Welcome to instalment one of our brief mini-series of weekly instalments focussed on the career of Admiral Karl Dönitz.
Karl Dönitz (pronounced (donits) was born in Grünau in Berlin, Germany to Anna Beyer and Emil Dönitz, an engineer on the 16th of September 1891. Karl Dönitz also had an older brother, Friedrich.
In 1910, Dönitz enlisted in the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine). He became a sea-cadet (Seekadett) on the 4th of April 1910. In accordance with Imperial German Navy approximately a year later on the 15th of April 1911, Dönitz was promoted to the rank of a midshipman (Fähnrich zur See), the rank usually given to those who had served for one year as officer's apprentice and had passed their first examination.
On the 27th of September 1913, Dönitz was commissioned as an Acting Second Lieutenant (Leutnant zur See).
When World War One broke out in 1914, Dönitz served on the light cruiser SMS Breslau in the Mediterranean Sea. In August 1914, Breslau and the battlecruiser SMS Goeben were both sold to the Ottoman navy; and the ships were renamed the Midilli and the Yavuz Sultan Selim, respectively. Whilst effectively sold it appears that there existing crews remained with ships. These two ships then began operating out of Constantinople, under Rear Admiral Wilhelm Souchon, engaging the Russian forces in the Black Sea.
On the 22nd of March 1916, Dönitz was promoted to First Lieutenant (Oberleutnant zur See). When Midilli put into dock for repairs, he was temporarily assigned as airfield commander at the Dardanelles an interesting assignment for aNavy man. From there, he requested a transfer to the submarine forces, which became effective in October 1916. He served as watch officer on U-39, and then from February 1918 onward served as commander of UC-25.
On the 5th of September 1918, he became commander of UB-68, operating in the Mediterranean.
Then on the 4th of October, UB-68 was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was sadly taken prisoner. He lost 6 crew members and it appears that UB-68 was lost after some problems during a dive with an unstabilized boat.
The war ended in 1918, but unfortunately like many Dönitz remained in a British camp as a prisoner of war until his release in July 1919. He finally returned to his homeland Germany in 1920.
During the period between the wars, Karl Dönitz was fortunate enough to continue his naval career in the naval arm of the Weimar Republic's Armed Forces (Reichswehr).
On the10th of January 1921, he became a Lieutenant (Kapitänleutnant) in the new German Navy (Vorläufige Reichsmarine). Dönitz advanced in his career and eventually commanded torpedo boats by 1928, after becoming a Lieutenant-Commander (Korvettenkapitän) on the 1st of November 1928.
On the 1st of September 1933, Dönitz became a full Commander (Fregattenkapitän) and, in 1934, was put in command of the cruiser Emden. The Emden was the training ship on which cadets and midshipmen took a year-long world cruise in preparation for a future officer's commission. On board were 160 cadets of the Crew 34, including the later U-Boat Aces, cadets Adalbert Schnee and Friedrich Guggenberger.
On the 1st of September 1935, Dönitz was promoted to Captain (Kapitän zur See) and was placed in command of the 1st U-boat Flotilla Weddigen, which included the following u-boats - U-7, U-8, and U-9.
During 1935, the Weimar Republic's Navy (Reichsmarine) was replaced by the Kriegsmarine.
Throughout 1935 and 1936, Dönitz had serious persoanl misgivings regarding submarines due to German overestimation of the capabilities of British ASDIC. In reality at that time, ASDIC did have its limitations and it was estimated that it could detect only ten percent of submarines during exercises.
German doctrine at the time, based on the work of American Naval Captain Alfred T. Mahan and shared by all major navies, called for the submarines to be integrated with the surface fleet and employed against enemy warships.
By November 1937, Dönitz became convinced that a major campaign against merchant shipping was practical and began pressing for the conversion of the German Fleet almost entirely to U-boats. He advocated a strategy of attacking only merchant ships, targets relatively safe to attack. He pointed out destroying Britain's fleet of oil tankers would starve the Royal Navy of supplies needed to run their ships, which would be just as effective as sinking them. He thought a German fleet of 300 of the newer Type VII U-boats could cripple Britain.
Dönitz revived the World War I idea of grouping several subs together into what was commonly refrrred to as a "wolf pack" to overwhelm a merchant convoy's defensive escorts. Implementation of wolf packs had been difficult in World War I due to the limitations of available radios. However in the interwar years, Germany developed ultra high frequency transmitters which it was hoped made their radio communication reliable, while the Enigma code machine was to make communications secure.
Dönitz also adopted Wilhelm Marschall's 1922 idea (claiming credit for it) of attacking convoys using surface or very near surface night attacks. This tactic had the added advantage of making a submarine undetectable by sonar.
At the time, many, including the famous Erich Raeder, felt such talk marked Dönitz as weak and ill considered. Dönitz was alone among senior naval officers, including some former submariners, in believing in a new successful submarine war on merchant trade.
Dönitz and Raeder constantly debated over funding priorities within the Navy, while at the same time competing with Hitler's friends, such as Hermann Göring, for Hitler’s attention and ultimately favour.
Since the surface strength of the Kriegsmarine was much less than that of the British Royal Navy, Raeder believed any war with Britain in the near future would doom it to uselessness, once remarking “all the Germans could hope to do was die valiantly”.
Erich Raeder based his hopes on war being delayed until the German navy's extensive "Z Plan", which would have expanded Germany's surface fleet to where it could effectively contend with the Royal Navy, was implemented. The "Z Plan", however, was not scheduled to be completed until 1945.
Dönitz, in contrast, had a positive attitude and set about training his U-Boat crews in the new tactics. It seemed clear to Dönitz, that the marked inferiority of the German surface Fleet would leave submarine warfare as Germany's only effective naval option if and when war broke out.
On the 28th of January 1939, Dönitz was formally promoted to the rank of Commodore (Kommodore) and "Leader of the Submarines" (Führer der Unterseeboote).
The next instalment will cover the World War Two career of Karl Dönitz.
Cheers
Sean
Footnote
In compiling each instalment I make reference to a number of established reputable sources both web and reference books.
It is acknowledged that a part or portion of the above information may have been sourced from the following sources and credit is duly acknowledged:
Bibliography – websites
Wikipedia
www.u-boat.net/
www.u-boataces.com
www.historylearningsite.co.uk
www.uboatarchive.net/
www.u-boat-reich.co.uk
www.karl.donitz.com
Bibliography – books
U-Boats at War
U-Boats in Action Squadron/Signal
U-Boats Destroyed: German Submarine Losses in the World Wars by Paul Kemp
Dönitz and the Wolf Packs by Bernard Edwards
Wolf, U-Boat Commanders in World War II by Jordan Vause
German U-Boat Crews 1914-45 by Gordon Williamson and illustrated by Darko Pavlovic
Neither Sharks nor Wolves - The Men of Nazi Germany's U-Boat Arm 1939-1945 by Timothy P Mulligan
KRIEGSMARINE U-BOATS: 1939 - 1945 by Chris Bishop
Shooting the War: The Memoir and Photographs of a U-Boat Officer in World War II by Otto Giese and James E. Wise
U-Boats: The Illustrated History of the Raiders of the Deep by David Miller
Wolf Pack: The Story of the U-Boat in World War II (General Military) by Gordon Williamson
The U-Boat: The Evolution and Technical History of German Submarines by Eberhard Rossler
Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters, 1939-1942 (Modern Library War) by Clay Blair
Wolf: U-Boat Commanders in World War II by Jordan Vause
Silent Hunters: German U-Boat Commanders of World War II (Bluejacket Paperback Series) by Theodore P. Savas
The Reichsmarine 1919–1935 - Jason Pipes
Kriegsmarine - The Navy 1935–1945 - Jason PipesU-Boat Commander: A Periscope View of the Battle of the Atlantic. 1984. Cremer, PeterThe Trial of the Germans: Account of the Twenty-two Defendants Before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. 1997. Davidson, Eugene.U-Boats Against Canada: German Submarines in Canadian Waters. McGill-Queen's University Press: 1985. Hadley, Michael L.U-boat Killer. 1999. Macintyre, Donald.Iron Coffins: A U-boat Commander's War, 1939–45. 1999. Werner, Herbert A
Fortunes of War: U-boat Commander. 2000. Prien, Gunther
Innovation ignored: The Submarrine problem in Murray, Williamson and Millet Allan R. ed. "Military Innovation in the Interwar Period". Cambridge University Press 1998 Herwig, Holger H
Failure to Learn: American Anti-submarine Warfare in 1942 in Cohen, Eliot A. and Gooch, John. Military Misfortunes Vintage Books 1991
Grossadmiral. Memoirs: Ten Years and Twenty Days. Da Capo Press, USA, 1997. Dönitz, Karl, (reprints 1958 German-language Athenäum-Verlag edition).
Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945. Friedburg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer
"Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote (BdU) Karl Dönitz." at Uboat.net. Guðmundur Helgason.
Knight's Cross Holders of the U-Boat Service. Schiffer Publishing Ltd. Kurowski, Franz (1995).
.Dönitz: The Last Führer. Cassell & Co, UK, 2001 Padfield, Peter
Die Ritterkreuzträger der Kriegsmarine. Stuttgart, Germany: Motorbuch Verlag. Range, Clemens (1974).
Die Ritterkreuzträger Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. Scherzer, Veit (2007).
Doenitz: The Last Fuhrer by Peter Padfield
Doenitz at Nuremberg: A Re-Appraisal by H.K. Thompson and Henry Strutz
Capitulation 1945 by Dr. Marlis Steinert
