The Imperial German Navy or the Kaiserliche Marine was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy, which was mainly for coast defence. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded the navy. The key leader was Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, who greatly expanded the size and quality of the navy, while adopting the sea power theories of American strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan. The result was a naval arms race with Britain, as the German navy grew to become one of the greatest maritime forces in the world, second only to the Royal Navy.
Aktien-Gesellschaft "Weser" was one of the major German shipbuilding companies, located at the Weser River in Bremen. Founded in 1872 it was finally closed in 1983. All together, A.G. „Weser" built about 1,400 ships of different types, including many warships. A.G. „Weser" was the leading company in the Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG, a cooperation of eight German shipbuilding companies between 1926 and 1945.
Hermann Bauer was a German naval officer who served as commander of the U-boat forces of the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I. In addition to his World War I career, Bauer is well known as the author of the book Das Unterseeboot, a treatise on the design and operation of U-boats, which was later translated into English by Hyman G. Rickover. Rickover's translation became a basic text for the US submarine service.
Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft was a German shipbuilding company, located in the harbour at Kiel, and one of the largest and most important builders of U-boats for the Kaiserliche Marine in World War I and the Kriegsmarine in World War II. The original company was founded in 1867 but went bankrupt and was bought out by Friedrich Krupp. Krupp was very interested in building warships and in the time before the First World War built a number of battleships for the Kaiserliche Marine, including SMS Posen, SMS Prinzregent Luitpold, SMS Kronprinz, and SMS Sachsen. A total of 84 U-boats were built in the shipyard during the war. After the war it returned to the normal production of yachts and transports.
VizeadmiralLothar von Arnauld de la Perière, born in Posen, Prussia, and of French-German descent, was a German U-boat commander during World War I. With 194 ships and 453,716 gross register tons (GRT) sunk, he is the most successful submarine captain ever. His victories came in the Mediterranean, almost always using his 8.8 cm deck gun. During his career he fired 74 torpedoes, hitting 39 times.
Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven was a German shipbuilding company in Wilhelmshaven, founded in 1871 and closed in 1918. Together with Kaiserliche Werft Danzig and Kaiserliche Werft Kiel it was one of three shipyards which solely produced warships for the Preußische Marine and the following German Kaiserliche Marine. With the end of World War I all three imperial shipyards were closed, but the Wilhelmshaven shipyard was reopened in 1919, first as Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven, and after 1935 named Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven.
SMS Stettin was a Königsberg-class light cruiser of the Kaiserliche Marine. She had three sister ships: Königsberg, Nürnberg, and Stuttgart. Laid down at AG Vulcan Stettin shipyard in 1906, Stettin was launched in March 1907 and commissioned into the High Seas Fleet seven months later in October. Like her sisters, Stettin was armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and a pair of 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes, and was capable of a top speed in excess of 25 knots.
SMS Mecklenburg was the fifth ship of the Wittelsbach class of pre-dreadnought battleships of the German Imperial Navy. Laid down in May 1900 at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin, Germany, she was finished in May 1903. Her sister ships were Wittelsbach, Zähringen, Wettin, and Schwaben; they were the first capital ships built under the Navy Law of 1898, championed by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. Mecklenburg was armed with a main battery of four 24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns and had a top speed of 18 knots.
SMS V46 was a 1913 Type Large Torpedo Boat of the Imperial German Navy during World War I. She was built by AG Vulcan at their Stettin shipyard, being launched on 23 December 1914 and completing in October 1915.
The Brummer class consisted of two light mine-laying cruisers built for the Imperial German Navy in World War I: SMS Brummer and SMS Bremse. When the war broke out, the Germans had only two older mine-laying cruisers. Although most German cruisers were fitted for mine-laying, a need for fast specialized ships existed. The Imperial Russian Navy had ordered sets of steam turbines for the first two ships of the Svetlana-class cruisers from the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin. This machinery was confiscated on the outbreak of war and used for these ships. Both vessels were built by AG Vulcan.
SM U-21 was a U-boat built for the Imperial German Navy shortly before World War I. The third of four Type U-19-class submarines, these were the first U-boats in German service to be equipped with diesel engines. U-21 was built between 1911 and October 1913 at the Kaiserliche Werft in Danzig. She was armed with four torpedo tubes and a single deck gun; a second gun was added during her career.
SMS Hamburg was the second member of the seven-vessel Bremen class of light cruisers, built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the early 1900s. She and her sister ships were ordered under the 1898 Naval Law that required new cruisers be built to replace obsolete vessels in the fleet. The design for the Bremen class was derived from the preceding Gazelle class, utilizing a larger hull that allowed for additional boilers that increased speed. Named for the city of Hamburg, the ship was armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and had a top speed of 22 knots.
SMS V107 was a torpedo boat of the German Kaiserliche Marine. Originally ordered for the Dutch Navy from the German A.G. Vulcan shipyard as the Z-3, the ship was taken over by Germany during construction owing to the outbreak of the First World War. She was launched on 12 December 1914 and sunk by a mine in Libau harbour on 8 May 1915.
SS Burdigala was an ocean liner that sailed built for NDL before then serving under HAPAG and subsequently CGT.. The ship was built as the Kaiser Friedrich in 1898 for Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL), a German shipping line. Designed to break the speed record for a transatlantic liner and thereby win the Blue Riband, the Kaiser Friedrich never achieved the necessary speeds. After a short career with NDL and an equally short period of service with NDL's main German competitor, the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft, the ship was mothballed for a decade. After being sold to the French shipping line Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique, it re-entered service as SS Burdigala. In 1916, while en route from Thessaloniki to Toulon, the liner struck a mine laid by the German U-boat U-73 in the Aegean Sea and sank near Kea, Greece.
V106 was a torpedo boat of the Imperial German Navy, built in the A.G Vulcan Shipyard in 1914. She was originally ordered by the Dutch Navy and confiscated by Germany at the start of World War I; being scrapped in 1920.
SMS V3 was a V1-class torpedo boat of the Imperial German Navy. The ship was built by AG Vulcan, completing in 1912. She served in the First World War with the German High Seas Fleet, taking part in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight in 1914 and the Battle of Jutland in 1916. She was retained by the post-war German Navy and was stricken in 1929 and scrapped.
SMS V5 was a V1-class torpedo boat of the Imperial German Navy. The ship was built by AG Vulcan, completing in 1913. She served in the First World War with the German High Seas Fleet, taking part in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight in 1914, the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1915 and the Battle of Jutland in 1916. She was retained by the post-war German Navy and was stricken in 1929 and scrapped.
SMS V43 was a V25-class Large Torpedo Boat of the Imperial German Navy, that served during the First World War. V43 was built by AG Vulcan at their Stettin shipyard from 1914–1915, entering service on 28 May that year. V43 took part in operations in the North Sea, the English Channel and the Baltic Sea. She survived the war, and was interned at Scapa Flow, surviving the Scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow. V43 was allocated to the US Navy, and was sunk as a target on 15 July 1921.
SMS Württemberg was the fourth and final member of the Bayern-class dreadnought battleships ordered but never finished for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the 1910s, sometimes considered to be part of a sub-class with her sister Sachsen. She was to be armed with the same main battery of eight 38 cm (15 in) guns in four gun turrets. Originally intended to serve as a fleet flagship, the start of World War I in July 1914 forced the Navy to simplify her design in the hopes that she could be completed in time to see service during the conflict. She was laid down in January 1915 at the AG Vulcan shipyard, but as resources were diverted to more pressing projects, including U-boat construction, work on the ship slowed; she was launched in June 1917, but only to clear the slipway for other work. By the time construction stopped, she was about twelve months from completion. The Treaty of Versailles that ended the war in June 1919 specified that all warships under construction in Germany were to be destroyed, and Württemberg was accordingly sold for scrap in 1921 and dismantled the following year.
