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The ''Reichsmarine'' ( en, Realm Navy) was the name of the German Navy during the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
and first two years of Nazi Germany. It was the naval branch of the '' Reichswehr'', existing from 1919 to 1935. In 1935, it became known as the '' Kriegsmarine'' (War Navy), a branch of the '' Wehrmacht''; a change implemented by
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
. Many of the administrative and organizational tenets of the ''Reichsmarine'' were then carried over into the organization of the ''Kriegsmarine''.


''Vorläufige Reichsmarine''

The ''Vorläufige Reichsmarine'' ( en, Provisional Realm Navy) was formed after the end of World War I from the Imperial German Navy. The provisions of the Treaty of Versailles restricted the German Navy to 15,000 men and no submarines, while the fleet was limited to six
pre-dreadnought battleship Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late- 1880s and 1905, before the launch of in 1906. The pre-dreadnought ships replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, protec ...
s, six light cruisers, twelve destroyers, and twelve
torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of se ...
s. Replacements for the outdated battleships were restricted to a maximum size of 10,000 tons.


''Reichsmarine''

The ''Reichsmarine'' was considered the armed naval force of the ''Reichswehrministerium'' ( Ministry of the Reichswehr) which was headed by a civilian minister appointed by the government of the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
. The senior most naval officer was known until 1920 as the ''Chef der Admiralität'' (Chief of the Admiralty), after which the title changed to ''Chef der Marineleitung'' (Chief of the Naval Command).


Naval headquarters

The naval commander oversaw a headquarters office known as the ''Marinekommandiertenabteilung'' which was headquartered in Berlin. The Naval Command also maintained a headquarters intelligence office (''Marinenachrichtenoffizier'') and a naval archives. Internal to the naval headquarters five offices known as the: * ''Marinekommandoamt'' (A) – Operations * ''Allgemeine Marineamt'' (B) – General Administration * ''Marineverwaltungsamt'' (C) – Personnel and Administration * ''Marinewaffenamt'' (''MWa'') – Naval War Office * ''Marinekonstruktionsamt'' (K) – Naval Construction Office The following officers served as head of the ''Reichsmarine'' from 1918 to 1935 ;Chief of the Admiralty (''Chef der Admiralität'') ;Heads of the Naval Command (''Chefs der Marineleitung'')


Fleet command

The fleet command of the Reichsmarine (''Flottenkommando'') was headquartered at Kiel and consisted of a flag staff and fleet commander embarked on board the flagship of the German fleet. During the 1920s, the German flagship was the ''
SMS Schleswig-Holstein SMS ''Schleswig-Holstein'' () was the last of the five pre-dreadnought s built by the German Kaiserliche Marine. The ship, named for the province of Schleswig-Holstein, was laid down in the Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel in August 1905 and ...
'' with two naval officers serving as fleet commander, ''Vizeadmiral''
Hans Zenker Hans Zenker (10 August 1870 in Bielitz – 18 August 1932 in Göttingen) was a German admiral. Biography Born in Bielitz (now Bielsko-Biała, Poland), he entered the Imperial German Navy on 13 April 1889. After serving as captain of several torp ...
and Konrad Mommsen, between 1923 and 1927. The fleet commander position was then left vacant, but the flag staff remained. The purpose of fleet command was to oversee the four major type commanders of German naval vessels. These commands were in turn responsible for the administration of various German ship classes to include equipment development, vessel deployments, and personnel assignment. Once at sea, operational control of the vessels switched to the commanders of the two main Naval Sea Stations. The four type commands were: * ''Befehlshaber der Linienschiffe'' –
Commander of Ships of the Line The Commander of Ships of the Line (''Befehlshaber der Linienschiffe'') was a naval command of the Reichsmarine, as well as briefly the Kriegsmarine, from 1930 through 1936. The commander of liners was an administrative posting assigned to oversee ...
, headquartered at Kiel, the flagship in 1933 was the cruiser ''Deutschland'' * ''Befehlshaber der Aufklärungsstreitkräfte'' – Commander of Reconnaissance Craft, flagship was the cruiser ''Königsberg'' headquartered at Kiel * ''Führer der Torpedoboote'' – Leader of Torpedo-boats, headquartered at Swinemünde overseeing four flotillas of torpedo boats * ''Führer der Minsensuchboote'' – Leader of Minesweepers, headquartered at Kiel commanding two minesweeper flotillas and one ''Räumbooten'' ("
R boat The R boats (''Räumboote'' in German, meaning ''minesweeper'') were a group of small naval vessels built as minesweepers for the ''Kriegsmarine'' (German navy) before and during the Second World War. They were used for several purposes during th ...
") mine auxiliary unit.


Naval sea stations

The Reichsmarine did not maintain traditional at-sea fleets, but instead assigned two geographical areas (known as ''Marinestation'') which oversaw all vessels operationally deployed in the
North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...
and
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
s. Each naval station maintained a headquarters staff, general naval inspectorate, training department, artillery arsenal inspector, as well as a medical command unit. The naval stations also served as a senior officer for the commanders of the various German navy ports.Waldeyer-Hartz, H. Ein Mann: Das Leben des Admirals Ludwig v. Schröder. Vieweg+Teubner Verlag (1934), pg. 47 Naval stations of the Reichsmarine * ''
Marinestation der Nordsee The Marinestation der Nordsee (North Sea Naval Station) of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) at Wilhelmshaven came out of the efforts of the navy of the North German Confederation. The land was obtained for the Confederation from the ...
'' (North Sea naval station) – headquartered at Wilhelmshaven, overseeing the ports of
Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is an independent town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven ...
and
Borkum Borkum ( nds, Borkum, Börkum) is an island and a municipality in the Leer District in Lower Saxony, northwestern Germany. It is situated east of Rottumeroog and west of Juist. Geography Borkum is bordered to the west by the Westerems strait ...
* ''
Marinestation der Ostsee The Marinestation der Ostsee (Baltic Sea Naval Station) was a command of both the Imperial German Navy, and the Reichsmarine which served as a shore command for German naval units operating primarily in the Baltic Sea. The station was headquarter ...
'' (Baltic Sea naval station) – headquartered at Kiel, overseeing the ports of Swinemünde and
Pillau Baltiysk (russian: Балти́йск; german: Pillau; Old Prussian: ''Pillawa''; pl, Piława; lt, Piliava; Yiddish: פּילאַווע, ''Pilave'') is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, R ...


Ships and equipment

The Treaty of Versailles limited the size and armament of the ''Reichsmarine'' and prevented it from introducing new technologies. The restrictions were intended to prevent the German Navy from becoming a threat to the Allied powers. On the other hand, the Allies had made certain that the ''Reichsmarine'' would be in the foreseeable future the strongest power in the Baltic Sea, in order to serve as a counterweight against the new Soviet Union, which was viewed with distrust by the Allies. Germany was only allowed six
pre-dreadnought battleship Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late- 1880s and 1905, before the launch of in 1906. The pre-dreadnought ships replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, protec ...
s (plus two in Reserve), six cruisers (plus two in Reserve), twelve destroyers (plus four in Reserve), and twelve torpedo boats (plus four in Reserve). The ''Reichsmarine'' tried to meet the arms restrictions with secret armament and technical innovations such as the introduction of the
pocket battleship The ''Deutschland'' class was a series of three ''Panzerschiffe'' (armored ships), a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by the ''Reichsmarine'' officially in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. The ships of the cl ...
. List of ''Reichsmarine'' ships * s ** (1907–1944) ** (1908–1945) ** (1908-1944) * s ** (1904–1932) ** (1904–1936) ** (1905–1960) ** (1905-1931) ** (1906-1931) * s ** (1904–1927) ** (1906-1929) * s (3,033 tons, 10 × 105 mm guns) ** (1900–1925) ** (1900–1931) ** (1901–1929) ** (1901–1931) ** (1901–1945) ** (1903–1945) * ''Emden''-class cruiser (6,000 tons, 8 x 150 mm guns) ** (1925-1945) * cruisers (7,200 tons, 9 x 150 mm guns) ** (1929–1940) ** (1929–1940) ** (1930–1945) * s (8,000 tons, 9 x 150 mm guns) ** (1931–1946) ** (1935–1945) * s (10,800 tons, 6 x 280 mm guns) ** (1933–1948) ** (1934–1945) ** (1936–1939) * Type 23 torpedo boats (923 tons, 3 × 105 mm guns) ** (1926–1944) ** (1928–1944) ** (1927–1944) ** (1928–1944) ** (1928–1940) ** (1927–1942) *
Type 24 torpedo boat The Type 24 torpedo boat (also known as the (german: Raubtier (Carnivore) class) was a group of six torpedo boats built for the ''Reichsmarine'' during the 1920s. As part of the renamed ''Kriegsmarine'', the boats made multiple non-intervention p ...
s (933 tons, 3 × 105 mm guns) ** (1928–1941) ** (1928–1942) ** (1929–1944) ** (1929–1940) ** (1929–1940) ** (1929–1939) * Survey ship ** (1924–1945) * Radio-controlled target ship ** (1902–1945)


See also

*
NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw (''Dutch: engineer-office for shipbuilding''), usually contracted to IvS, was a Dutch dummy company set up in The Hague and funded by the ''Reichsmarine'' after World War I in order to maintain and develop G ...


References

{{Authority control Disbanded navies Naval history of Germany Military of the Weimar Republic Military of Nazi Germany 1920s in Germany 1930s in Germany 1919 establishments in Germany 1935 disestablishments in Germany Military units and formations established in 1919 Military units and formations disestablished in 1935


External links


The German Navy 1919-1935 (Vorläufige Reichsmarine)