Commander of the North Sea Naval Forces
The commander of the naval forces of the North Sea (BSN) was an area commander in the German Navy . The seat of the commander and the office of the same name was initially Cuxhaven and from 1962 Sengwarden , since 1972 a district of Wilhelmshaven . The BSN was under the command of the fleet and was at the same time first as Commander German Northsea Subarea Central Europe ( COMNORSEACENT ), later under the name Commander German Northsea Subarea ( COMGERNORSEA ) NATO Sea Commander for the German Bight .
history
After the Bundeswehr was set up in 1955, its operational management was delegated to NATO. The newly established units were integrated into the existing NATO command structure. The naval units in the North and Baltic Seas were divided between the command areas of Central Europe and Northern Europe. Two German commanders were used as part of the NATO command structure for their leadership. On January 3, 1957, the command in command of the naval forces of the North Sea was set up.
This solution was unsatisfactory for the German Navy insofar as its forces were divided between two areas, the next joint superior of which was the NATO Commander-in-Chief for Europe, SACEUR . In 1961 it was possible to adapt the NATO command structure in northern Europe to German requirements. The core of the change was the establishment of the NATO Command Baltic Sea Accesses in January 1962. While the tasks of the Commander of the Naval Forces of the Baltic Sea were taken over by the Fleet Command and its office was dissolved, the BSN remained as NATO and national Commander under the Fleet Command until 1993.
tasks
The commander of the naval forces of the North Sea had a NATO and a national mandate. For NATO, in the event of war, he was to lead the naval forces subordinate to him in his area of responsibility. This area of responsibility comprised the North Sea off the German coast and was to the west by a line starting at the German-Dutch border (6 ° 39'E) and to the north by a line starting at the German-Danish border (55 ° 00'N) limited. The forces to be commanded were essentially the units of the German Navy stationed in the North Sea. In addition, other NATO ships entering this area should be placed under him. For example, he led the Standing Naval Force Atlantic in exercises .
His main task during the war was to safely bring convoys with supplies for the NATO troops fighting in Europe to the German North Sea ports. This task became even more important with the adoption of the NATO Reinforcement & Resupply (Re / Re) concept , because COMGERNORSEA was given considerable responsibility for the protection of replenishment transports and the main part of the task of naval shipping management in the German area of responsibility fell to it.
This resulted in different priorities for the fleet command and the BSN. While the fleet command concentrated on the fight in the Baltic Sea in almost exclusive cooperation with the Danish Navy, the BSN was responsible for escort security in the North Sea in close cooperation with NATO agencies outside the Baltic Sea access area. This division meant that the BSN, which was subordinate to the fleet command, had in many ways a better picture of the situation in its sub-area and had closer ties to the larger NATO partners than the fleet command.
As the national commander, the BSN led all German naval units that operated outside the Baltic Sea. This particularly affected those ships that took part in maneuvers and training trips in the North Sea and in the waters outside the country. He exercised this leadership not only against naval units, but against all ships of the Bundeswehr in this area, i. H. also towards ships of the Naval Office and the Armaments Department . With the exception of the Baltic Sea, his national area of responsibility was worldwide.
The division between the fleet command and the BSN was perceived as unsatisfactory. After the fleet command had been equipped with an electronic command system, on July 1, 1988 it took over the national command task for all German naval units in peacetime. The BSN was released from this task and took on a new responsibility for the tactical training of the fleet. For this purpose, the marine tactical teaching group in Wilhelmshaven was subordinate to him. This task was the main task of the BSN until the department was closed in 1993.
organization
NATO and national subordination
During the establishment of the German Navy, its units were first integrated into the existing NATO command structure . As commander for the North Sea area, the new German Commander German Northsea Subarea Central Europe was assigned to the NATO Central Europe command area and placed under the command of the Central Europe Sea Commander (COMNAVCENT). The German naval units in the Baltic Sea were under the command area NATO Northern Europe . From 1957, the use of NATO naval forces in the North and Baltic Sea area was to be coordinated between the areas by a North / Center Planning Group .
In order to take account of the changed situation due to the development of German armed forces, the NATO Allied Command Baltic Approaches (ACBA) was set up in 1962 , to which all German naval forces were assigned. At the same time the name of the Commander German Northsea Subarea Central Europe was changed to Commander German Northsea Subarea . He was now subordinate to the Flag Officer Germany , who was the commander of the fleet in a national function and in turn was subordinate to the NATO Sea Commander Baltic Sea Accesses ( COMNAVBALTAP ). In many operational matters, COMGERNORSEA was directly assigned to COMNAVBALTAP. This organization lasted until 1993.
In terms of service, the BSN was subordinate to the commander of the fleet. Except for his staff and from 1988 for the Naval Tactical Training Group, he himself was not a superior on duty, but only led the forces assigned to the mission.
Assigned powers
Marine telecommunications group 21 was permanently assigned to the BSN to provide command support .
In the event of war, the German naval forces stationed in the North Sea would have been subordinated to the BSN in order to secure the transport of supplies to German ports. These forces would have included:
- Major parts of the destroyer flotilla ,
- Parts of the supply flotilla , especially the 2nd supply squadron,
- Marinefliegergeschwader 3 anti-submarine aircraft ,
- Parts of the flotilla of the mining forces ,
- Parts of the amphibious group , in particular the landing squadron stationed in Borkum and the amphibious transport and handling battalion 2 in Emden ,
- the naval communications section 2 in Sengwarden
In addition, other NATO naval forces operating in its area of responsibility were subordinate to the BSN.
guide
The commander of the naval forces of the North Sea carried the rank of flotilla admiral (FAdm). The staff was led by a chief of staff in the rank of sea captain . In addition to the conventional departments, the staff had a department for naval shipping management, into which the naval shipping control centers in Kiel, Hamburg, Bremerhaven and Emden were incorporated on April 1, 1981. In addition, a geophysical advice center was part of the BSN staff, which supplied German ships worldwide with meteorological and oceanographic information.
- Commander
| No. | Surname | Beginning of the term of office | Term expires | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | FAdm Konrad Ehrensberger | 10/1988 | 3/1993 | |
| 15th | FAdm Friedrich Remde | 4/1986 | 9/1988 | |
| 14th | FAdm Klaus-Jürgen Steindorff | 1/1985 | 3/1986 | |
| 13 | FAdm Dieter Ehrhardt | 10/1982 | 12/1984 | |
| 12 | FAdm Klaus-Jürgen Thäter | 10/1979 | 9/1982 | |
| 11 | FAdm Dr. Helmut Meyer-Abich | 10/1976 | 9/1979 | |
| 10 | FAdm Karl Clausen | 10/1972 | 9/1976 | |
| 9 | FAdm Günter Luther | 4/1972 | 9/1972 | later Deputy Commander in Chief of the Allied Forces in Europe (DSACEUR) |
| 8th | FAdm Hans-Helmut Klose | 10/1970 | 3/1972 | then commander of the fleet |
| 7th | FAdm Armin Zimmermann | 10/1968 | 9/1970 | later General Inspector of the Bundeswehr |
| 6th | FAdm Carl-Heinz Birnbacher | 4/1967 | 9/1968 | |
| 5 | FAdm Günther Reeder | 2/1966 | 3/1967 | later chief of staff, command staff of the armed forces |
| 4th | FAdm Heinrich Erdmann | 1/1963 | 1/1966 | |
| 3 | FAdm Hubert Freiherr von Wangenheim | 7/1960 | 12/1962 | |
| 2 | FAdm Karl-Adolf Zenker | 4/1957 | 7/1960 | initially sea captain, later naval inspector |
| 1 | Sea captain Walter Berger | 1/1957 | 3/1957 | initially charged with setting up the command, then acting as commander |
Web links
literature
- Konrad Ehrensberger : 100 Years of Organization of the German Navy 1890–1990. Imperial Navy - Reichsmarine - Kriegsmarine - Federal Navy. Bonn 1993.
- Michael Kämpf: The BSN - and its time; We remember! In: Marineforum 4-2011, p. 42 f.
- Peter Monte, The role of the Navy of the Federal Republic of Germany in defense planning for Central and Northern Europe from the 1950s to the turn of 1989/90; in: * Werner Rahn (Ed.): German Marines in Transition. Munich 2005, ISBN 3-486-57674-7 , p. 565 ff.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Federal Archives Stock BM 11
- ↑ a b Peter Monte, The role of the Navy of the Federal Republic of Germany in defense planning for Central and Northern Europe from the 1950s to the turn of 1989/90; in: * Werner Rahn (Ed.): German Marines in Transition. Munich 2005, ISBN 3-486-57674-7 , p. 565 ff.
- ↑ a b c d Michael Kämpf. The BSN - and its time; We remember! In: Marineforum 4-2011, p. 42 f.
- ↑ Hanshermann Vohs. Conceptual Aspects of the 1980s; in: German Marine Institute and German Marine Academy (ed.); The German Navy - Historical Self-Image and Positioning; Herford and Bonn 1983. ISBN 3-8132-0157-0
- ^ Federal archive stock BM 47