Naval station of the Baltic Sea
The naval station of the Baltic Sea was an agency of the Prussian Navy , the Navy of the North German Confederation , the Imperial Navy , the Reichsmarine and the Kriegsmarine . In addition to the naval station in the North Sea, it was one of two permanent naval stations . In addition, there were temporarily several foreign stations in the period before the First World War . The naval station of the Baltic Sea was set up on May 1, 1854 in Danzig . In March 1865 it was relocated to Kiel and on February 1, 1943 it was converted into the Naval High Command in the Baltic Sea , which was dissolved at the end of the Second World War .
organization
Prussian Navy, Navy of the North German Confederation and Imperial Navy
In the course of building up the Prussian Navy, the Danzig station command was set up in 1854 . After Schleswig-Holstein was placed under Austro-Prussian administration as a result of the German-Danish War , these two states agreed in the Gastein Convention in 1865 that Prussia could use Kiel as a naval port. The station command was then transferred there that same year.
The task of the naval stations was to manage the fortresses and training facilities in the command area. In addition, they initially led all naval forces in their area of responsibility until a separate command for commanding the fleet was created in 1891.
In 1914, the Baltic Sea station command:
- Ships lying in the home port that were not assigned to an active squadron .
- a number of vehicles at overseas stations
- Friedrichsort headquarters
- Port captain Kiel
- Settlement office in the Baltic Sea
- I. Marine inspection
- I. Seaman's Division
- I. Shipyard Division
- Inspection of the torpedo system (Kiel)
- Torpedo Attempt Command (Kiel)
- Torpedo workshop Friedrichsort
- Torpedo school ships and boats (including large cruisers , two small cruisers )
- I.-VII. Torpedo boat flotilla (including I.-III. In the Baltic Sea area)
- I. Torpedo division (training) with reserve and school boats
- Inspection of ship artillery ( Sonderburg )
- Artillery test squad
- Ship artillery school
- School ships (including a ship of the line , two large cruisers, three small cruisers)
- I. Sailor artillery department
- Inspection of the marine infantry in Kiel
- I., II. And III. Sea battalion
- Tribe Sea Battalion ( Cuxhaven )
- Submarine inspection (Kiel)
- 2 underground flotillas
- two small cruisers, a special ship
The station chief was also governor of Kiel. The inspections corresponded to the brigade level of the army and were led by a rear admiral . Your technical responsibility was not limited to the regional area of the naval station.
Imperial Navy
After the end of the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles , Germany had to significantly reduce its navy. The following forces and facilities were subordinate to the still existing command of the Baltic Sea Naval Station (as of 1930/31):
- Coastal defense of the Baltic Sea
- Naval artillery departments I. (Kiel), III. (Swinoujscie) and V. ( Pillau )
- Command offices in Swinoujscie and Pillau
- Ship Trunk Division of the Baltic Sea (SDO)
- Coastal communications of the Baltic Sea
-
Marine Education Inspection (BI)
- Naval schools in Flensburg-Mürwik , Friedrichsort and Kiel- Wik
- Marine technical schools
- Naval Archive (Berlin)
- temporarily subordinate school cruisers
- Sail training ship Niobe
- Inspection of the Torpedo - and mine system (TMI)
- Torpedo Research Institute (TVA) in Eckernförde
- Torpedo and News School (TNS) in Flensburg - Mürwik
- Torpedo laboratory in Kiel
- Intelligence research institute (NVA) with radio test center in Pelzerhaken , plus experimental boat Grille
- Blocking test commando (SVK) in Kiel, plus test unit with Nautilus , Pelikan , S 23 , T 155
- Blocking department in Kiel with blocking school and blocking association
Navy
After the start of German armament in preparation for the Second World War , the naval station of the Baltic Sea grew up in the 1930s and in June 1939 was structured as follows:
Commanding admiral of the Baltic Sea Naval Station
- Coast Commander Western Baltic Sea
- Coast Commander Pomerania
- Coast Commander Eastern Baltic Sea
- Commander in charge of securing the Baltic Sea
- II. Admiral of the Baltic Sea (from 1934 to 1938), II. Admiral of the Baltic Sea Station (from 1938 to 1942), II. Admiral of the Baltic Sea (from 1942 to April 1945), from April 1945 II. Admiral of the Baltic Sea / North Sea:
- Rear Admiral Karlgeorg Schuster from September 1935 to March 1938
- Rear Admiral Hermann Mootz from January 1939 to August 1939
- Vice Admiral Wolf von Trotha from September 1939 to December 1939
- Captain of the Sea / Rear Admiral / Vice Admiral Kurt Slevogt from December 1939 to March 1943
- Rear Admiral Siegfried Sorge from April 1943 to January 1945
- Vice Admiral Helmuth Brinkmann from January 1945 until the end of the war, from April 1945 as 2nd Admiral of the Baltic Sea / North Sea
In the course of the war, the command area of the Baltic Sea station expanded to include the occupied coastal areas. A number of additional command posts were created for this, some of which only existed for a short time:
- Naval Commander Denmark , later Admiral Denmark, Admiral Skagerrak
- Admiral Ostland
- Renaming of the Coast Commanders to Admirals Western and Eastern Baltic Sea, resolution of the Coast Commander in Pomerania
In addition, a number of units were subordinate to the naval station:
- Education inspection
- Naval artillery inspection
- Torpedo inspection
- Bulky weapons inspection
- Marine intelligence inspection
- Navy shipyard in Kiel
- Navy Arsenal Gotenhafen
- Navy services in the Baltic Sea area:
Station bosses
The military leaders of the naval station of the Baltic Sea carried the designation chief of the naval station of the Baltic Sea, from 1935 commanding admiral of the naval station of the Baltic Sea and from 1943 naval command of the Baltic Sea.
- 1854–1858 sea captain Johann Otto Donner
- 1858-1860 unknown
- 1860–1861 Corvette Captain Heinrich Köhler
- 1862–1867 Rear Admiral Eduard von Jachmann
- 1867–1869 sea captain Jacob Bothwell
- 1869–1874 Rear Admiral Eduard Heldt
- 1875–1878 Rear Admiral Reinhold von Werner
- 1878–1881 Rear Admiral Franz Kinderling
- 1881–1883 Vice Admiral Karl Ferdinand Batsch
- 1883–1887 Rear Admiral / Vice Admiral Wilhelm von Wickede
- 1887–1889 Vice Admiral Louis von Blanc
- 1889–1895 Vice Admiral / Admiral Eduard von Knorr
- 1896–1903 Admiral Hans von Koester
- 1903–1906 Admiral Prince Heinrich of Prussia
- 1906–1910 Vice Admiral / Admiral Curt von Prittwitz and Gaffron
- 1910–1912 Vice Admiral / Admiral Ludwig von Schröder
- 1912–1914 Admiral Carl von Coerper
- 1914–1915 Vice Admiral Gustav Bachmann
- 1915 Vice Admiral Reinhard Koch
- 1915–1918 Admiral Gustav Bachmann
- 1918–1919 Admiral Wilhelm Souchon
- 1919–1920 Rear Admiral Hugo Meurer
- 1920 Rear Admiral Magnus von Levetzow
- 1920–1925 sea captain / rear admiral / vice admiral Ernst von Gagern
- 1925–1928 Vice Admiral Erich Raeder
- 1928–1932 Vice Admiral Gottfried Hansen
- 1932–1938 Vice Admiral / Admiral Conrad Albrecht from 1935 Commanding Admiral of the Baltic Sea Naval Station
- 1938–1940 Admiral General Rolf Carls
- 1940–1943 Admiral Günther Guse
- 1943–1944 Admiral Hubert Schmundt from 1943 Commander in Chief of the Naval High Command in the Baltic Sea
- 1944–1945 Admiral General Oskar Kummetz
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Walter Lohmann , Hans H. Hildebrand: The German Navy 1939-1945. Collected work in three volumes, OO 1956, Volume I, Chapter 81, p. 1 f.
- ↑ Article 2 of the Gastein Convention in: Ernst Rudolf Huber : Documents on German constitutional history . Verlag Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1961, p. 182.
- ↑ Wilhelmshavener Heimatlexikon. Volume 2, p. 231, Wilhelmshaven 1987.
- ↑ a b c Konrad Ehrensberger; 100 years of organization of the German Navy 1890 - 1990 ; Bonn 1993; ISBN 3-7637-5913-1
- ↑ Sønderborg Barracks was built there as early as the Imperial Era, and was to serve as the Imperial Ship Artillery School and Rifle Barracks.
- ↑ Marine station of the North Sea at deutsche-schutzgebiete.de , accessed on February 17, 2019
- ^ Wilhelm Köhler, collaboration with Max Plüddemann. Illustrated German fleet calendar for 1932 (Koehler's fleet calendar), 30th year, Minden
- ↑ Walter Lohmann, Hans H. Hildebrand: The German Navy 1939-1945. Collected work in three volumes, OO 1956, Volume I, Chapter 3, p. 13 f.