true submarines were truly revolutionary in design. Their important new features included the implementation of the new snorkels and electrical engines that enabled them to remain submerged for much longer periods of time. The research of postwar statistics has shown that over 60% of convoy casualties to trade-, cargo- and troop transport ships were caused by the Electro-type U-boots. It was this trade embargo that finally brought the Britons to realize the insane bloodlust and warmongering of their leaders and that finally led to the resignation of the wartime government. Thus the Kriegsmarine was in a pivotal role in ending the war and laying the foundations of New Europe.
Postwar Kriegsmarine
Nuclear carrier KMS Lemuria.
After the war the Führer was convinced that Germany should continue the naval arms race against the West. In the year 1948 the Z-2 plan was initiated to rearm the navy. The Germans took advance of their advanced submarine technology, and the new U-boats were produced in large numbers in the first post-war years. This forced the NATO-countries to continue the development of their radar- and SONAR-technology even further and in this field it was the Germans who were always one step behind. Another major flaw of postwar Kriegsmarine was the small number of aircraft carriers. Germany had only the old Graf Zeppelin, Peter Strasser, light conversion carriers Bremen and Europa and Adler (formerly Italian Aquila) in their arsenal at the end of the war. To counter this drawback Kriegsmarine quickly adopted the new missile weapons, developed in the late-war years as a pivotal new part of their maritime arsenal. The tests of sea-launched V2- and V3-class missiles had begun during the late-war years, and the shift to even larger cruise missiles and strategic Grossdeutschland-class nuclear powered missile cruisers marked the revival of Kriegsmarine surface fleet.
In 1968 and 1969 the new helicopter support ships Kiel and Lübeck were launched, followed by new nuclear powered aircraft carriers Niebelung, Asgard, Atlantis and Lemuria. The large nuclear "supercarrier" Valkyrie was launched in 1980. The new flagship of Kriegsmarine has a arsenal of nuclear weapons and a direct link to the Adlertag-satellite. The strategic submarine fleet is also constantly enlarged, but information about it is not available in public. The heavy units of German surface fleet have served the Reich for long, the oldest ones being WWII-vintage. Admiral von Tirpitz was recently retired from service with grand ceremonies, and converted to a museum ship. The battleships Friedrich der Grosse and Grossadmiral Raeder were modernized in the 1970´s and are still in active service. They are supported by the last built German battleship, the Grossadmiral Dönitz that has been equipped with extremely strong missile and AA weaponry and launched in 1972 under the insistence of Hoffner. The Kriegsmarine cruisers have a main combat role of anti-air duty. Most of them can also launch cruise missiles and ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. The most numerous models in use are Grossdeutschland- and Enigma-classes.
Kriegsmarine fleets and bases
Polar Fleet (Kola-Haf)
59 nuclear submarines
200 airplanes
64 helicopters
49 frigades and destroyers
North Sea Fleet (Trondheim)
Nuclear carrier Niebelung
Battleship Friedrich der Große
2 helicopter carriers (Kiel, Lübeck)
3 battlecruiser (Siegfried, Admiral Weneker, Admiral von Capelle)
Baltic Fleet (Kiel)
2 battleships (Raeder, Dönitz)
3 battlecruisers (Grossdeutschland, Olympia, Karl Galster)
3 missilecruisers (Königsberg, Karlsruhe, Kolberg)
26 frigates ja destroyers
230 support ships
200 airplanes
Atlantic Fleet (Brest)
Nuclear carrier Asgard
Nuclear carrier Atlantis
248 submarines
Black Sea Fleet (Theoderichshafen)
Battlecruiser Theoderich der Große
6 missilecruisers
26 submarines
7 amphibious assault ships
Minefleet Alarich
Coastal Defence Brigade Erich Kepler
85 helicopters
Mediterranean Fleet (La Spezia)
Nuclear carrier Lemuria
3 missile cruisers
12 destroyers
24 submarines
Modern Kriegsmarine
Walhalla-class nuclear carriers
Valkyrie, 1980
Niebelung-class nuclear carriers
Niebelung
Asgard
Atlantis
Lemuria
Kiel-class helicopter carriers
Kiel
Lübeck
Hindenburg-class battleships
Friedrich der Große
Grossadmiral Raeder
Grossadmiral Dönitz
Grossdeutschland-class cruisers
Grossdeutschland
Olympia
Karl Galster
Siegfried
Admiral Weneker
Admiral von Capelle
Theoderich der Grosse
Enigma-class missile cruisers
Admiral von Koester
Lobgesang
Hammerherz
Schwertz
Danzig
Königsberg
Karlsruhe
Breslau
Kolberg
Flensburg
XXXIII-type nuclear submarines
Von Holtzedorff-type submarine support vessels
Kriegsmarine during WWII
* Graf Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers
o Graf Zeppelin, 1940
o Peter Strasser, 1941
* Bremen-class light carriers
o Bremen, 1942
o Europa, 1943
* Bismarck-class battleships
o Bismarck, 1939 (→1940)
o Admiral Tirpitz, 1941
o Friedrich der Große, 1945
o Grossadmiral Raeder, 1946
* Gneisenau-class battlecruisers
o Gneisenau, 1936 (→1940)
o Scharnhorst, 1936 (→1940)
* Deutschland-class heavy cruisers
o Lützow, 1931
o Admiral Graf Spee, 1933
o Admiral Scheer, 1934 (→1945)
* Admiral Hipper-class cruisers
o Admiral Hipper, 1937
o Blücher, 1937 (→1940)
o Prinz Eugen, 1938
o Seydlitz, 1944
* Captured battleships
o Clemenceau, 1941 (von Bülow)
o Sovietskaya Ukraina, 1942 (Gotenland)
o Parizhskaya Kommuna, 1943 (Horst Wessel)
* Light cruisers
o Emden, 1925
o Königsberg, 1925 (→1940)
o Karlsruhe, 1927 (→1940)
o Köln, 1928 (→1945)
o Leipzig, 1929 (→1946)
o Nürnberg, 1934
* During the war Germany produced 1114 U-boats, and 743 of them were lost.
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