German Ship Prefix's

[Cdre Gibs]

As we all know that the prefix for all British ships of the line is "HMS" and for USA is "USS" so I got to wondering what the prefix for German ships of the line is/was/are.

I did a lil digging around and I get two types that seem to keep popping up, "KS" and "KM".

Now is "KS" for ships of the line (Navy) and/or "KM" for Merchant's or something else entirely.

I must admit I have never noticed a prefix for German ships in WWII which begs the question, did they even have 1 at all and if so what where an how?

Thx

[Justin Prince]

During World War One SMS was pretty common, but from what have seen, in World War Two KS, KM, and DKM all seem to be revisionist history.

[Cdre Gibs]

:lol: Now I'm more confused than before !

Well I suppose I can at least for my own purposes use "KS" for ships of the line and "KM" for Merchants. Least to me that makes sense.

KS - Kriegsmarine Ship

KM - Kriegsmarine Merchant

May not be accurate but hey least I'll know what it means :D

And thx for the input.

[Dowly]

In wikipedia it says that there was no prefix for germany:

"in particular neither the Third Reich's Kriegsmarine nor the Imperial Japanese Navy used ship prefixes"

"some authors use "DKM" for "Deutsche Kriegsmarine"

[Cdre Gibs]

In wikipedia it says that there was no prefix for germany:

Sorry but I dont put much store in wikipedia's. I find most are highly inaccurate.

But thanks for the info none the less, its all good. :)

[Ostfriese]

In wikipedia it says that there was no prefix for germany:

Sorry but I dont put much store in wikipedia's. I find most are highly inaccurate.

Nevertheless Wikipedia is right here - The German navies haven't been using prefixes for ships since the end of WW I.
WW I prefix SMS meant 'Seiner Majestät Schiff' - His Majesty's Ship.

[CCIP]

Why would a merchant be Kriegmarine, unless it's, say, a naval auxiliary? They're not doing any fighting :hmm:

[Cdre Gibs]

Why would a merchant be Kriegmarine, unless it's, say, a naval auxiliary? They're not doing any fighting :hmm:

Good question, I have no idea . But it be interesting to find out how the Merchants where treated by the Germans in WWII. Were they just call "SS Whatever" (as in Steam Ship) or were they commandeered by the Kriegmarine as Auxiliary Ships. It seems that there is very little information on this matter (besides Google just hates me). I have been slowly trying to build a small merchant navy for the Germans to place ingame to run small convoys from German held Port's to Port's, say from Kiel to Bergen ect.

Many time's referance has been made to Kriegmarine Convoy Escort type ships, ok where are the convoys, where did they ply their trade and what types of ships and who was brave enough to sail them. So again I ask, did the germans in fact commandeer these ships in order to be able to get crews to sail them on basicaly suicide convoy routes!

I mean lets face it, where ever these ships were/did sail it be 1 hell of a hot zone. I wouldn't be surprised if they were rather well armed to fend off the RAF and the RN (small warships at least). In doing so did they in fact use naval personal to crew these ships - ergo did they for the duration of the war come under the command of the Kriegmarine.

PS: So far each time I have searched about this matter, the only Merchants I find for the Germans are always listed as Kriegmarine Fleet Auxiliary Ships. Indeed 1 such type ship looks remarkabley like a T2.