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East German Navy > Notes
Plans until mid 1952
The UBoat-Flotilla envisaged for the East German Navy was initially to receive the following Uboats, until the first own developments would be ready for commissioning
- 5 former Kriegsmarine Type VII C-UBoats taken over by the Soviet Navy
- 2 former Kriegsmarine-UBoats, still to be raised (Type VII C/41-UBoat U-1308 and Type XXIII-UBoat U-2344)
- 2 coastal submarines of Type "M/ Serial XV" (Malyukti) of the Soviet Navy
Mid 1952
Extention started in the Southern part of the port of Saßnitz on the Island of Rügen to accommodate facilities for submarine berthing, such as a finger pier with shore utilities.
While being engaged in the construction of the first Minesweepers (Type "Habicht") for the East German Navy the Volkswerft (= "People´s Shipyard") Stralsund is directed to come up with a development and construction programme for 14 coastal submarines with 320 to displacement each, construction to start in April 1954. After a pre-series UBoat in the second quarter of 1954 further UBoats to be built in 3-months sequence.
November 1952
First groups of personnel (foremost former ex UBoat Petty Officers) are being assembled for future training of Uboat crews at the "U-Bootlehranstalt" (Submarine Training Establishment), which is in build up at Saßnitz-Dwasieden.
04th of January 1953
By Directive No. 1/53 of 04 January 1953 the Commanding Officer of the "Volkspolizei See" (= People´s Sea Police), Inspector General (= Vice Admiral) Waldemar Verner orders the start of training at the "1st U-Bootlehranstalt/ ULA" (= 1st Submarine Training Establishment) with effect of 05 January 1953. , The East German code name for the establishment was "Dienststelle S 7" (= Agency S 7), with "S" standing for "Sonderobjekt" (= Special Facility), in February 1953 it was changed to "S 8". When fully established, the ULA was to provide for training capacities for up to 50 Officers in four classes (Commanding Officers, Officers of the Watch, Torpedo Officers and Engineering Officers), further 150 Petty Officers and 280 Ratings. The agency had a Liaison Staff of experienced Soviet Submariners.
February 1953
In February 1953 the UBoat "U-1308" (ex Kriegsmarine Type VII C/41) is raised off Warnemünde, where on 01st of May 1945 its crew carried out the scutteling of the vessel. The salvage was in execution of Project 20 "Stichling" (= Stickleback) and started with the clearance of mud at Rostock. In November 1953 the vessel is towed to the Volkswerft Stralsund. During the hauling out an accident caused severe damage to the vessel (project manager Rudolf Gellert was actually arrested for espionage and comes free from detention only after five months), which prevented the vessel from being placed in dry storage until December 1953. Although Project "Stichling" is cancelled officially in the Spring of 1954 the UBoat is measured and documented further until the Autumn of 1954. However, due to the definitive cancellation of any submarine construction "ex U-1308" is scrapped in early 1955.
March 1953
The socalled "Zeuthener Protokoll" ("Measures required to execute the Naval Shipbuilding Programme 1954-1956", drafted by Design Engineers Walter Schlaak and Klewitz of the "Zentrales Konstruktions-büro/ ZKB" (= Central Design Office for Shipbuilding) No.1 at Wolgast introduces an ambitious Naval shipbuilding programme (about 200 warships and another 50 auxiliaries) for East Germany, inter alia the construction of some 14 UBoats of 750 to each, scheduled to start in 1954. This reflected a wish by the Soviets, as it has been indicated by them before at several occasions.
13th of June 1953
The programme of design and construction of own UBoats is being "liquidated" officially by the appropriate government agency and is not revitalized anymore thereafter, although comprehensive infrastructural preparatory measures had been taken already. The cancellation occurred mainly for financial and material reasons, nevertheless the Soviet Union continued to express her desire for the creation of an East German submarine force until the 1980ies, even through purchasing Soviet submarines.
17th of June 1953
In the wake of the uprising of 17th of June 1953 the number of vessels in the Naval shipbuilding programme is reduced significantly, UBoats are not mentioned at all any longer in the follow up Naval shipbuilding programmes. Main reason for this is the vastly out of proportion Naval shipbuilding programme for the East German Navy, which overstrained the technological and, above all, the financial capabilities of East Germany. The reduction of the shipbuilding programme occurred clearly in light of the ongoing severe reparation burden East Germany had to carry to satisfy the demands of the Soviet Unions as well as through acknowledging the need to lower the high work norms significantly after the uprising of 17th of June 1953.
28th of July 1953
Interior Minister Willy Stoph directs the immediate dissolution of the Submarine Training Establishment.
31st of July 1953
The Commanding Officer of the "Volkspolizei See" (= People´s Sea Police), Inspector General (= Vice Admiral) Waldemar Verner orders the end of any training at the Submarine Training Establishment (ULA) with effect of 01st of August 1953. The school was dissolved immediately and most of the staff re-appointed. The establishment was transferred into a school for Intelligence Officers. At its end, the ULA had grown to about 660 staff. The instructor staff comprised some 64 Officers, 63 Petty Officers and 54 Ratings, student numbers were 53 Officers, 149 Petty Officers and 280 Ratings. This was sufficient to man the planned UBoats with crews between 35 and 40 men each.
08th of April 1954
Another study is drafted: "Think Paper on the Expediency of Organizing a Submarine Force for the People´s Sea Police". This proves an ongoing interest in a submarine force for the East German Navy and the documented repeated encouragements for this by Soviet military circles provide for an additional confirmation of this motion.
January 1955
The ex Kriegsmarine UBoat "U-2344" (Type XXIII, sank on 18th of February 1945 off Heiligendamm after a collision with "U-2336", another Type XXIII UBoat) is salvaged as originally planned, although the creation of a submarine force had been abandoned in 1953. After its raising it is brought to the Neptun-Werft at Rostock to undergo initial restoration and documentation. However, further work was interrupted in 1956/57, to eventually being decided for scrapping because of the irreparable damages to the vessel. This salvage should, however, not be considered to be another attempt to create a submarine force for the East German Navy. Rather, the UBoat was intended to function as target demonstrator during Anti Submarine Warfare Training of the East German Naval surface forces.
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Important Personalities involved in the East German UBoat legacy
1. Admiral Waldemar Verner
He was born on 27th of August 1914 and learned the trade of window-dresser. Just being 16 years of age he joined the German Communist Party. He had to immigrate to the Soviet Union in 1935 and was then sent do Denmark in 1938 to support the Danish Communists. During the German occupation of Denmark he was actively engaged in the Danish Underground and Resistance Movement. Although he had no previous knowledge of seamanship or Naval affairs he was appointed the first Head of the "Hauptverwaltung See/HVS)" (= Main Department Sea) and given the Police rank of "General-inspekteur" (= Inspector General) on 16th of June 1950. He transferred this organisation into the "Volkspolizei See" (= People´s Sea Police) to command this force until 1955, being given eventually the rank of Vice Admiral. 1957 to 1959 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the East German Navy ("Seestreitkräfte der Nationalen Volksarmee"/ Naval Forces of the National People´s Armed Forces) as the follow-on organisation of the "Volkspolizei-See". From 1959 to his retirement in 1978 he was the Head of the Polit-Department of the East German Armed Forces holding the rank of Admiral since 1961. He died on 15th of February 1982.
2. Rear Admiral Dr. Friedrich Elchlepp
He was born on 04th of July 1924 and joined the Kriegsmarine as Officer Candidate in 1941 (Crew C/41). He became a submarine officer and experienced the end of war in Norway as Officer of the Watch I onboard UBoat "U-3514" (Type XXI). After the war he studied law in Halle. In 1950 he was appointed provisional Headmaster of the School of Administration of the province of Brandenburg and shortly afterwards tasked to prepare the administrative ground for the build up of East German Naval Forces. He received the Police rank of "Inspekteur" (= Captain (Navy)) and was appointed Chief of Staff of the Naval Forces in build up, as of 1952 called "Volkspolizei See" (= People´s Sea Police). From 1960 to 1981 he ran the office in the High Command of the East German Navy dealing with navigational incidents and accidents holding the function of "Havariekommissar" (=Chief Claims Agent) of East Germany. His last rank was Rear Admiral. He died on 02nd of March 2002. Elchlepp has published several reports and essays on the early years of the East German Navy and given also much insight into the short history of East German submarines.
3. Rear Admiral Heinrich Jordt
He was born on 15th of December 1917 and learned the trade of blacksmith. From 1937 to 1945 he served in the Kriegsmarine, inter alia onboard Minesweeper "M-1", holding at the end the rank of "Obermaat" (= Petty Officer). In August 1945 he joined the East German Police Force and started a series of appointments responsible for training personell of the Naval service, from being in command of the Training Establishment for recruits of Sea Police, later to be in charge of Naval Officers training, to eventually head the Fleet Training School. In 1953 he was the one and only Commanding Officer of the ULA (= Submarine Training Establishment) during its short existence. He continued to serve in the East German Navy, taking over for a long time command of the East German Coastal Border Guards. As the Commanding Officer of the "6th Grenzbrigade Küste" (= 6th Coastal Border Brigade) between 1964 and 1979 (the year of his retirement) he was appointed Rear Admiral in 1974. He died on 27th of July 1987.
4. Known instructors for UBoat crews.
Most instructors at the ULA (= Submarine Training Establishment) hat some UBoat experience from their service time in the Kriegsmarine. The officer´s classes were run by the Kapitänleutnante (= Lieutenant Commanders) Gerhard Klippstein and Erich Thieme and the Oberleutnant zur See (= Lieutenant) Herbert Bauer. Klippstein was at the same time Head of the Officers training and was the designated Commanding Officer of the future UBoat Flotilla of the East German Navy. Thieme was at the same time Head of the training of Petty Officers and Ratings.
5. Ship Design Engineer Walter Schlaak
The Head of the "Zentrales Konstruktionsbüro/ ZKB" (= Central Design Office for Shipbuilding) in the early 1950ies, Dipl. Ing. Walter Schlaak, was an experienced designer and Office Head at the former Schichau Shipyards at Danzig and Königsberg. In the "Zentrales Konstruktionsbüro/ ZKB" the first project and drawings were developed of Naval vessel to be built in East Germany. A first design by Schlaak was the Minesweeper Type "Habicht" (= Hawk) in 1952, which was based very much the Kriegsmarine Minesweeper Type "M-43". The ZKB was renamed "Institut für Schiffbautechnik Wolgast/ ISW" (= Institute for ship design Wolgast) in the mid 1950ies. Schlaak was also involved in the design of the first type of Uboat for the East German Navy.