Navy High Command

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The Supreme Command of the Navy ( OKM ) was the supreme command authority of the German naval forces from 1859 to 1871 and from 1889 to 1899. From 1935 to 1945, after the Reichsmarine was renamed the Kriegsmarine , the name was Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine , keeping the short form OKM .

The term High Command of the Navy can be confused with a local Navy High Command (MOKdo). However, the OKM was a single military command authority, in contrast to the MOKdos established from 1943 as a multiple local command post to which other local naval commands (MKdo) were subordinate.

Royal Prussian Navy

With the establishment of a naval department in the Prussian War Ministry , Prince Adalbert received supreme command of the floating units of the Prussian Navy in 1854 . By cabinet order of March 14, 1859, the High Command of the Navy became independent and - like the Navy Ministry  - directly subordinated to the King. The chief of the high command was responsible for the use of the ships and all naval units, the naval station of the Baltic Sea and naval station of the North Sea , the naval directorate in Berlin and the Kiel naval school. In addition, the inspection of the ships, the technical facilities and personnel matters were assigned to the area of ​​responsibility of the High Command. The division of the central organization into two parts was not clearly understandable, it led to discrepancies and had a detrimental effect on naval development.

While Prince Adalbert took part in the army in the French campaign in 1870 , the High Command was attached to the Ministry of the Navy as a “Department for Command Matters” under Captain Karl Ferdinand Batsch . In 1871 it became part of the Imperial Admiralty .

Chief of the Navy High Command

Imperial Navy

After the dissolution of the Imperial Admiralty on April 1, 1889, the High Command of the Navy was set up as the successor authority alongside the Reichsmarineamt and the Office of Inspector General of the Navy . It was led by a commanding admiral who reported directly to the emperor. Equipped with the same duties and rights as a commanding general of the army, he also had to fulfill the duties of a chief of staff for the navy. According to the instructions of the emperor, the commanding admiral was in command of all command authorities and naval units at sea and on land.

When Kaiser Wilhelm II decided to lead the command of the navy himself, the command of the navy was dissolved by cabinet order of March 14, 1899. This happened mainly at the instigation of the Admiral von Tirpitz , who wanted to strengthen the position of the Reichsmarineamt against the other top authorities. Some of the powers were transferred to the previous Admiral Staff Department of the High Command, which had been made independent as Admiral Staff.

Commanding admiral

Navy

On the basis of the law for the establishment of the Wehrmacht of March 16, 1935, the Reichsmarine was renamed the Kriegsmarine . The new High Command of the Navy (OKM) emerged from the former naval command . The chief of the naval command was given the new designation as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy (OBdM).

The organization of the OKM changed several times. In 1938 the OKM consisted of the staff of the Commander-in-Chief and the Naval War Command (SKL), headed by the Chief of Staff SKL , from 1944 chief of the SKL . In addition, several offices were directly subordinate to the OBdM. The designation of the subordinate departments changed during the Second World War . It was about the fleet command and the station commands of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. There were also naval group commands that were set up in 1939 and were renamed as naval commanders during the war .

The Shell house in Berlin-Tiergarten was the seat of the naval command from 1934.

The OKM had its seat from 1934 in Berlin-Tiergarten in the Shell house on Tirpitzufer (today Reichpietschufer 60-62) not far from the Bendlerblock . Because of the Allied air raids on Berlin , the OKM moved several times, first to Eberswalde , then to Bernau near Berlin to the so-called Koralle camp . Towards the end of the war , the OKM moved to Plön ( Trout property ) and later, after British troops had advanced to Schleswig-Holstein , to the Mürwik special area .

At the end of the Second World War, the OKM initially remained in existence on Allied instructions to ensure the management of the interned German naval forces and their disarmament. After the suicide of the OBdM General Admiral von Friedeburg before his arrest by Allied soldiers on May 23, 1945 in Mürwik , the occupying powers briefly appointed General Admiral Walter Warzecha as Commander-in-Chief in order to disarm the Navy in an orderly manner. In addition, the OKM remained responsible for the deployment of the German mine clearance forces who were transferred to the German mine clearance service.

Commander in Chief of the Navy

References

Web links

Wikisource: Supreme ordinance regarding the separation of the Navy High Command from its administration. March 30, 1889.  - Sources and full texts

See also

literature

  • Walther Hubatsch : The admiralty staff and the highest naval authorities in Germany 1848-1945. Bernard & Graefe, Frankfurt am Main 1958.
  • Konrad Ehrensberger: Hundred years of organization of the German navy. 1890-1990. Imperial Navy. Imperial Navy. Navy. Federal Navy. Bernard & Graefe, Bonn 1993, ISBN 3-7637-5913-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinz-Ludger Borgert, Walter assailants, Norbert Wiggershaus: service groups and West German defense contribution. Preliminary considerations for arming the Federal Republic of Germany (= military history since 1945. Vol. 6). Boldt, Boppard am Rhein 1982, ISBN 3-7646-1807-8 .