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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 the German Empire and the British Empire. 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).

Contents

Achievements

History

1871 to 1890

1890 to 1914

World War I

See also

External links

Achievements

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).

History

1871 to 1890

The imperial admiralty was formed on 1 February 1872, its first chief being General der Infanterie Albrecht von Stosch. The Emperor held the supreme command. Kiel at the Baltic Sea and Wilhelmshaven at the North Sea served as primary naval bases.
Initially the main tasks of the new Imperial Navy were coastal protection and the protection of German maritime trade routes. This soon involved the setting up of some overseas supply stations, and in the 1880s the Imperial Navy played a part in helping to secure the establishment of German colonies and protectorates in Africa, Asia and Oceania.

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. Several pre-Dreadnought battleship classes were built, starting with the four innovativ ships of the ''Brandenburg'' class in 1890. Five ships of the ''Kaiser Friedrich'' class were built in 1895-1901, followed by the five battleships of the ''Wittelsbach'' class, built in 1899-1904. Five ships of the ''Braunschweig'' class were built between 1901 and 1906, and were followed by the last pre-Dreadnought class, the ''Deutschland'' class, in 1903 and 1908.
Following the completion of the HMS Dreadnought in 1906, the Kaiserliche Marine began a building program to compete with the new British design, starting with the four ''Nassau'' class battleships in 1907. Four ships of the ''Helgoland'' class was laid down in 1909-1910, followed by five ships of the ''Kaiser'' class in 1911. The ''König'' class was also built in 1911, and the last class of battleships, the ''Bayern'' class, was laid down on the eve of World War I, in 1913.
By the start of World War I, the Kaiserliche Marine possessed 22 pre-Dreadnoughts (''Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm'' and ''Weißenburg'', of the ''Brandenburg'' class, had been sold to the Ottoman Empire in 1910), 19 dreadnought battleships, and 7 battlecruisers.
Admiral von Tirpitz 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 the Gulf of Riga (Vice Admiral Ehrhard Schmidt)

★ Battle of Jutland (Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer; Vice Admiral Franz Hipper)

★ First Battle of the Atlantic - U-boat warfare
Notable minor battles:

★ Battle of Gotland

★ Battle of Moon Sound

★ Battle of Dover Strait

★ Battle of Cocos

★ Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby

★ Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau
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.

See also

★ List of naval ships of Germany

★ List of German Imperial Navy ships

★ Naval warfare of World War I

External links

★ 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

★ Hoch Deutschlands Flotte! On Amazon

★ Hoch Deutschlands Flotte! Music of the Imperial German Navy in Archival Recordings, 1907-1917