Type commander (Kriegsmarine)

Others, such as Karl Dönitz who commanded the German U-boat force, exercised near total independence and held enormous authority, both operationally and administrative.

The following year, Marschall was named as the new Kriegsmarine fleet commander, and no successor was appointed to lead the battleship branch.

The cruiser type command had originally begun as an umbrella senior position, known as the Befehlshaber der Aufklärungsstreitkräfte (B.d.A.

Vice Admiral Oskar Kummetz then became the first cruiser type commander serving until November 1943 when he was succeeded by Konteradmiral Erich Bey.

In April 1942, the position was increased in its responsibility when all German torpedo boats were placed under the administrative control of the leader of destroyers.

These ships were interspersed among five escort flotillas augmented by converted civilian craft and torpedo boats of the Torpedoboot Ausland program.

Karl Dönitz was the first and longest serving commander of submarines, a title which he inaugurated in January 1936 as the Führer der Unterseeboote.

In his new position, Dönitz channeled most of the remaining resources of the Kriegsmarine into the submarine force, leading to a neglect and downsizing of the surface fleet.

Dönitz also retained his title as commander of submarines, but left the day-to-day operations to his deputy Eberhard Godt.

German Navy fast attack boats, also known as S-boats or E-boats, were organized into twenty four Schnellbootsflottille, collectively known as the Schnellbootseinheiten.