Marine line

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In the German Reichsmarine - subordinate to the Reichswehr Ministry - there was only one command and administrative authority. This was first the Reichsmarineamt, then the Admiralty , then - and for the longest time - the naval command and from 1935 the high command of the navy .

Several times during the years of the Weimar Republic the demand emerged that the naval command be subordinate to the army command. The request could, however, z. Sometimes even with the support of the army ( Colonel General Hans von Seeckt ), be turned away.

Emergence from the Admiralty

Shortly after the end of the First World War , on November 14, 1918, the admiral's staff was subordinated to the Reichsmarineamt . By decree of the Reich President of July 15, 1919, however, the powers of the Reich Naval Office were transferred to the Admiralty. On September 15, 1919, the Admiralty's staff was finally dissolved and the Admiralty's command office also took over the business.

Chief of the Admiralty

Structure and duties of the naval command

The naval leadership emerged from the Admiralty by renaming it on September 15, 1920. You were subject to:

  • the naval command office (A) with
  • Operations Department (AI)
  • Organization Department (A II)
  • Naval Intelligence Department (A III)
  • Training department (A IV) and
  • Fleet Department (AV)
  • the General Naval Office (B) with
  • Naval Shipyard Department
  • Marine Budget Department
  • Nautical department
  • Statistical department
  • Shipping Department
  • War Studies Department (= naval archive )
  • the naval administration office (C)
with personnel department, budget department, legal department and other smaller departments.
  • the Navy Weapons Office (MWa)
  • the naval construction office (K)


The staff of the Chief of the Admiralty and the Chief of Naval Command reported directly:

  • Naval Officer Personnel Department
  • Marine Medical Department


Chiefs of the naval command
  • Vice Admiral / Admiral Paul Behncke --- September 15, 1920 to September 25, 1924
  • Admiral Hans Zenker --- October 1, 1924 to September 30, 1928

Renaming to the High Command of the Navy

On June 1, 1935, the Reichsmarine was renamed the Kriegsmarine. On the same day, the naval leadership was renamed the High Command of the Navy (OKM) .

literature

  • Walther Hubatsch: The Admiral's Staff and the Supreme Naval Authorities in Germany, 1848–1945 . Frankfurt a. M .: Bernard & Graefe, 1958.
  • Konrad Ehrensberger: One Hundred Years of Organization of the German Navy 1890–1990 . Bernard & Graefe: Bonn 1993
  • Jost Dülffer: Weimar, Hitler and the Navy. Reich policy and naval building 1920–1939 . Droste: Düsseldorf 1973
  • Kurt Stöckel: The development of the Reichsmarine after the First World War 1919–1935 . External structure u. internal structure. Dissertation of the Phil. Fac. Göttingen 1954
  • Friedrich Lützow (Ed.): The leaders of the Reichsmarine . Dieck: Stuttgart [1932]
  • Ranking list [n] of the German Reichsmarine: according to the status of. . . / Processed in the Reichswehr Ministry <naval officer personnel department>. Mittler: Berlin 1922–1935

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