Kriegsmarine

The Kriegsmarine was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Reichsmarine as part of the country’s rearmament and became one of the three main branches of the Wehrmacht's armed forces. The service was governed by the Oberkommando der Marine (OKM), with leadership alternating between Grand Admiral Erich Raeder (1935–1943) and Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz (1943–1945).

Formed during a rapid build-up in the 1930s, the Kriegsmarine emphasized both a capable surface fleet and a large submarine arm. Its prominent ships included the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the pocket battleship Graf Spee, the battleship Bismarck, heavy cruisers, destroyers, and the expanding U-boat service that would become a central element of its strategy.

During World War II the Kriegsmarine conducted operations in the Baltic and North Seas, supported the occupation of Norway (Operation Weserübung) in 1940, and pursued the decisive U-boat campaign against Allied shipping in the Atlantic. Submarine warfare, aided by wolfpack tactics, confronted Allied convoys for much of the early war, but by 1943 improved convoy defense, air cover, and technology reduced U-boat success and caused heavy losses.

Facing material shortages and diminishing strategic options, the Kriegsmarine remained largely on the defensive in the later years of the war. After Germany's surrender in May 1945, its ships and personnel were seized or demobilized, and the navy was dissolved. Postwar German naval forces would later form the basis for the West German Navy established in the 1950s as part of the rearmament of West Germany.

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