The Oberkommando der Marine was the high command and the highest administrative and command authority of the Kriegsmarine. It was officially formed from the Marineleitung of the Reichswehr on 11 January 1936. In 1937 it was combined with the newly formed Seekriegsleitung (SKL). There were two major re-organisations, in November 1939 and May 1944.
Otto Ciliax was a German naval officer who served in the navies of the German Empire, the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. As an admiral during World War II, he commanded the German battleships. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
Alfred Saalwächter was a high-ranking German U-boat commander during World War I and General Admiral during World War II.
Otto Schniewind was a German General Admiral during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany.
Kurt Fricke was an Admiral with the Kriegsmarine (navy) of Nazi Germany during World War II and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
Hans-Jürgen "Hansjürgen" Rudolf Reinicke was a Kapitän zur See, commander of heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, in Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during the Second World War and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
Otto Schultze was a Generaladmiral with the Kriegsmarine during World War II and a recipient of the Pour le Mérite during World War I. The Pour le Mérite was the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order for German soldiers until the end of World War I. As a U-boat commander during World War I, he was credited with the sinking of 53 merchant ships for a total of 132,567 gross register tons, and HMS Falmouth of 5,275 long tons (5,360 t) displacement.
Task Force Thiele was an organizational unit of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. It was named after its commander Vizeadmiral August Thiele who led the task force from 23 March 1945 until it was disbanded on 27 April 1945. It was formed from the Second Task Force which had been created on 28 July 1944 from the Baltic Sea Training Unit, also under command of Thiele.
Friedrich Lützow was a German naval officer who served in the Kaiserliche Marine, the Reichsmarine and the Kriegsmarine, eventually reaching the rank of Vizeadmiral during World War II. He was also a writer on naval warfare.
Hermann Leopold Ludwig Eugen Hans Heinz Bonatz was a German naval officer during World War II. He was most notable for being chief of B-Dienst until January 1944. B-Dienst was Division III Radio Intelligence of the Naval Intelligence Service of the Oberkommando der Marine (OKM). This division dealt with the interception and recording, decoding and analysis of the enemy - in particular British - radio communications.
The organization of the Kriegsmarine refers to the operational and administrative structure of the German Navy from 1935 to 1945. Many of the organizational tenets of the Kriegsmarine were inherited from its predecessor the Reichsmarine. As World War II unfolded, the Kriegsmarine expanded to cover additional regions and responsibilities, most significant of which was the occupation of France and the Battle of the Atlantic.
The Commander of Ships of the Line was a naval command of the Reichsmarine, as well as briefly the Kriegsmarine, from 1930 through 1936. The commander of liners was an administrative posting assigned to oversee the development and deployment of German capital ships, but did not operationally control the ships once at sea.
Surface flotillas of the Kriegsmarine were organizational groupings of German naval vessels during World War II based on class of vessel and geographical location. Surface flotillas were not operationally deployed units, but functioned through the administrative command chain of the Kriegsmarine.
Erhard Maertens or Eberhard Maertens was a German Vizeadmiral of the Kriegsmarine during World War II. From 16 June 1941 to 5 May 1943, he was Chief of Office of Naval Intelligence, Naval War Command in the Oberkommando der Marine. Maertens was known for underestimating British intelligence, and specifically, overrating the security of the Naval Enigma cipher machine. In 1941, he held a naval enquiry into the strength of Naval Enigma security after the capture of U-boat U-570, and attributed all the suspicious losses in U-boats at the time to the British Huff-Duff. In the second enquiry, ordered by the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Karl Dönitz, in May 1943, he investigated a number of areas, which exculpated Enigma security in the end, for the second time, incorrectly blaming British 9.7 centimetre centimetric radar for the massive losses in U-boats by mid 1943.
Fritz Krauss was a German naval officer, most recently a Konteradmiral in the World War II. Between 16 August 1944 – 22 July 1945, Fritz Krauss was Director of Department of Naval Intelligence, specifically 3 SKL/MND IV of the German Navy.
Paul Wever was a German naval officer, Vizeadmiral of the Kriegsmarine during World War II. Paul Wever belonged to the generation of men who were sent to war, twice. Between 1 January 1940 to 21 June 1940 was director of the Department of Navy Message Evaluation, later called (3/SKL) Naval Operations of the Naval War Command. The unit was specifically concerned with Naval Intelligence.
Hans Karl Meyer, was a German naval officer and Konteradmiral in the Kriegsmarine during World War II and later Flotilla admiral of the German Navy. Meyer was most notable for being commander of the battleship Tirpitz, of 1/Seekriegsleitung (SKL) Operations of Naval Command and being one of six Kriegsmarine admirals who were subordinated after World War II in the new German Navy.
Ludwig Stummel was a German career signals officer with the rank of Konteradmiral, who had a glass eye and a limp and who was in effect, the Chief of Staff of the Naval Warfare department, Naval Communications (4/SKL) of the Kriegsmarine. Stummel was most notable for being the person responsible for the cryptographical security of the Enigma cipher machine and Key M infrastructure security, during World War II. Stummel was replaced at the Kriegsmarine Naval War Command on the 16–17 August 1944 by Fritz Krauss, after becoming ill. Stummel was a fervent Catholic. His faith gave him a moral compass during the latter years of the war. Initially a supporter of Nazis, he became doubtful as the war progressed. He was released from the Kriegsmarine in February 1945.
Andreas Heinrich Michelsen was a German Vizeadmiral and military commander. During World War I, he commanded several torpedo boats and the submarine fleet, participated in the Battle of Jutland, as well as being the leading German commander during the Battle of Dover Strait.
