Heinz Kühnle

Heinz Kühnle (Photo: 1972)

Heinz (Heinrich Georg) Kühnle (born January 16, 1915 in Duisburg ; † October 12, 2001 ) was a German naval officer , most recently Vice Admiral of the German Navy and from 1971 to 1975 Inspector of the Navy .

Live and act

Heinz was the son of the ship inspector Jakob Kühnle and his wife Gertrud Kühnle, nee. Hemscheidt. He later married Leni Stiller, with whom he had three children, including the gynecologist and university professor Henning Kühnle .

Imperial Navy

Kühnle entered the service of the Reichsmarine as an engineer officer candidate on April 8, 1934 and received his basic infantry training with the 2nd ship master division of the Baltic Sea in Stralsund until June 1934 and then went to the Mürwik naval school in Flensburg - Mürwik . From September 27, 1934 to June 26, 1935, he served in his practical on-board training on the light cruiser Karlsruhe , which was used as a training ship , under the leadership of Captain Günther Lütjens . The ship made its fourth trip abroad until June 15, 1935 to South America, Cape Horn , Central America, USA, Canada and via the Panama Canal to the USA and then to Spain.

Navy and World War II

After his training trip, Kühnle was trained again at the Naval School Mürwik and from March to June 1936 took part in a course at the Naval School Kiel-Wik. In July 1936 he served five days on the artillery training ship Brummer and two days on the artillery training ship Bremse ; then back to the Kiel-Wik naval school.

From September 21, 1936 to April 1, 1937, there was further on-board training, this time on the ironclad Germany . The ship was on three missions off the coast of Spain when the Spanish Civil War raged here and Germany intervened. After the return of Germany , Kühnle was promoted to lieutenant on April 1, 1937 and was again at the Kiel-Wik naval school until October 1937 and then at the submarine school until January 1938. From January 1938 until the outbreak of World War II he was with the Weddigen submarine flotilla and from September 7, 1938 he was assigned to the Wilhelmshaven submarine company and from January 1939 as a first lieutenant at sea to the Wilhelmshaven command post. From June 1939 he was with the 2nd Marine Artillery Department (MAA) for three months and then until July 6, 1940 with the Wilhelmshaven Motor Vehicle Department. On July 7, 1940, he was appointed battery chief of the newly established Marine Flak Department 803 (mot). The unit was moved to Breda (Netherlands) and after the campaign in the west in September 1940 to Brest (France), where Kühnle was promoted to lieutenant captain on September 1, 1941 after a year . From December 15, 1941 he served in the 4th Marine Vehicle Operations Department under frigate captain Heinrich Illert, which emerged from the 6th Marine Vehicle Operations Department and was part of the German Bight Coastal Commander based in Wilhelmshaven. The unit was relocated to the Baltic States in August 1942 and from April 1943 to the coast of the Black Sea . On June 20, 1943, Kühnle served until January 30, 1944 as a training officer on the Silesia in the Baltic Sea. From January 31 to March 31, 1945 he was an ensign officer and company commander at the Mürwik naval school, then at the Hanover Army Resupply School and then from April 11 to the end of the war on May 8, 1945, a staff officer in the K Regiment (mot .), which was set up in October 1944 from parts of the 3rd and 5th Marine Vehicle Operations Department under frigate captain Heinrich Illert.

Post-war period and the German Navy

After the end of the Second World War, Kühnle fell into British captivity , from which he was released on January 31, 1946. He then worked for seven months as a technical businessman and interpreter at Alfred Hagelstein's shipyard in Lübeck-Travemünde. He then became a consultant for shipbuilding at the state government of Schleswig-Holstein until September 30, 1947 . From April 1948 he was commercial director and authorized signatory at the steel and malleable foundry and former track manufacturer Joachim Baumgart in Velbert -Tönisheide and in 1949 partner at the wholesale and export company Conrad Müller & Co. in Lübeck.

On November 1, 1956, Kühnle joined the German Navy and initially served as a department head in the command of naval training in Kiel and was promoted to corvette captain on March 11, 1957 and frigate captain on May 29, 1958 . From November 4, 1959 to October 31, 1960 he was teaching group commander at the Mürwik Naval School. Kühnle then became head of the special training department in the Central Marine Command until September 1964 , where he was promoted to captain of the sea on May 23, 1962 .

In October 1964 Kühnle was transferred to the naval command of the Federal Ministry of Defense and in 1965 promoted to flotilla admiral. On October 1, 1969, he was appointed as Rear Admiral Deputy Inspector of the Navy and Chief of Staff Command Staff of the Navy . On October 1, 1971 he was promoted to Vice Admiral Inspector of the Navy; he retired from this position on March 31, 1975.

After the death Kühnles his uniform in 2001 as was exhibit the Friends German Maritime Museum e. V. in Bremerhaven.

literature

• Johannes Berthold Sander-Nagashima: The Federal Navy 1955 to 1972: Concept and construction. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-486-57972-7
• Kurt Diggins. Obituary in: MOV-MOH-DMI-Nachrichten 12–2001, S 82 *