The Naval Protection Force (German: Marineschutzkräfte — MSK) was a marine unit of the

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified ''Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Mari ...

. It had the size of a

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions a ...

and was part of the 1st Flotilla ('' Einsatzflottille 1''). It was established on April 1, 2005, but traces its roots back to 1958, when the so-called ''Sea battalion'' (''Seebataillon'') was activated. Its headquarters was in Eckernförde on the

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 ...

. Next to the ''Naval Special Deployment Force'' (Spezialisierte Einsatzkräfte Marine, SEKM), the Naval Protection Force were considered to be a marine element within the German Navy. The Naval Protection Force battalion was organized into five units: one staff and support company, three naval protection companies and one

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may rang ...

. On 1 April 2014 the Naval Protection Force became an integral part of the re-formed ''Seebataillon'' ( Naval Force Protection Battalion).

Structure

The Naval Protection Force (''Marineschutzkräfte'') consisted out of around 500 soldiers and structured into a staff company, three combat companies plus a

HUMINT Human intelligence (abbreviated HUMINT and pronounced as ''hyoo-mint'') is intelligence gathered by means of interpersonal contact, as opposed to the more technical intelligence gathering disciplines such as signals intelligence (SIGINT), imager ...

platoon. Every company, led by a lieutenant (''Kapitänleutnant'', OF-2). * Marineschutzkräfte (HQ)Marineschutzkräfte on www.marine.de (german)
/ref> ** Staff and Support Company (S1, S2, S3, S4, S6) ** 1st Company *** 1st platoon *** 2nd platoon *** 3rd platoon *** 4th platoon ** 2nd Company *** 1st platoon *** 2nd platoon *** 3rd platoon *** 4th platoon ** 3rd Company *** 1st platoon *** 2nd platoon *** 3rd platoon *** 4th platoon **

platoon

Deployments

Despite their short time of existence (8 years), the German Naval Protection Forces participated in a range of national and international Deployments.

International Deployments

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

: 8th contingent of

ISAF ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , command ...

(one

Infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

unit) *

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

: Deployment within EUFOR *

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

: Deployment within Operation Enduring Freedom * Horn of Africa: Deployment within

Operation Atalanta Operation Atalanta, formally European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia, is a current counter-piracy military operation at sea off the Horn of Africa and in the Western Indian Ocean, that is the first naval operation conducted by the Eu ...

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

: Deployment within KFOR *

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

: Mobile Protection Elements (MPE) for the protection of UNIFIL vessels *

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

: Harbour Protection Element (HPE) in

Limassol Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...

to secure the German operated UNIFIL base

National Deployments

* Protection of US-American facilities as part of the Host Nation Support in 2003 * Protection of US-American ships during the

Kiel Week The Kiel Week (german: Kieler Woche) or Kiel Regatta is an annual sailing event in Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the largest sailing event in Europe, and also one of the largest Volksfeste in Germany, attracting ...

* Protection of the Ammunition Supply Ship Westerwald during the mission- and training passage to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and back

Equipment

Personal Weapons

Heckler & Koch G36 The Heckler & Koch G36 (Gewehr 36) is a 5.56×45mm assault rifle designed in the early 1990s by German weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch as a replacement for the heavier 7.62×51mm G3 battle rifle. It was accepted into service with the ''Bu ...

, an Assault rifle *

Heckler & Koch MG4 The Heckler & Koch MG4 (also known as the HK123) is a belt-fed 5.56 mm light machine gun designed and developed by German firearm manufacturer Heckler & Koch. It was developed in the late 1990s and first seen publicly in September 2001. It has be ...

, a

Light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the sa ...

Rheinmetall MG3 The MG 3 is a German general-purpose machine gun chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. The weapon's design is derived from the World War II era MG 42 ''Einheitsmaschinengewehr'' (Universal machine gun) that fired the 7.92×57mm Mauser ro ...

, a

General-purpose machine gun A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered for v ...

* M3M, a

Heavy machine gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ...

Heckler & Koch MP7 The Heckler & Koch MP7 (German: ''Maschinenpistole 7'') is a personal defense weapon chambered for the HK 4.6×30mm armor-piercing cartridge designed by German defence manufacturer Heckler & Koch. It was designed (together with the new cartri ...

, a Submachine gun * MP2, a Submachine gun *

Heckler & Koch MP5 The Heckler & Koch MP5 (german: Maschinenpistole 5) is a 9x19mm Parabellum submachine gun, developed in the 1960s by a team of engineers from the German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. There are over 100 variants and clones of the MP5, ...

, a Submachine gun * P8, a Pistol * G22, a Sniper rifle * G82, a Sniper rifle *

Heckler & Koch G3 The Heckler & Koch G3 (''Gewehr'' 3) is a 7.62×51mm NATO, select-fire battle rifle developed in the 1950s by the German armament manufacturer Heckler & Koch (H&K) in collaboration with the Spanish state-owned design and development agency CET ...

, a Battle rifle * G28, a

Designated marksman rifle A designated marksman rifle (DMR) is a modern scoped high-precision rifle used by infantrymen in the designated marksman (DM) role. It generally fills the engagement range gap between a service rifle and a dedicated sniper rifle, at aroun ...

Anti-Tank- / Anti-Structure Weapons

Panzerfaust 3 The Panzerfaust 3 (lit. "armor fist" or "tank fist") is a modern semi-disposable recoilless anti-tank weapon, which was developed between 1978 and 1985 and first entered service with the Bundeswehr in 1987 (although they did not officially adopt ...

, an Anti-tank Rocket launcher * Raytheon Fliegerfaust 2, a

Man-portable air-defense systems Man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS or MPADS) are portable surface-to-air missiles. They are guided weapons and are a threat to low-flying aircraft, especially helicopters. Overview MANPADS were developed in the 1950s to provide military ...

MILAN Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, an

Anti-tank missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulder ...

Vehicles

References

{{reflist

External links

Official information o
marine de

Naval Protection Force
(German) Other information:
www.marine-portraits.de: Portrait of Naval Protection Force (MSK)
(German) Military units and formations established in 2005 Military units and formations disestablished in 2014 Military units and formations of the German Navy Special forces of Germany

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...