The German Navy is part of the unified Bundeswehr, the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the Bundesmarine from 1956 to 1995, when Deutsche Marine became the official name with respect to the 1990 incorporation of the East German Volksmarine. It is deeply integrated into the NATO alliance. Its primary mission is protection of Germany's territorial waters and maritime infrastructure as well as sea lines of communication. Apart from this, the German Navy participates in peacekeeping operations, and renders humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. It also participates in anti-piracy operations.
The Volksmarine was the naval force of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The Volksmarine was one of the service branches of the National People's Army and primarily performed a coastal defence role along the GDR's Baltic Sea coastline and territorial waters.
Rostock, officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock, is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, close to the border with Pomerania. With around 210,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city on the German Baltic coast after Kiel and Lübeck, the eighth-largest city in the area of former East Germany, as well as the 39th-largest city of Germany. Rostock was the largest coastal and most important port city in East Germany.
Warnemünde is a seaside resort and a district of the city of Rostock in Mecklenburg, Germany. It is located on the Baltic Sea and, as the name implies, at the estuary of the river Warnow. Warnemünde is one of the world's busiest cruise ports.
The Fletcher class was a class of destroyers built by the United States during World War II. The class was designed in 1939, as a result of dissatisfaction with the earlier destroyer leader types of the Porter and Somers classes. Some went on to serve during the Korean War and into the Vietnam War.
Concrete ships are built primarily with ferrocement hulls, reinforced with steel bars. This contrasts against more traditional materials, such as pure steel or wood. The advantage of ferrocement construction is that materials are cheap and readily available, while the disadvantages are that construction labor costs are high, as are operating costs. During the late 19th century, there were concrete river barges in Europe, and during both World War I and World War II, steel shortages led the US military to order the construction of small fleets of ocean-going concrete ships, the largest of which was the SS Selma. United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) designation for concrete ships-barges was Type B ship. Few concrete ships were completed in time to see wartime service during World War I, but during 1944 and 1945, concrete ships and barges were used to support U.S. and British invasions in Europe and the Pacific. Since the late 1930s, there have also been ferrocement pleasure boats.
Graal-Müritz is a Seeheilbad in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It is located in the Rostock district, near Rostock, Ribnitz-Damgarten and Stralsund.
Bungsberg was a cargo ship built in 1924 at Howaldtswerke in Hamburg, Germany, for China Reederei AG. She had three sister ships:
AIDA Cruises is a German cruise line founded in the early 1960s and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Costa Crociere S.p.A., which in turn belongs to Carnival Corporation & plc. Based in Rostock, Germany, AIDA Cruises caters primarily to the German-speaking market; as seagoing "club resorts", AIDA ships have on-board amenities and facilities designed to attract younger, more active vacationers. As of September 2023, the cruise line operates 11 ships.
The Karlsruhe class of light cruisers was a pair of two ships built for the German Imperial Navy before the start of World War I. The ships—SMS Karlsruhe and Rostock—were very similar to the previous Magdeburg-class cruisers, mounting the same armament and similar armor protection, though they were larger and faster than the earlier ships. Both vessels were laid down in 1911, and launched one day apart, on 11 and 12 November 1912. Karlsruhe joined the fleet in January 1914, but fitting out work lasted slightly longer on her sister; Rostock was commissioned the following month.
Greif is a brigantine, owned by the town Greifswald in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
The Motorised Submersible Canoe (MSC), nicknamed Sleeping Beauty, was an underwater vehicle built by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. It was designed to enable a single frogman to sabotage enemy ships, though it would also be used for short-range reconnaissance. They were replaced by the diver propulsion vehicle after the end of the war.
Ernst Brockelmann was a 1,900 GRT cargo ship that was built in 1927 by Neptun AG, Rostock, Germany for Ehrich Ahrens. In 1945, she was seized by the Allies and passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT), renamed Empire Concession. In 1946, she was sold into merchant service and renamed Brazen Head. In 1950, she was sold to Finland and renamed Enso. A further sale in 1959 saw her renamed Hakuni. In 1966, she was sold to Panama and renamed Isla Del Rey. She was scrapped in June 1966.
The Frieden is the former German motor vessel Dresden operated by the VEB Deutsche Seereederei Rostock. Since 1970 it has been used as a museum ship.
Kampfgeschwader 40 was a Luftwaffe medium and heavy bomber wing of World War II, and the primary maritime patrol unit of any size within the Luftwaffe. It is best remembered as the unit operating a majority of the four-engine Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor maritime patrol bombers. The unit suffered from the poor serviceability and low production rates of the Fw 200 bombers, and from repeated diversion of its long-haul capability aircraft to undertake transport duties in various theatres, especially for the airlift operations to supply encircled forces in the Battle of Stalingrad. Later in the war, KG 40 became one of several Luftwaffe bomber wings to use the Heinkel He 177A heavy bomber.
The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany is a German federal authority based in Hamburg and Rostock. With some 800 employees, the agency's tasks include maritime safety, hydrographic survey, maritime pollution monitoring, and approvals of offshore installations.
The Type R ship is a United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) designation for World War II refrigerated cargo ship, also called a reefer ship. The R type ship was used in World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and the Cold War. Type R ships were used to transport perishable commodities which require temperature-controlled transportation, such as fruit, meat, fish, vegetables, dairy products and other foods. The US Maritime Commission ordered 41 new refrigerated ships for the US Navy. Because of the difficulty of building refrigerated ships only two were delivered in 1944, and just 26 were delivered in 1945 and the remainder in 1946–48. The 41 R type ships were built in four groups. Two of design types were modified type C1 ships and two were modified type C2 ships. The United Fruit Company operated many of the R type ships in World War II. The type R2-S-BV1 became the US Navy Alstede-class stores ship and the type R1-M-AV3 became the US Navy Adria-class stores ship.
The "Concrete Ship" is a former concrete ship built in Germany in 1943 originally named Sip. It transported goods and was used as a hospital ship transporting wounded troops to land-based treatment facilities. Post-war it was moved to Belgrade and used for housing employees of the Belgrade Excavator Company and their families. Beginning in the 1990s, the ship fell into disrepair. It was finally purchased by Skitrack International, restored and opened to the public as a tourist attraction and a public space in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2016.
SS Vernon L. Kellogg was an American Liberty ship built in 1943 for service in World War II. Her namesake was Vernon Lyman Kellogg, an American entomologist, evolutionary biologist, and science administrator.
