Kaiserliche Marine
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The
Kaiserliche Marine or
Imperial Navy was the
German Navy created by the formation of the
German Empire. It existed between
1871 and
1919, growing out of the
Prussian Navy and
Norddeutsche Bundesmarine. Kaiser
Wilhelm II greatly expanded the Navy, causing a naval arms race between
Germany and the
British Empire. Though undefeated, the navy was largely destroyed at
Scapa Flow in 1919 by its own officers after the loss of the land war on the
Western Front of
World War I.
Capital ships of the Kaiserliche Marine were designated
SMS, for
Seiner Majestät Schiff (His Majesty's Ship).
The Kaiserliche Marine achieved some important operational feats. It inflicted the first major naval defeat on the
Royal Navy in over 100 years at the
Battle of Coronel. It also emerged from the fleet action of the
Battle of Jutland having destroyed more ships than it lost. It is a common misconception that the
High Seas Fleet never again came out from port after Jutland. In fact it performed several sweeps and actions, although the Germans never planned, either before or after Jutland, on confronting the whole Grand Fleet.
It was the first navy to successfully operate
submarines on a large scale at war (375 submarines had been commissioned by the end), and also operated
zeppelins. It was never able to match the numbers of the Royal Navy, but it did have better shells and propellant for much of WWI, meaning that it never lost a ship to a catastrophic magazine explosion from an above-water attack (the old
Pre-dreadnought Pommern sank rapidly at
Jutland after a magazine explosion caused by underwater attack).
1871 to 1890
The imperial admiralty was formed on 1 February 1872, whose first chief was General der Infanterie
Albrecht von Stosch. The Kaiser held the supreme command.
At first the major tasks of the new Imperial Navy were in the coastal protection and in the protection of German maritime trade ways, although already early foreign stations were created. In the 1880's the Imperial navy took part in the production of colonies in Africa, Asia and Oceania. Kiel at the Baltic Sea and Wilhelmshaven at the North Sea served as primary naval bases.
1890 to 1914
With the support of Wilhelm II, in
1897, the new Minister of the navy,
Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz began the building of a large modern navy consisting of both battleships and submarines. He later became the commander of the Navy. The main fighting
forces of the navy were to become the
High Seas Fleet, and the
U-boat fleet.
World War I
Notable battles fought by the Navy were:
*
Battle of Heligoland Bight (Rear Admiral
Leberecht Maass)
*
Battle of Coronel (Vice Admiral
Maximilian von Spee)
*
Battle of the Falkland Islands (Vice Admiral
Maximilian von Spee)
*
Battle of Dogger Bank (Vice Admiral
Franz Hipper)
*
Battle of Jutland (Vice Admiral
Reinhard Scheer; Vice Admiral
Franz Hipper)
*
First Battle of the Atlantic - U-boat warfare
Minor engagements included the
commerce raiding carried out by the
SMS Emden,
SMS Königsberg, and the sailing ship and commerce raider
SMS Seeadler.
After the end of WWI, the bulk of the Navy's modern ships (74 in all) were interned at
Scapa Flow where the entire fleet (with a few exceptions) was scuttled by its crews on 21 June 1919 on orders from its commander, Rear Admiral
Ludwig von Reuter.
*
List of naval ships of Germany*
List of German Imperial Navy ships*
Naval warfare of World War I*
Imperial German Navy in World War I*
German Naval History WW1*
Kaiserliche Marine 1914*
Kaiserliche Marine Deployment 1914*
U-boat War in World War One
