|
|
The Kreigsmarine Admiral Officer Rank Insignia |
Shoulderboards
The German armed forces in World War Two
indicated Naval Admiral Officer on traditional blue reefer tunics with sleeve
stripes much as the rest of the world’s navies do. However, there also existed a field gray
uniform which displayed rank similar to the land based forces via insignia
located on the shoulder and collar.
The shoulderboards in similar fashion to the Army, Luftwaffe and Waffen
SS began with a base pattern of intertwined gold and silver cording which,
un-adorned with rank pips, designated the lowest Admiral officer rank of
Konteradmiral (equivalent to Rear Admiral in the U.S./British forces). From this base board pips were added
consecutively as the rank increased up to a maximum of three pips for the rank
of Generaladmiral (Admiral equivalent).
Above that was Grossadmiral, which is equivalent to Fleet Admiral, and
was indicated by crossed batons in the fashion of the field marshals.
|
|
|
Konteradmiral Gold bullion cording with silver inner cord over blue underlay, no rank pips. |
|
|
|
Vizeadmiral Gold celleon cording with aluminum inner cord over blue underlay, single rank pip. |
|
|
|
Admiral Gold bullion cording with silver inner cord over blue underlay, two rank pips. |
|
|
|
General
Admiral Gold bullion cording with silver inner cord over blue
underlay, three rank pips. (picture is for reference only, looking for a good quality photo of this rank) |
|
|
|
Grand Admiral Gold bullion cording with silver inner cord over blue underlay, with silver crossed Grand Admiral batons. (picture is for reference only, looking for a good quality photo of this rank) |
|
|
|
Silver crossed Grand Admiral batons, which have an
alternating pattern of anchors and iron crosses with intertwined rope
creating a diamond shape. (picture is for reference only, looking for a good quality photo of this rank) |
Collar Tabs
The Kriegsmarine, much like the Army, chose
to identify Admiral rank on the field gray uniform with a standardized collar
tab that indicated the wearer was an Admiral. Unlike the Army, which eventually had a
separate collar tab to identify the rank of field marshal, the Kriegsmarine had
no unique tab designated for Grossadmiral.
|
|
|
Konteradmiral
through Grossadmiral Gold bullion or celleon embroidered collar tab over blue underlay. |
Sleeve Rank Insignia
The Kriegsmarine, as with the navies of many
other nations also chose to identify Admiral rank on the blue uniform with a
series of sleeve rank stripes that indicated the progressive ranks of
Admiral.
|
|
|
Konteradmiral A single large, wide basic admiral’s stripe with a single smaller stripe above. |
|
|
|
Vizeadmiral A single large, wide basic admiral’s stripe with two smaller stripes above. |
|
|
|
Grossadmiral A single large, wide basic admiral’s stripe with four smaller stripes above. |
I am looking for contributions of original examples of
Kriegsmarine Admiral rank insignia for the completion of this page. In particular I am looking for examples
of Generaladmiral and Grossadmiral shoulderboards. Please visit the submit photography page if you have something you’d like to contribute.
|
|
Replica General Officer uniforms and insignia are now
available. Click on the links below. |
|
|
|
|
