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Bundesmarine was until 1990 the always unofficial, but commonly used name for the navy of the Federal Republic of Germany. During the division of Germany the political will existed  in West Germany of a clear demarcation from the National People's Army of the German Democratic Republic. The term "Bundesmarine" has not been used by the German Armed Forces since 1995, but the Federal Ministry of Defense has established the term " German Navy" in international contexts, such as within NATO, when a national differentiation of the official designation "Marine" (lit.: Navy) is required. Historically, the term "Bundesmarine" was used incorrectly for the Reichsflotte of 1848. The navy of the North German Confederation on the other hand, was actually called the North German Federal Navy. In the following, Bundesmarine describes the navy of the Federal Republic of Germany between 1956 and 1990.

German naval organisations 1945-1956
After the end of World War II Germany was demilitarised. Under Allied command, some small-scale formations of the former navy, Kriegsmarine, were used for sweeping German mine barrages along the coasts of formerly Nazi-occupied Europe. The largest of these was the German Mine Sweeping Administration (GMSA), which existed until 1947. Smaller units with customs, police and mine clearance tasks continued until 1956, forming a human and materiel base for the Bundesmarine. The so-called E-boat group Klose, previously under the British leadership, could be taken over as the core of a new fast attack craft service.

Preliminary considerations for the Bundesmarine
Conceptual preparations for a new navy had already been made in the Naval Historical Team (NHT), which was working for the US Navy, between 1949 and 1952. Shortly after the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949, Chancellor Adenauer made secret reflections on the establishment of armed forces, which were identical with those of the NHT with regard to the navy. They were recorded in the Himmerod memorandum and later supplemented in the NHT. With a staff of between 15,000 and 20,000 men, the new navy should have small boats such as Mine warfare vessels, fast attack craft , escort vessels and large torpedo boats. In addition, 24 small submarines and light naval naval forces were provided. Deviating from this, the plans for the German naval component within the framework of the European Defense Community (EDC) saw considerably smaller forces and ships. Only 11,500 active soldiers and 12,000 reservists were planned. Largest units were to be escort boats, no submarines and combat aircraft were provided. On the German side, these forces were considered insufficient. After plans for the EDC collapsed in 1954, talks about the form of the navy began in the context of the accession negotiations with NATO. The Supreme NATO Command in Europe SHAPE, in a letter of 6 July 1955 (the so-called Schuyler letter from the Chief of Staff SHAPE, Lieutenant-General Schuyler (USA)) stated the tasks of the navy and gave a non-committal indication of the necessity of military action scope. According to this, the German navy's task would have been:
 * to prevent enemy naval forces from penetrating the North Sea through the Baltic Sea ports or the Kiel Canal,
 * to the utmost extent to interdict Soviet sea lines of communications in the Baltic Sea,
 * to participate in the Allied defence of the German and the Danish islands in the Baltic Sea,
 * to contribute to the defence of the Allied sea lines of communication in the German coastal waters and the adjacent seas.

For this purpose, 18 small destroyers, 10 escort vessels, 54 mine-sweepers, 40 fast attack craft, 12 submarines and 58 naval aircraft were considered necessary.

Build-up phase
On 12 November 1955, the Bundeswehr was founded as a new armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany, which did not follow the traditions of former German armed forces. The establishment of the naval force was therefore a new beginning, although, as in other parts of the Bundeswehr, a larger number of former members of the armed forces joined up. The formation of the Bundesmarine began on 2 January 1956, with a naval instruction company whose training was predominantly carried out by superiors of the former Labor Service Units (LSU) under American supervision. The British and US navies provided extensive equipment and training assistance. On 1 March 1956 Vizeadmiral Friedrich Ruge was appointed head of Division VII - Navy in the Federal Ministry of Defence. From 1 June 1957, he was named Inspector of the Navy. On 1 April 1956, the fast attack craft squadron was put up in Kiel under the leadership of the Korvettenkapitän Hans-Helmut Klose. On 2 May 1956 the command of the fleet base in Wilhelmshaven-Sengwarden raised its flag, followed on 15 June 1956 by the Command of Naval Forces under commissary guidance of Kapitän zur See Max-Eckart Wolff. On 16 May 1956, the 1st Fast Mine Hunting Squadron with twelve vessels was put into service in Wilhelmshaven, and on 1 June 1956, the 2nd High Seas Mine Hunting Squadron with six vessels in Bremerhaven. As early as 1 April 1957, two mine hunting squadrons, as the first West German units, could be placed under NATO command.

In the autumn of 1957, the Bundesmarine constisted of:
 * 20 Capella-class mine warfare vessels (including Capella, Castor, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Orion, Pollux, Regulus, Rigel, Saturn, Sirius, Spica)
 * 2 Type 38 fast attack craft (S-130, S-208)
 * 6 Silbermöve-class fast attack craft (Eismöve, Raubmöve, Seeschwalbe, Silbermöve, Sturmmöve, Wildschwan)
 * 6 Seehund class mine hunting vessels (Seehund, Seeigel. Seelöwe, Seepferd, Seeschlange, Seestern)
 * 2 Type XXIII submarines (as Class 240) (GS Hai (S 170) and GS Hecht (S 171) )
 * 2 Type 139 patrol trawlers (Eider and Trave)
 * 8 training vessels (Nordwind, Falke, FM 1, FM 2, FM 3, UW 1, UW 2 and UW 3)

On 17 January 1958, the first destroyer, USS Anthony, lent by the US, was taken over as Zerstörer 1. Later the structure of the navy was changed several times. The structure adopted in 1974 had essentially existed until 1990.

The first decade
The Bundesmarine, unlike its predecessors, was conceived from the outset as an alliance naval according to the requirements of NATO and integrated into it. At the same time, there were still some conceptual ideas from the first half of the 1950s, which were not coordinated with the future allies. Two important factors had influenced these considerations: On the one hand, the strong forces of the Eastern Bloc or the Warsaw Pact behind the so-called Iron Curtain represented a threat to the Federal Republic. On the other hand, the NATO countries dominated the world's sea as great naval powers. In this respect, the Landfront was the main source of all German defence planning. Therefore, the first considerations of the navy were aimed at the fact that a landing of superior allied amphibious forces in the back of the enemy, i.e. on the east coast of the GDR, should relieve the land front. Since the large maritime powers did not have sufficient means of securing the Baltic Sea access and other tasks in the coastal area, the German navy should undertake such tasks in order to prepare and secure the planned allied landing. The Navy's first procurement program took this into account. Artillery destroyers, speedboats , minnow boats , landing craft, and fuse units were deployed to prepare for an amphibious operation.

The reorientation
As early as the beginning of the 1960s it became clear that this planning was unrealistic. Neither did military operations in Europe allow such an operation, nor did the allies have the corresponding intentions. On the contrary, it became clear that in the Baltic Sea the priority was to defend a Soviet landing against the German and Danish coasts, which was supposed to open the Baltic Sea for the Soviet Navy. According to the new plans, the Bundesmarine essentially had the following tasks: In the Baltic Sea, it was to defend landings along with the Danish navy and to block the Baltic Sea exits for Soviet warships. If possible, the Baltic Sea should be blocked for the entire enemy maritime traffic in order to prevent the reinforcement and supply of the land forces. In the North Sea, the Bundesmarine was to contribute to securing its own sea routes, so that in the war allied reinforcements could be safely transported to German, Danish and Dutch ports. Gradually, in the seventies and eighties, the Navy received new material designed for these tasks. These included, among others, 40 modern missile boats, 24 submarines, very modern miner systems, 112 TORNADO hunting bombers and eight helicopter frigates. With the forces in the Baltic Sea, which constituted about two-thirds of the navy, and together with the much smaller Danish navy, succeeded in building a system of defence in the depths, which carried an opposing Landing Association on its way through the whole Baltic Sea continuously Could have combated. In accordance with its task, the operational area of ​​the Bundesmarine had initially comprised only the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, with the Dover - Calais line in the west and the 60th parallel parallel in the north being the limit for deployment planning, but not for training trips. This national restriction on use was abolished in June 1980. [6] The entire so-called northern flank space of NATO was now used as an operational area. A special feature was the tasks that the Navy had to perform according to the plans of the organization, Live Oak, set up in 1959. This organization of the three Western Allies should ensure the security of West Berlin by military measures. While in the case of a Berlin crisis, the Allies reserved themselves operations along the transit routes themselves, the Bundesmarine was to take part in measures against the maritime traffic of the states of the Warsaw Pact in order to exert pressure on the Soviet Union. [7]

The way to Fleet 2005
Three developments showed the naval leadership in the mid-eighties that it would require a new reorientation. First, soon after Mikhail Gorbachev's government in the Soviet Union, the threat of a change in Europe began to change. The abolition of the amphibious threat in the Baltic Sea would require a complete change of the navy. Secondly, new conflicts were emerging outside the NATO area, which would have an indirect influence on Germany. Already during the first Gulf war the allies had transferred so many ships from the Mediterranean to the Gulf region in 1987 that the Bundesmarine had to help with a federation to compensate for a possible power vacuum in the Mediterranean. Since then, she has been there permanently. Thirdly, it would not be possible to substitute for the complex systems of modern systems, which are still from the early years, in large numbers. In particular, the many first-generation minivan boats, which were now mostly used as mines, were to be separated and replaced by modern mine-fighting vehicles. The new considerations were already very advanced at the time of German reunification in 1990, so that Marine Inspector, Vice - Admiral Hans-Joachim Mann, had already presented the concept of the fleet in 2005 for the further development of the German Navy.

Structure
The navy as part of the Bundeswehr's military force is led by the Navy 's inspector in the Federal Ministry of Defense. It is supported by the naval leadership. The naval division of the navy has changed several times over the course of time. [8] The first organization, which existed between 1956 and the end of 1960, was divided into four commandery areas: Command of the naval forces (from 1958: command of the fleet) in Wilhelmshaven Command of the fleet base in Wilhelmshaven Command of the naval education in Kiel Ship test command From the beginning of 1961 a first reclassification took place, after it was succeeded to improve the involvement of the Bundesmarine in the leadership organization of the NATO (to the management organization see also Flottenkommando ). Then the navy divided itself as follows: Fleet command in Glücksburg - Meierwik Command of the fleet base in Wilhelmshaven Central naval command in Wilhelmshaven A further amendment came into effect in 1965, when the Central Marine Command and the Command of the Fleet Base were merged into the Marineamt, based in Wilhelmshaven. Already in 1972, it was decided to largely reverse this change and create a new structure similar to the previous one. It entered into force in 1974 and was divided into three pillars, each led by a higher commander : Fleet guided by fleet command Marine support command Marineamt This structure had essentially remained until 2000.

Flotation Command
The naval commando was under the command of the floating and flying combat forces, the supporting naval bases, and the naval command services. These included (as of about 1985):

17 Destroyer and frigate 5 U-hunting boats 60 minines and other mine vehicles 40 speedboats 24 submarines 22 Landing Craft 30 auxiliary ships 110 Hunting bombers 20 Sea reconnaissance 20 light transport aircraft 35 helicopters Combat swimmers and ministers Telecommunication and reconnaissance units on land

Marine Support Command
The Navy Support Command (MUKdo) was responsible for the logistical support of the Navy. It supported the naval command in the production and maintenance of the fleet. He was responsible for maritime support points, transport forces and depots.

Marineamt
The Navy Office was responsible for basic tasks in the field of armaments, medical services and geophysics, as well as personnel processing for teams and unofficial officers. The naval officers of the navy, the Navy's headquarters (SDM), and, temporarily, the marines 'security regiment, with the marines' battalions, which could also be used for amphibious operations. Schools and training facilities of the Naval Office Marineschule Mürwik in Flensburg - Mürwik Marine Unofficial School in Plön Marinefernmeldeschule (MFmS) in Flensburg with basic training course in Eckernförde Marine Service School (MKüDstS) in Großenbrode with basic training course in Glückstadt Marineortungsschule in Bremerhaven with basic training course in Drangstedt Marine Supply School (MVS) in List on Sylt (MWaS) with teaching group A in Eckernförde and teaching group B Kappeln / Schlei Technical Marineschule I (TMS I) in Kiel with ship safety training group in Neustadt (Holstein) Technical Marineschule II (TMS II) in Bremerhaven with basic training course in Brake / Unterweser Seafaring school group on Borkum Naval training group in Westerland on Sylt (subordinated to the Naval Air Division until 1980)

Stationing
The deployment of the Navy took account of the nuclear threat in the Cold War. Offices, airborne hordes, and other services were scattered along the entire North and East seas to many sites, including larger ones from West to East: Borkum (base, school of sailors) Wilhelmshaven (Marineamt, MUKdo, base, SDM, Marinetransportbataillon 2 and others) Brake (4th MAusBtl. 4 basic training) From 1973 (Technische Marineschule Lehrgruppe Grundausbildung) Bremerhaven (Naval School, Technical Marineschule II) North wood near Cuxhaven (Fliegerhorst) Sylt (schools, airfield) Flensburg and Glücksburg ( base with schools, reconnaissance units (see Waldsiedlung Tremmerup and the fleet command in Meierwik )) Schleswig (Airborne horseman) Tarp (Flying Horseman) Eckernförde (base, naval remote school and naval underwater weapons school, later naval weapons school) Kappeln-Ellenberg (base Olpenitz, naval artillery school, later naval weapons school) Kiel (Base, Airborne Horseman, Naval Aviation Division, Maritime Medical Institute, Marinemusikkorps Ostsee, Technical Marineschule I and others) Plön ( Marine Unofficial School ) Neustadt in Holstein (base BGS See, submarine training group and ship safety training group) The Bundesmarine staff consisted of about 38,000 soldiers and several thousand civil servants.

Main Weapons of the Bundesmarine
The rearmament of Germany took place under conditions contained in the Additional Protocols to the Treaty on the Western European Union (WEU). They considered as restrictions for the German Navy, among other things, an upper limit of the standard displacement for war ships of 3,000 ts and for submarines of 350 ts. The conditions were modified several times in favor of Germany and were made in 1984 definitively. The last ships, whose draft WEU restrictions were still to be observed, were the frigates of the Bremen class, which were put into service between 1982 and 1990.

The initial equipment
In 1956, the Bundesmarine was able to seize a number of smaller vessels with personnel from existing German maritime organizations, such as the maritime border protection, the Seezoll and the American service group "B" (Laboratory Service Unit "B" / LSU B). These were primarily guarding and 24 demining boats, most of which were taken from captured holdings of the war marines. In addition, three speedboats of the British Baltic Fishery Protection Service (also known as the Klose speedboat group) were built, which were built for the maritime border protection from 1951, but had been under the control of the Allies as unauthorized war weapons. They too had German personnel and were led by the later commander of the fleet Hans-Helmut Klose. From French stocks, a few high-sea search boats of the Kriegsmarine could be repurchased. In addition, six coastal sailing boats ( Vegesack class ) were built on French shipyards for the Bundesmarine. The two ships Eider (A50) and Trave (A51), two former Canadian Corvettes of the newly formed training navigator Kiel of the Bundesmarine, ran for the first international training trip to Den Helder ( Netherlands ), Portsmouth ( Great Britain ) and Ostende ( Belgium ). Both sister ships were previously taken over by the maritime border guards. As the first submarine for the new navy three German submarines were sunk at the end of the Second World War, completely overhauled and for training and testing in a slightly modified version as U-Pike (S 171), U-Hai (S 170) and Wilhelm Bauer (Y 880) has been put into service. The first larger ships were taken over by the British and the US Navy. The Royal Navy supplied some corvettes and smaller frigates serving as school fighters for the training of the new staff, all of whom were retired after less than ten years. From the United States came the first six destroyers of the Bundesmarine ( Fletcher class ) and a number of landing ships. Immediately after the repositioning, a number of new ship types (the so-called Type 55) were commissioned by German shipyards. These included 4 destroyer of the Hamburg class 6 chauffeurs (frigates) of the Cologne class 18 Lindau class minnow boats 30 Fast-paced Minnesuch boats of the Sagittarius class 8 of the Ariadne class 5 Torpedo boats (later: U-hunting boats) of the Thetis class 30 speedboats of the Jaguar class 12 submarines of the class 201/205 A larger number of tenders and auxiliary ships. Almost all marine aircraft of the first years were procured abroad, with Great Britain being the main supplier. The initial equipment included (usual description in italics ): 68 Hawker Sea Hawk Mk.101 Multipurpose Combat Aircraft 16 Fairey Gannet AS.4 U-fighter aircraft 4 Hunting-Percival Pembroke C.54 transport aircraft 12 Fouga Magister CM170R School Aircraft 5 Grumman HU-16C Albatross amphibious aircraft 15 Dornier Do 27 Connecting aircraft 10 Bristol B 171 Sycamore Mk.14 light transport helicopter 20 Sikorsky UH-34G rescue helicopter

The Modernization of the 1960s and 1970s
It quickly became apparent that the initial equipment did not meet the requirements for modern naval warfare. On the one hand, this was outdated material, which was still partly from the Second World War. On the other hand, the first conceptual considerations of naval management proved to be unrealistic, on which the first procurement planning had been based (such as the design and tasks of the navy ). In addition, Soviet naval equipment had already made significant progress in the development of sea- flying missiles at the end of the 1950s, thus building a threat far superior to the equipment of the Bundesmarine. Finally, it was also shown that during the post- war period, the German shipyard industry had lost its connection with the modern maritime equipment and was only able to restrict the construction of complex weapon systems. For this reason, missile destroyers from the USA were procured, speedboats with sea-flying missiles from France and frigate designs from the Netherlands. At the same time, the new own programs started, although not always as originally planned. Class 201 submarines encountered major problems with the construction steel, and the first boats were converted to class 205, and the procurement of the more powerful Class 206 started. Crucial shipments of this time were: 3 Class A (Class A) Class A (Class L) 18 Submarines of Class 206 10 Torpedo speedboats of the sable class 20 Tiger-class airliner craft 10 Albatros-class airborne craft boats 10 Women's Womens Intercity Diving Boots 8 Utilities of the Lüneburg class The Navy's aircraft was almost completely replaced. Newly procured were: 127 Lockheed F-104G Starfighter hunting bomber, including 1 season of reconnaissance 20 Bréguet 1150 Atlantic sea reconnaissance, including 5 for electronic reconnaissance 22 Westland SeaKing Mk 41 Sea rescue helicopters (later also combat and transport helicopters) 20 Dornier Do 28 D-2 Skyservant transport and connecting aircraft There was also a lot of new equipment. These included a number of flight systems (ship, ship, air, ship), wire - guided torpedoes for submarines and speedboats, and modern guidance systems, including the Link 11 data exchange system. With these new systems, the Bundesmarine - and with it the German industry - was connected to modern armament technology. In some areas, especially in the area of ​​warfare near the coast, it even gained a leading position.

The Third Generation
In the 1980s, modernisation was continued, with the primary focus now being on the replacement of the first post-war buildings. It was clear that the quite simple systems built in large numbers could not be replaced piece by piece against technically complex new buildings. The new buildings of this period include: 8 frigates of the Bremen class 10 Swiftness of the Cheetahs 10 Mines of the Hameln class 3 overseas sailing boats ( reconnaissance vessels ) In addition, the Lindau class coastal minivans were modernized. 12 boats were converted into mine hunting boats and 6 boats were used as pilot boats for the Troika remote control system. In addition, modern sea-mines were used to defend enemy landings. As new aircraft were introduced: 112 Panavia Tornado multi-purpose combat aircraft 12 (later more) Westland "Sea Lynx" Mk 88 onboard helicopter With modern frigates and onboard helicopters, the Bundesmarine succeeded in reaching the technical level of the larger western navy even in the larger war ships. The tornadoes brought a significant increase in combat power and range compared to the Starfighter. The ships, boats and airplanes received much more extensive electronic equipment, which was partly retrofitted on older vehicles. At the end of the 1980s, the Navy had procured equipment that was optimized for its main tasks in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.

Telecommunications Organization
The Bundesmarine also had its own telecommunication system with a coastal radio organization and a strong electronic reconnaissance component. These forces were subordinate to the naval command post. The most important transmitters were: Marine radio station Rhauderfehn in Saterland Marine radio station Glücksburg in Glücksburg Marine radio station Neuharlingersiel in Neuharlingersiel

Balance Sheet
After first conceptual approaches for a German naval contribution to the Alliance were not realistic, a strong navy succeeded to be built up from the seventies of the 20th century, which was taken very seriously by their possible opponents in the Baltic Sea. The Soviet Union had to recognize that its Baltic Sea fleet would not be able to operate in the North Atlantic. That is why the large ships and many submarines were stationed in the North Sea (see North Fleet ). There, a new infrastructure had to be created, far from the industrial centers of Russia. The climatic conditions claimed mankind and material to an extraordinary extent. In the Baltic Sea, the submarine threat, which was likewise directed against supplies of supplies to the provincial forces as against landings, was regarded as very serious. The 30 western submarines (24 German and six Danish) with a combined crew of less than 1,000 men were given 75 U-hunting ships and 150 special aircraft and helicopters with about 15,000 men. Thus, the concept of the Bundesmarine proved to be very efficient. 1989-1990 ended the confrontation between West and East, in the scenario of which the Bundesmarine had its permanent place. However, before the German reunification on 3 October 1990, it was confronted with the new tasks which the armed forces had to face. On 16 August 1990, the mine sweeping formation went to the southern flank to the first of the new international operations of the Bundeswehr into the Mediterranean. With the changes that have taken place since 1990, the German Navy has been given new tasks.