Kriegsmarine

The Kriegsmarine was the name for Germany's navy a long, long time ago, from 1935 to 1945. Think of it like a special team of boats and submarines that belonged to Germany's army. It was one of three big parts of Germany's armed forces, like having a soccer team, a basketball team, and a baseball team all playing for the same school!

The most famous things the Kriegsmarine had were its U-boats, which are submarines! These U-boats were like secret spies underwater, sneaking around. They were built very quickly when a big war started. They also had big, strong ships, like battleships, that were as long as a few school buses put together!

Sometimes, the Kriegsmarine ships were sent to help one side in a war happening in another country, like Spain. They pretended they were just watching, but they were actually helping their friends. This was a tricky way to get involved without officially starting a fight.

After the big war ended in 1945, the Kriegsmarine's ships were all divided up. The winning countries took them and used them for different jobs, like cleaning up dangerous mines from the sea. Some ships were even filled with old, yucky chemicals and sunk to the bottom of the ocean.