Kriegsmarine

Victory at Sea Kriegsmarine Aircraft

With carriers planned but not built, Germany’s airpower was limited to launching from airfields far from open water. As such, they were mainly deployed against ships close to mainland Europe. Despite this, the Luftwaffe dive-bombers proved devastatingly...

Victory at Sea Tirpitz

Sister ship to the Bismarck, the Tirpitz was 2,000 tons heavier and thus the heaviest warship to have ever been produced by a European navy. She served in Norway and the Baltic Fleet acting as a potent deterrent. The Tirpitz became an obsession for the...

Victory at Sea Kriegsmarine U-Boats & MTB Section

Submarines: A long-ranged submersible, the Type IX was the most successful U-boat of the war, with each vessel averaging over 100,000 tons of shipping sunk. One Type IX, U-107, made the most successful convoy mission of the war, with nearly 100,000...

Victory at Sea Admiral Graf Spee & Admiral Scheer

The Deutschland-class of warships were relatively small, by battleship standards, but were well armoured and carried the type of armament traditionally seen only on battleships. This led to them being nicknamed ‘pocket battleships’. Superb...

Victory at Sea Merchant Convoy

Preventing attacks on defenceless merchant ships is the other main role of the navy, and it was her that the war was fought, day in and day out, by the humble corvette, frigate and destroyer escort, and later by escort carriers. Commerce raiding formed a...

Victory at Sea Bismarck

Two Bismarck-class battleships were built for the Kriegsmarine. Bismarck was the first, named for the Chancellor (Otto von Bismarck). The battleship was laid down in July 1936 and launched February 1939. She and her sister ship, Tirpitz, were two of...

Victory at Sea Kriegsmarine Fleet

The Kriegsmarine had to be virtually rebuilt after the First World War. Forbidden to own capital ships and submarines, Germany nibbled away at first one clause of the Treaty of Versailles, then another, until a powerful navy force existed. At the...