***UNDER CONSTRUCTION***
SILENT HUNTER III
SUBMARINE SIMULATOR
Organization of Kriegsmarine Submarine Forces
Following the end of the First World War, Germany's submarine force was dismantled with further submarine development and deployment restricted by the Treaty of Versailles. Despite this, in the summer of 1935 as part of its rearming process, the German Navy established a submarine branch which first began as a small collection of coastal "Type II" boats stationed in Kiel.
The submarine branch was placed under the command of veteran First World War submarine officer Fregattenkapitän (Commander) Karl Dönitz. The submarines at Kiel, then numbering less than six, were grouped into the Weddigen Flotilla, named after a famous World War I submarine ace.
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Karl Dönitz was named as "Leader of Submarines", as well as flotilla commander at Kiel, and promoted to the rank of Navy Captain. He then began expanding the submarine force, establishing several more flotillas, and by 1939 had risen to the rank of Kommodore.
Right: Kommodore Karl Dönitz in 1939
When World War II began in September 1939, there were seven active flotillas, of which three were available for operational deployment into combat (the remainder of the flotillas were training units). Karl Dönitz was promoted to Rear Admiral and over the next two years massively expanded his submarine force under his new title "Commander of Submarines" (Befehlshaber der U-Boote). By the end of 1942, Dönitz commanded twelve active U-boat flotillas and had been promoted to the rank of full Navy Admiral.
The command structure for submarines technically placed their operational control under Navy Group commanders; however, Dönitz paid little attention to this and ran his submarine force with near total independence.
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Left: German submarine organization (1943)
By 1943, as a compromise, flotillas were grouped into larger units known as "U-boat regions" with the regional commander a quasi-member of the Group Commander's staff. Even so, Dönitz continued to exercise jealous personal control of his submarines.
In 1943, Karl Dönitz was promoted to Grand Admiral and became Commander-in-Chief of the entire German Navy. He immediately began a program to negate Germany's surface fleet in favor of a submarine dominated Navy. By 1944, there were twenty eight operational submarine flotillas in existence.
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Right: German submarine commands in 1944
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By the end of 1944, the German military had been forced to abaondon most of its sea port bases and retreat inland to Germany. The last major collection of submarine commands was in Norway which remained occupied by the Germans until Germany's surrender in May 1945.
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