In the German Navy the rank of Grand Admiral (Großadmiral) was considered the highest Naval rank. The position was the equivalent of an Admiral of the Navy or a United States Fleet Admiral.
World War I
Before and during the World War I, the following men were made Grand Admirals of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy):
Before and during the World War II, the following men were made Grand Admirals of the German Kriegsmarine:
Erich Raeder was made a Grand Admiral on 1 April 1939
Karl Dönitz, Commander of the U-Boat Fleet and later successor to Adolf Hitler was made a Grand Admiral on January 30 , 1943 after succeeding Raeder as the Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine.
The Kriegsmarine also used the rank of General Admiral (Generaladmiral) which was considered senior to a full Admiral, but junior to a Grand Admiral.
DOENITZ: Together with Grossadmiral Raeder I was at headquarters on 14 May 1942 and told him about the situation in the U-boat campaign.
DOENITZ: At this discussion, in which Grossadmiral Raeder participated, I rejected this unequivocally and told him that the only possibility of causing losses among the crews would lie in the attack itself, in striving for a faster sinking of the ship through the intensified effect of weapons.
Grossadmiral Raeder told me-and he repeated this to the entire officers' corps during his final speech in Swinemunde-that the Fuehrer had informed him that under no circumstances must a war in the West develop, for that would be Finis Germaniae.
Tirpitz passed the examination for acceptance as a naval cadet on 1 April 1865 in Berlin (Crew 65) and entered the Prussian Navy on 24 June 1869.
Promotion to Grossadmiral followed on 27 November 1911, and on 10 August 1915 he was awarded the Pour le Mérite.
In the Second World War, the false assessment of Britain's response and the daydream of a fleet that was far beyond Germany's capabilities to build (the famous Z-Fleet of the Wehrmacht), with the ultimate goal of becoming a world naval power, were errors which had tragic parallels in the First World War.
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