The Kriegsmarine Facts, Figures and Data for the German Navy, 1935–45

Germany’s navy, the Kriegsmarine, played a critical role in the Third Reich’s attempt to restrict the flow of supplies, men and materiel from the United States to Britain in the early years of the war and from North America and Britain to the Soviet Union from 1941. Such was the success of the U-boats in particular, by the end of the war more than 3000 Allied ships with a combined gross tonnage 14.5 million had been sent to the bottom of the sea. The Kriegsmarine examines the workings of the German Navy through its organization, command structure, economic resources, production figures, recruitment, training and philosophy. Broken down by key campaigns and subject areas, the book includes exhaustive reference tables, diagrams, maps and charts, presenting all the core data in easy-to-follow formats. The Kriegsmarine is an essential reference guide for anyone interested in the history and structure of Germany’s wartime navy.

Since leaving the British Ministry of Defence in 2006 after 29 years’ service, David Porter has worked on a number of research projects, contributing articles and book reviews to the BBC History Magazine, the British Army Review and the Royal Engineers Journal.