List of Kriegsmarine ships explained

The list of Kriegsmarine ships includes all ships commissioned into the Kriegsmarine, the navy of Nazi Germany, during its existence from 1935 to the conclusion of World War II in 1945.

See the list of naval ships of Germany for ships in German service throughout the country's history.

Capital ships

Pre-dreadnought battleships

Class	Displacement (standard)	Main battery	Speed	Ship	Image	Commis- sioned	Fate
	15,000 tons	4 × 11-in.	18 kn			Oct 1907	Scrapped between 1944 and 1946
19.1 kn			Jul 1908	Scuttled, Mar 1945
18.5 kn			May 1908	Mined off Swinemünde in May 1945

Modern battleships

Class	Displacement (standard)	Main battery	Speed	Ship	Image	Commis- sioned	War loss
	Bismarck: 41,700 tons Tirpitz: 42,900 tons	8 × 15-in.	30 kn			Aug 1940	Scuttled following incapacitating battle damage, May 1941
		Feb 1941	Sunk by air attack, Nov 1944
	32,100 tons	9 × 11-in.	31 kn			Jan 1939	Sunk by gunfire, Dec 1943
		May 1938	Sunk as a blockship, Mar 1945

Cruisers

Heavy cruisers

Class	Displacement (standard)	Main battery	Speed	Ship	Image	Commis- sioned	War loss	Postwar
	14,290 tons	6 × 11-in.	28 kn	renamed Lützow Jan 1940		Apr 1933	Air attack Baltic Sea, Apr 1945
		Nov 1934	Air attack Kiel, Apr 1945
		Jan 1936	Scuttled Montevideo, Dec 1939
	18,200 tons	8 × 8-in.	32 kn			Apr 1939	Scuttled Kiel, May 1945
		Sep 1939	Sunk Drøbak Sound, Apr 1940
			Aug 1940		Prize of US

Light cruisers

Class	Displacement (standard)	Main battery	Speed	Ship	Image	Commis- sioned	War loss	Postwar
	6,990 tons	8 × 5.9-in.	29.5 kn			Oct 1925	Scuttled Heikendorf, May 1945
	7,700 tons	9 × 5.9-in.	32 kn			Apr 1929	Air attack Bergen, Apr 1940
		Nov 1929	Scuttled off Kristiansand, Apr 1940
		Jan 1930	Air attack Wilhelmshaven, Mar 1945
	8,900 tons**	9 × 5.9-in.	32 kn			Oct 1931		Scuttled, Jun 1946
		Nov 1935		Prize of USSR

^[1]

Destroyers and torpedo boats

See main article: article and German World War II destroyers.

Named destroyers

! Class! Displace-
ment! Torpedo
load! Speed! Image! Ship! War loss! Postwar

Type 1934 destroyers	3,155 tons	8 × 21-in.	36 kn		Z1 Leberecht Maass	Sunk, Feb 1940
	Beached, Apr 1940
	Sunk w all hands, Feb 1940
Z4 Richard Beitzen		Scrapped, 1949
Type 1934A destroyers	2,270 tons	8 × 21-in.	36 kn				Scrapped, 1954
		Scrapped, 1958
	Scuttled, May 1942
	Mined, Jan 1942
Z9 Wolfgang Zenker	Scuttled, Apr 1940
Z10 Hans Lody		Scrapped, 1949
Z11 Bernd von Arnim	Scuttled, Apr 1940
Z12 Erich Giese	Sunk, Apr 1940
Z13 Erich Koellner	Scuttled, Apr 1940
Z14 Friedrich Ihn		Scrapped, 1952
Z15 Erich Steinbrinck		Scrapped, 1958
Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt	Sunk, Dec 1942
Type 1936 destroyers	3,470 tons	8 × 21-in.	36 kn		Z17 Diether von Roeder	Scuttled, Apr 1940
	Scuttled, Apr 1940
Z19 Hermann Künne	Scuttled, Apr 1940
Z20 Karl Galster		Scrapped, 1958
Z21 Wilhelm Heidkamp	Sunk, Apr 1940
Z22 Anton Schmitt	Sunk, Apr 1940

Numbered destroyers

! Class! Displace-
ment! Torpedo
load! Speed! Image! Ship! War loss! Postwar

Type 1936A (Narvik) destroyers	2,657 tons	8 × 21-in.	36 kn		Z23	Scuttled, Aug 1944
Z24	Air attack, Aug 1944
Z25		Prize of France
Z26	Sunk, Mar 1942
Z27	Sunk, Dec 1943
Z28	Air attack, Mar 1945
Z29		Scuttled, 1946
Z30		Scrapped, 1948
Type 1936A (Mob)	2,657 tons	8 × 21-in.	36 kn		Z31		Prize of France
Z32	Grounded, Jun 1944
Z33		Prize of USSR
Z34		Scuttled, 1946
Z37	Scuttled, Aug 1944
Z38		Prize of UK
Z39		Prize of US
Type 1936B destroyer	3,542 tons	8 × 21-in.	36 kn	No image available		Mined, Dec 1944
	Mined, Dec 1944
	Scuttled, May 1945
		Scrapped, 1946
Type 1936C destroyer	3,625 tons	8 × 21-in.	37.5 kn	No image available		Blown up, 1945
	Blown up, 1945

Torpedo boats

See main article: article and German torpedo boats of World War II.

• Torpedoboot 1923 ("Raubvogel") (900 tons, 3 × 105 mm guns)
  • • • • • • • • • • • • Torpedoboot 1924 ("Raubtier") (950 tons, 3 × 105 mm guns)
                        • Torpedoboot 1935 (1,090 tons, 1 × 105 mm gun)
  • through
• Torpedoboot 1937 (1,150 tons, 1 × 105 mm gun)
  • through
• Flottentorpedoboot 1939 (Elbing) (1,750 tons, 4 × 105 mm guns)
  • through

Mine warfare craft

Minelayers

• 1935 (5,500 tons, 3 × 150 mm guns, 460 mines)
• 1936 (3,900 tons, 3 × 105 mm guns, 250 mines)
• 1941 (2,000 tons, 2 × 88 mm guns, 200 mines)
• 1934 (1,800 tons, 2 × 105 mm guns, 260 mines)
• 1939 (2,431 tons, 2 × 88 mm guns, 360 mines)
• 1942 (3,152 tons, 4 x 20 mm guns, 80 mines)^{[2] [3]}
• 1924 (1,800 tons, 2 × 88 mm guns, 120 mines)
• 1940 (3 × 10.5 cm guns, 2 × 3.7 cm anti-aircraft guns, 10 × 2 cm anti-aircraft guns, 4 × 46 cm torpedo tubes, 280 mines)
• 1934 (1,200 tons, 2 × 88 mm guns, 145 mines)
• 1939 (370 tons, 2 × 88 mm guns, 100 mines)
• 1939 (370 tons, 2 × 88 mm guns, 100 mines)
• 1943

Sperrbrecher

See main article: article and Sperrbrecher.

• Sperrbrecher 1 – Sperrbrecher 100 (5,000 tons, 2 × 88 mm guns)

Minesweeper

See main article: article and M-class minesweeper (Germany).

• M1935 class (875 tons, 2 × 105 mm guns)
  • M1 – M69
• M1940 class (775 tons, 1 × 105 mm gun)
  • M70 – M196
• M1943 class (825 tons, 2 × 105 mm guns)
  • M197 – M214

R Boats

See main article: article and R boat.

• R1 class 1929 (60 tons, 1 × 37 mm gun, 6 mines)
  • R1 – R16
• R17 class 1934 (115 tons, 1 × 37 mm gun, 12 mines)
  • R17 – R24
• R25 class 1938 (110 tons, 1 × 37 mm gun, 12 mines)
  • R25 – R40
• R41 class 1939 (125 tons, 1 × 37 mm gun, 12 mines)
  • R41 – R129
• R130 class 1940 (150 tons, 1 × 37 mm gun, 12 mines)
  • R130 – R150
• R151 class 1940 (125 tons, 1 × 37 mm gun, 12 mines)
  • R151 – R217
• R218 class 1942 (140 tons, 1 × 37 mm gun, 16 mines)
  • R218 – R300
• R301 class 1942 (160 tons, 1 × 88 mm gun, 16 mines, 2 torpedo tubes)
  • R301 – R312

Mine hunters

• KM1 – KM36

Small craft

S-boats

See main article: article and Schnellboot.

• S1 class (50 tons, 1 × 20 mm gun, 2 torpedo tubes)
  • S1 – S25
• S26 class (75 tons, 1 × 20 mm gun, 2 torpedo tubes)
  • S26 – S29
• S30 class (80 tons, 1 × 20 mm gun, 2 torpedo tubes)
  • S30 – S37
• S38 class (80 tons, 1 × 20 mm gun, 2 torpedo tubes)
  • S38 – S60
• S38b class (90 tons, 2 × 20 mm guns, 2 torpedo tubes)
  • S61 – S99
• S100 class (100 tons, 1 × 37 mm gun, 2 torpedo tubes)
  • S100 – S150
• S151 class (100 tons, 1 × 37 mm gun, 2 torpedo tubes)
  • S151 – S205

U-boats

Training submarines

• Type I
  • and

Coastal submarines

• Type IIA
  • through
• Type IIB
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  • and
• Type IIC
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• Type IID
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• Type XVIIB
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Ocean-going submarines

• Type VIIA
  • through
• Type VIIB
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• Type VIIC
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• Type VIIC 41
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• Type IXA
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• Type IXB
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• Type IXC
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• Type IXC 40
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  • through U-882
  • U-885 through
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• Type IXD
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Minelaying submarines

• Type VIID
  • through
• Type XB
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Supply submarines

• Type VIIF
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• Type IXD /42
  • and
• Type XB
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• Type XIV
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Electric boats

• Type XXI
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• Type XXIII
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Midget submarines

• Seehund (17 tons, 2 × torpedoes)
  • 138 commissioned
• Hecht (Training)
  • 53 commissioned
• Biber (6.5 tons, 2 × torpedoes)
  • 324 commissioned
• Molch (11 tons, 2 × torpedoes)
  • 393 commissioned
• Delphin (Prototype)
  • 3 commissioned
• Seeteufel (Prototype)
  • 1 commissioned
• Schwertwal (Prototype)
  • 1 commissioned

Human torpedoes

• Neger (1 × torpedo)
  • 200 commissioned
• Marder (3 tons, 1 × torpedo)
  • 500 commissioned
• Hai (Prototype)
  • 1 commissioned

Auxiliary ships

Troop ships

• , 1927
• , 1923
• , 1940
• , 1923
• , 1937
• , 1926
• , 1936
• /, 1923

Artillery training ships

• 1933 (1,800 tons, 4 × 127 mm guns)
• 1934 (3,000 tons, 8 × 105 mm guns, 480 mines)

Torpedo training ships

• , 1942

Radio-controlled targets

• • • , 1900
    • , 1898

Sail training ships

• Niobe, 1913
• Gorch Fock, 1933 (Russian training ship Tovarishch)
• Horst Wessel, 1936 (US Coast Guard Ship Eagle)
• Albert Leo Schlageter, 1937 (Portuguese training ship Sagres)

Aviso

• Grille, 1934

Floating anti-aircraft batteries

• (light cruiser)
• (Gazelle class light cruiser)
• (ex-Dutch coastal defense ship)
• (ex-Dutch cruiser)
• (ex-Norwegian coastal defense ship)
• (ex-Norwegian coastal defense ship)

Escort

• (700 tons, 2 × 105 mm guns)
  • F 1 – F 10
• (925 tons, 1 × 105 mm gun)
  • PA 1 – PA 4

Gunboats

• LS1 – LS12
• The Following Gunboats were generally armed with one 5.9 inch, two 37mm (1×2) and six 20mm (6×1) guns.
  • August 400 tons Launched 1936
  • Berkelstrom
  • Cascade 338 tons Launched 1937
  • Globe 314 tons Launched 1937
  • Hast I
  • Helene 400 tons Launched 1937
  • Joost
  • Kemphaan 343 tons Launched 1936
  • Nijnberg
  • Oostzee 336 tons Launched 1936
  • Ost 565 tons Launched 1939
  • Paraat
  • Polaris 322 tons Launched 1936
  • Robert Muller 399 tons Launched 1936
  • Soemba
  • Trompenberg
  • West
  • West Vlaanderen 346 tons Launched 1927

Weather ships

• (WBS 5)
• (WBS 8)
• (WBS 7 / WBS 14)
• (WBS 2)
• (WBS 11)
• / (WBS 1)
• (WBS 11 / WBS 8)
• (WBS 4)
• (WBS 5)
• (WBS 3 / WBS 4)
• WBS 6)
• (WBS 3)
• (WBS 3)
  • (WBS 9)
• (WBS 10)
• (WBS 6)
• (WBS 5)
• (WBS 7)
• (WBS 10)
• (WBS 10)
• (WBS 12)
• (WBS 1)

Hospital ships

• ^[4]
• ^[4]
• ^[4]
• ^[4]
• ^[4]
• ^[4]
• ^[4]
• ^[5]
• ^[4]
• ^[4]
• ^[4]
• ^[4]
• ^[4]
• ^[4]
• ^[4]

Fleet Tenders

• Saar
• Hela
• Tsingtau
• Adolf Lüderitz
• Carl Peters
• Otto Wünsche
• Waldemar Kophamel
• Wilhelm Bauer

Patrol boats

Many vessels were requisitioned for use as vorpostenboote during the war.

See also: List of Vorpostenboote in World War II.

Icebreakers

• Castor
• Eisbär
• Eisvogel
• Pollux

Captured foreign warships

A significant number of foreign warships were captured and recommissioned into the Kriegsmarine.

• , French battleship captured in 1940 while still under construction, but never completed. With Brest, France shipyard and drydock flooded and always under Allied bombers, it could never be completed.
• Faà di Bruno, laid down 1915, captured 1943, commissioned as monitor Biber, surrendered in 1945 and broken up.
• , laid down 1938, captured 1941 (never completed)
• HNLMS O 8, captured in 1940, taken into service as UD-1 used as training ship to train crews for the German U-boats. Decommissioned in 1943.
• , captured 1940, taken into service as UB
• The Danish training ship/coastal defense ship was refloated after an attempted destruction of the ship via running aground during Battle of Isefjord, disarmed and used as a training ship renamed Nordland by the Kriegsmarine. Scuttled a second time 3 May 1945, scrapped 1952.^[6]
• Four Norwegian s,,,, & were captured in 1940. All four ships saw service in the Kriegsmarine.
• Four French s, Arquebuse, Hallebarde, Sabre, & Poignard were captured in 1940 following the Fall of France. All except Poignard were completed and entered service as "Patrol vessels" PA 1 to PA 4 (the latter saw no service).
• HNLMS Gerard Callenburgh was scuttled to prevent her capture in 1940, but was nevertheless raised and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine as ZH1 in 1942.
• RHS Vasilefs Georgios was scuttled to prevent her captured in 1941, but was raised and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine as Hermes in 1942.
• French destroyer L'Opiniâtre was captured while still under construction. Germany intended to completed her, but construction was halted in 1943 and broken up for scrap that year.
• and light cruisers were captured in 1940 while still under construction. Renamed as KH1 and KH2 ("KH" means "Kreuzer Holland"), modified to fit an Atlantic Bow and redesigned for new German armament. Work was resume to be completed, but with very slow progress due to sabotage from the Dutch Resistance. KH1 was launched in 1944 to be use as blockship. Both ships were completed with a modernized post WW II design and commissioned into Dutch service in 1953.
• KB Dalmacija was a WW1 Imperial Germany light cruiser (SMS Niobe), sold to Yugoslavia in 1925 (KB Dalmacija), captured by Italy in 1941 (RN Cattaro), then by Germany following the Italian Armistice in 1943 and renamed Niobe. She was sunk by British torpedo boats.
• KB Dubrovnik was captured first by Italy in 1941 (RN Premuda), then by German following the Italian Armistice in 1943 (TA 32). She was scuttled in Genoa in 1945 following the Battle of the Ligurian Sea.
• KB Beograd was captured first by Italy in 1941 (RN Sebenico), then by German following the Italian Armistice in 1943 (TA 43). She was sunk in Trieste, though sources vary of how so.
• KB T3 was captured first by Italy, then by German following the Italian Armistice in 1943. She was sunk by Allied aircraft in February 1945.
• Four Yugoslav Orjen-class torpedo boat (KB Velebit, KB Dinara, KB Triglav and KB Rudnik) were captured first by Italy in 1941 (MS 42, MS 43, MS 44 and MS 46), then by German following the Italian Armistice in 1943 (S 601, S 602, S 603 and S 604). All four were scuttled in 1944.
• KB was captured in 1941 and used as a troop transport until her sinking in 1944.
• Yugoslav minelayer D2 was captured first by Italy, then by German following the Italian Armistice in 1943. She was sunk in 1944.

Unfinished ships

Aircraft carriers

• Graf Zeppelin class
  • , Laid down 1936, commissioned 1938 (85% complete at start of war, never completed)*
  • Flugzeugträger B, Laid Down 1938, never launched, broken up 1940*^[7]

Heavy cruisers

• , (uncompleted, intended for conversion into light aircraft carrier, but never completed)
• , (sold uncompleted to Soviet Union in 1940)

Destroyers

• Zerstörer 1936C
• Zerstörer 1938A/Ac
• Zerstörer 1938B
• Zerstörer 1942: Z51 launched 1944, but bombed and never completed
• Zerstörer 1944
• Zerstörer 1945
• Spähkreuzer

Torpedo boats

• Flottentorpedoboot 1940 (Never completed)
• Flottentorpedoboot 1941 (Never completed)
• Flottentorpedoboot 1944 (Never completed)

A multitude of other ships also remained unfinished by the end of the war: escorts, gunboats, landing craft, fleet tenders, AA batteries, training ships, auxiliary ships, patrol boats, minelayers, mine hunters, fast torpedo attack boats (E-Boats) and more.

See also

List of ships of the Second World War

References

• Janes Fighting Ships of World War Two. 1994 reprint of 1945/46 edition, Crescent Books, Random House, New York

Notes and References

1. • Janes Fighting Ships of World War Two. 1994 reprint of 1945/46 edition, Crescent Books, Random House, New York
2. Neculai Pădurariu, Reinhart Schmelzkopf, Die See-Handelsschiffe Rumäniens
3. H. T. Lenton, German warships of the Second World War, p. 374
4. Web site: KRIEGSMARINE HOSPITAL SHIPS (Lazarettschiffe) . Kbismark . 18 January 2023 .
5. Web site: Biography of the Vessel . Museum of World Oceans . Kaliningrad . 28 January 2017.
6. News: NIELS IUEL i tysk tjeneste (1943-1945) En: NIELS JUEL in German service (1943-1945), Søren Nørby.
7. Breyer, Stephen, "German Aircraft Carriers", Schiffer Publishing Co, Atglen, PA