Fleet command

Fleet Command - FlKdo -
active	June 15, 1956 to 2012
Country	Germany
Armed forces	armed forces
Armed forces	German Navy
Type	Higher command authority
Insinuation	Navy inspector
Headquarters	Glücksburg - Meierwik , Schleswig-Holstein
insignia
Flag of a Vice Admiral in command of the fleet

The Fleet Command ( FlKdo ) was from 1956 to 2012 a higher command authority of the German Navy with its seat in Glücksburg - Meierwik near Flensburg and headquarters of the commander of the fleet .

As part of the realignment of the Bundeswehr , the previous three higher naval staffs were dissolved in 2012. These were the naval command staff, the naval command and the naval office . The leadership of the Navy and the belonging to their fleet units since October 1, 2012. incumbent on the Marine command in Rostock.

history

In the various German navies of the past, the larger combat ships were usually grouped under the name of the fleet , for example in the Imperial Navy under the name of the deep sea fleet . The commanders traditionally carried the designation of the fleet chief , which is still used unofficially today. The staff of the fleet commander was called Fleet Command .

With the installation of the German Navy in 1956 was as a national implementing agency on June 15, 1956 command of the naval forces in Sengwarden in Wilhelmshaven established that on March 5, 1958, initially command of the fleet on 1 January 1967 in Fleet Command was renamed. First in command (later in command) was Rear Admiral Rolf Johannesson . On December 1, 1960, the fleet command began to move to its new location in Glücksburg-Meierwik on the outskirts of Flensburg - Mürwik , near the base there .

The German naval forces were initially subordinate to NATO , so that the fleet command only had an administrative function. The commanders of the Naval Forces North Sea (BSN) and Baltic Sea (BSO) were initially subordinate to the command of the fleet, but were directly subordinate to NATO for operational purposes. The BSO command was already dissolved on August 31, 1961 and its management tasks were transferred to the fleet command. The BSN continued until 1993 and carried the NATO designation Commander German North Sea Subarea (COMGERNORSEA). Since August 1961 he was directly under the command of the fleet. His place of employment was Sengwarden near Wilhelmshaven.

At the same time, in 1961, the NATO command structure in Northern Europe was adapted to the changes brought about by the German rearmament and the establishment of the German Navy as the largest NATO sea power in the Baltic region . In addition to its national function, the fleet command was assigned a task as a headquarters assigned to NATO, the commander of the fleet was assigned the NATO designation Flag Officer Germany (FOG). The first FOG was Rear Admiral Smidt. In this function he was subordinate to the NATO Commander Naval Forces Baltic Approaches (COMNAVBALTAP) in Karup / Denmark , who was set up on December 6, 1961, and his position was held alternately by a Danish and a German Vice Admiral. The BSN / COMGERNORSEA was subordinate to the commander of the fleet in terms of operations and troops. These functions ceased to exist in the course of the gradual downsizing of the NATO command structure after the end of the East-West conflict.

assignment

Clock tower of the fleet command (2014)

Troop service leadership

The commander of the fleet was the troop service and disciplinary superior of the departments under his control. He was responsible for preparing the associations and units for operations. This included staffing, equipment and training. The naval and sea air forces subordinated to the national, troop service command of the fleet command were grouped into operational flotillas and naval aviation squadrons.

Operations management

While the fleet command had to manage the operations of the German fleet and allied forces in a defined geographical area of ​​responsibility for NATO during the Cold War , this task ceased to exist after 1990. The NATO assignment was also canceled as part of several adjustments to the NATO command structure. Instead, the fleet command led naval units in foreign missions of the Bundeswehr, provided that the units involved were not subordinate to the operational command near Potsdam . It was also available for maritime command tasks in military operations of the European Union . All German naval forces participating in exercises and maneuvers at sea were also directly led by the fleet command.

The fleet command , as the SAR control center, was responsible for the deployment of military rescue helicopters in the German coastal waters, in Schleswig-Holstein and in Hamburg .

Former structure

The naval floating and flying units were subordinate to the commander of the fleet. He held the rank of Vice Admiral and was subordinate to the Inspector of the Navy in the Federal Ministry of Defense . The NATO designation of the commander of the fleet was Commander-in-Chief German Fleet (CINCGERFLEET), for the Fleet Command Maritime Headquarters Gluecksburg (MHQ Gluecksburg).

In the command organization of the Bundeswehr , the fleet command was one of the command commands of the armed forces and organizational areas alongside the army command command , the air force command command , the medical command command and the armed forces support command .

Otherwise the structure looked like this:

• Commander of the fleet
  • Equality officer of the fleet
  • Deputy Commander of the Fleet
    • Chief of Staff
      • Central office
      • M1 - staff
      • M2 - Military Intelligence
      • M3 insert
        • Navy Shipping Management
        • SAR control center
      • M4 - logistics
      • M5 - Principle and deployment planning
      • M6 - leadership support
      • M7 - training, exercises, evaluation, nautical science
      • M8 - administration
      • M Air - naval aviators
      • Department of Admiralty Marine
      • Task Force
      • Leadership support group
        • Naval Headquarters (MHQ)
        • Naval Command Support Center A
        • Naval Command Support Center B, Wilhelmshaven
        • Naval Command Support Center C ( Naval Radio Station Rhauderfehn )
      • Geographic information service
      • Organization of the fleet
    • Admiralty in the Navy
    • Commissioned naval aviator
    • Military chaplaincy
    • Operative controlling
    • Navy press and information center
      • Marine Music Corps North Sea , Wilhelmshaven
      • Marine Music Corps Baltic Sea , Kiel
      • Troop Visit Center Kiel
    • Legal advisor and defense disciplinary attorney

Organization of the fleet

• Operation Flotilla 1 , Kiel
  • Center of Excellence for Operations in Confined and Shallow Waters
  • 1st Corvette Squadron, Warnemünde
  • 1st submarine squadron, Eckernförde
  • 3rd Minesweeping Squadron , Kiel
  • 7th Schnellbootgeschwader, Warnemünde
  • Specialized marine forces , Eckernförde
  • Marine protection forces , Eckernförde
• Operation Flotilla 2 , Wilhelmshaven
  • 2nd frigate squadron
  • 4th frigate squadron
  • Baggage squadron
• Naval Aviation Squadron 3 "Graf Zeppelin" , Nordholz
• Marinefliegergeschwader 5 , Kiel
• Maritime Medical Institute of the Navy , Kiel-Kronshagen

Commander

Command sign of the Commander in Chief of the Fleet
Flag of a Vice Admiral

The name of the military superior of the fleet changed several times in the early years. One after the other, the designations were Commander of the Naval Forces , Commander of the Fleet , Commander of the Naval Forces and later Commander of the Fleet . The commander of the fleet had held the rank of vice admiral since the mid-1960s.

No.	Surname	Beginning of the term of office	Term expires	Remarks
19th	Rear Admiral Michael Mollenhauer	0July 1, 2011	Sep 30 2012	entrusted with the conduct of business
18th	Vice Admiral Manfred Nielson	0July 1, 2010	June 30, 2011
17th	VAdm Hans-Joachim Stricker	2006	2010
16	VAdm Wolfgang E. Nolting	2003	2006	then Inspector of the Navy
15th	VAdm Lutz Feldt	2000	2003	then Inspector of the Navy
14th	VAdm Dirk Horten	1995	2000
13	VAdm Hans-Rudolf Boehmer	1993	1995	then Inspector of the Navy
12	VAdm Dieter Franz Braun	1990	1993
11	VAdm Klaus Rehder	1986	1990
10	VAdm Hans-Joachim Mann	1985	1986	then Inspector of the Navy
9	VAdm Günter Fromm	1978	1985	longest period of service as "fleet chief" in German naval history
8th	VAdm Hans-Helmut Klose	1975	1978
7th	VAdm Paul Hartwig	1972	1975
6th	VAdm Armin Zimmermann	1970	1972	then General Inspector of the Bundeswehr
5	VAdm Karl Hetz	1966	1970
4th	VAdm Heinrich Gerlach	1963	1966
3	Rear Admiral Karl E. Smidt	1961	1963	first flag officer Germany
2	KAdm Rolf Johannesson	1957	1961	initially flotilla admiral
1	Flotilla Admiral Max-Eckhardt Wolff	1956	1957	led the command of the naval forces temporarily, initially as a sea ​​captain

In the meantime, the Deputy Inspector of the Navy was given the title of Commander of the Fleet and Support Forces, so that there is now a Commander of the Fleet in the naval command.

The barracks of the fleet command

View to Meierwik, Winzigerhuk where the Fleet Command building is located; " Huk " means in North German: a head start in the course of a coast, an excellent point of the shore

The fleet command was housed in a barracks complex that was built before the Second World War as part of the officers' school of the Kriegsmarine . Said barracks are located in Glücksburg-Meierwik, a suburb of the city of Flensburg, which has grown together with Flensburg's Mürwik district . The barracks is a bit remote on the eastern edge of Meierwik, in the middle of the Wille forest , west of the Quellenental . With this peripheral location, the barracks are about four kilometers northeast of Mürwik. The barracks area is also located above the steep coast of the Flensburg Fjord (Winzigerhuk). From the beginning of the 20th century, numerous naval facilities were built in Mürwik , including the Mürwik Naval School . The barracks in Meierwik was completed in 1939 and initially only served as training for junior officers in the Navy. From 1942 onwards, officer candidates were also trained here . The Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, General Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg , had his quarters here and committed suicide by cyanide on May 23, 1945.

After the capitulation in 1945, the complex was accommodation for displaced persons (2500 Poles) and from around 1948 accommodation for displaced persons and refugees.

In 1956 the German Navy took over the barracks. It had its own boat harbor, which was demolished in the 1980s. The canteen building, which also housed the officers' mess and the crew dormitory, has been in disrepair since the 1990s. The various buildings are connected by underground passages. There is also a large clock tower on the site .

The command center itself, also known as the naval headquarters (MHQ), is located in an underground protective structure. It has had a computer-aided management system since the 1980s . The MHQ includes extensive telecommunications systems. Protective structures and telecommunications systems will continue to be used until a later move to Rostock. The future of the site is uncertain.

See also

• History of the German Navy

literature

• Flottenkommando (Ed.): 40 years Fleet Command Staff. Glücksburg 1996.
• Friedrich Forstmeier : The development of the fleet command. Lectures of the 7th historical-tactical conference of the fleet on December 5th and 6th, 1963 (= contributions to defense research . Volume 4). Defense and Knowledge Publishing Company, Darmstadt 1964.
• Press and information center of the Navy (ed.): The fleet. Glücksburg 2004.

Web links

Commons : Flottenkommando  - collection of images

• The fleet command ( memento of January 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) on www.marine.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ as command of the naval forces
2. ↑ Hartmut Nöldeke: The fleet doctors of the German navy from 1890 to 1990. A contribution to the history of the marine medical service. In: Jürgen Rhades: Yearbook of the Navy - Episode 17 . Bonn 1991, ISBN 3-7637-4702-8 , p. 109 ff.
3. ^ Lars Jahresling: Half a century of successful change. Fifty years of existence of the Fleet Command . In: Marineforum 9-2006 , p. 26ff (part I) and Marineforum 10-2006 , p. 48ff (part II).
4. ^ The commanders of the fleet ( Memento from January 31, 2011 in the Internet Archive ).
5. ↑ Naval shipping control organization ( Memento of May 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ).
6. ↑ What weather for the fleet? ( Memento from December 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
7. Jump up ↑ Jürgen R. Draxler: Admiral doctor: Missions call for marine medical services. Marine Press and Information Center, July 1, 2008, accessed May 12, 2014 . 
8. ↑ Newsroom. Marine press and information center. (No longer available online.) Na presseportal, archived from the original on May 9, 2014 ; accessed on May 12, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ^ Marinemusikkorps Nordsee ( Memento from March 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ).
10. ^ Michael Schröder: Internet presence of the Marine Music Corps Baltic Sea. Bundeswehr, November 25, 2013, accessed on May 12, 2014 . 
11. ↑ Press and Information Center Navy: The Navy introduces itself. Bundeswehr, March 3, 2014, accessed on May 12, 2014 . 
12. ↑ Press and Information Center Navy: Operation Flotilla 1st Bundeswehr, April 1, 2014, accessed on May 12, 2014 . 
13. ↑ Press and Information Center Navy: Operation Flotilla 2nd Bundeswehr, February 6, 2014, accessed on May 12, 2014 . 
14. ↑ Press and Information Center Navy: The Naval Aviation Wing 3 "Graf Zeppelin". Bundeswehr, November 27, 2013, accessed on May 12, 2014 . 
15. ↑ Maritime Medical Institute of the Navy ( Memento from May 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ).
16. ^ Rolf Johannesson: Officer in a critical time . Herford and Bonn 1989, ISBN 3-8132-0301-8 , p. 123.
17. ↑ Navy: Fleet in future without a commander. In: Wilhelmshavener Zeitung , June 24, 2011, p. 1.
18. ^ Official website of the Navy , accessed June 11, 2019
19. ↑ See Wiktionary: Huk
20. ↑ Winzigerhuk at the BfN map service

Coordinates: 54 ° 49 ′ 46 ″  N , 9 ° 30 ′ 31 ″  E