Institution

Kriegsmarine

1935–1945 · 20th century

The Kriegsmarine was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945, successor to the Reichsmarine. Much smaller than the Royal Navy, it relied in the Second World War on surface raiders and above all on U-boats, which sank thousands of Allied merchant ships in the Battle of the Atlantic before being defeated in 1943. Its commanders were Erich Raeder and then Karl Dönitz.

Kriegsmarine
Image: Lancaster, F l a n k e r · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

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Nazi GermanyMilitary

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Kriegsmarine. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/kriegsmarine
MLA
“Kriegsmarine.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/kriegsmarine. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Kriegsmarine.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/kriegsmarine.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Kriegsmarine’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/kriegsmarine (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻