German Navy in the context of "Marineflieger"

The Bundeswehr (German: [ˈbʊndəsˌveːɐ̯] , lit. Federal Defence) are the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Bundeswehr is divided into a military part (armed forces or Streitkräfte) and a civil part. The military part consists of the four armed forces: German Army, German Navy, German Air Force and Cyber and Information Domain Service, which are supported by the Bundeswehr Support Area.

As of 30 April 2025, the Bundeswehr had a strength of 182,496 active-duty military personnel and 80,770 civilians, placing it among the 30 largest military forces in the world, and making it the second largest in the European Union behind France. In addition, the Bundeswehr has approximately 860,000 reserve personnel (2025). With the German military budget at $100 billion (€86.37 billion) for 2025, the Bundeswehr is the fourth-highest-funded military in the world, though military expenditures have until recently remained low at an average at 1.5% of national GDP, well below the non-binding NATO target of 2%. In 2024, Germany fulfilled NATO obligations of spending 2% of its GDP on its armed forces. Germany is aiming to expand the Bundeswehr to around 203,000 soldiers by 2031 to better cope with increasing responsibilities.

The German Army (German: Heer, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr together with the Marine (German Navy) and the Luftwaffe (German Air Force). As of 2024, the German Army had a strength of 63,047 soldiers.

The Reichsmarine (State Navy) was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany. It was the naval branch of the Reichswehr, existing from 1919 to 1935. In 1935, it became known as the Kriegsmarine (War Navy), a branch of the Wehrmacht; a change implemented by Adolf Hitler. Many of the administrative and organizational tenets of the Reichsmarine were then carried over into the organization of the Kriegsmarine.

An auxiliary ship is a naval ship designed to support combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliary ships are not primary combatant vessels, though they may have some limited combat capacity, usually for purposes of self-defense.

Auxiliary ships are extremely important for navies of all sizes because if they were not present the primary fleet vessels would be unsupported. Thus, virtually every navy maintains an extensive fleet of auxiliary ships, however, the composition and size of these auxiliary fleets vary depending on the nature of each navy and its primary mission. Smaller coastal navies tend to have smaller auxiliary vessels focusing primarily on littoral and training support roles, while larger blue-water navies tend to have larger auxiliary fleets comprising longer-range fleet support vessels designed to provide support far beyond territorial waters.

The Dolphin class (Hebrew: הצוללות מסדרת דולפין) is a diesel-electric submarine developed in Israel and constructed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) in Kiel, Germany, for the Israeli Navy's Shayetet 7 flotilla. The first boats of the class were based on the export-only German 209-class submarines, but modified and enlarged. The Dolphin 1 sub-class is slightly larger than the German Navy Type 212 in length and displacement. The three newer air-independent propulsion (AIP) equipped boats are similar to the Type 212 vessels in underwater endurance, but are 12 metres (39 ft) longer, nearly 500 tonnes heavier in submerged displacement and have a larger crew than either the Type 212 or the Type 214.

The Dolphin 2 class submarines are the largest to have been built in Germany since World War II and the most expensive single vehicles in the Israel Defense Forces. The Dolphin class replaced the aging Gal class, which had served in the Israeli navy since the late 1970s. Each Dolphin-class submarine is capable of carrying a combined total of up to 16 torpedoes and Popeye Turbo submarine-launched cruise missiles (SLCMs). The cruise missiles have a range of at least 1,500 km (930 mi) and are widely believed to be equipped with a 200 kiloton nuclear warhead containing up to 6 kilograms (13 lb) of plutonium. The latter, if true, would provide Israel with an offshore nuclear second-strike capability.

The Bundeswehr Support Area (German: Unterstützungsbereich der Bundeswehr) is a support formation of the German Bundeswehr activated on 1 October 2024. The Bundeswehr Support Area provides logistical, medical, CBRN defence, and military police support to Bundeswehr's four armed forces: Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Cyber and Information Domain Service. The area is also responsible for the strategic development of the capabilities of the Bundeswehr, for civil-military cooperation, the multinational integration into NATO and the European Union, military music, sports promotion, the conceptual development of the reserve as well as tasks related to the Bundeswehr's veterans. On 1 April 2025, the area took command of the units of the Joint Support Service and Joint Medical Service.

The Joint Medical Service (German: Zentraler Sanitätsdienst der Bundeswehr, short form: Zentraler Sanitätsdienst, pronounced [t͡sɛnˈtʁaːlɐ zaniˈtɛːt͡sˌdiːnst] ) is a part of the Bundeswehr, the armed forces of Germany and serves all three armed services (Army, Navy and Air Force, as well as the Cyber and Information Domain Service). Members of the central medical corps remain members of their respective military branches. Only a few specialized medical units such as the medical care for divers and aircraft crews are not incorporated in the Joint Medical Service. Prior to 2002 each military branch had its own medical service. The services were then largely merged, forming the Joint Medical Service. In May 2021 the minister of defense Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer together with Inspector General of the Bundeswehr Eberhard Zorn published a plan to dissolve the Joint Medical Service and to reintegrate its units into the army, navy, airforce and cyber command.

The Naval Academy Mürwik (German: Marineschule Mürwik) is the main training establishment for all German Navy officers and in 1910 replaced the German Imperial Naval Academy in Kiel (which is now the seat of government or ''Landeshaus'' of Schleswig-Holstein).

It is located at Mürwik which is a part of Germany's northernmost city, Flensburg. Built on a small hill directly by the coast, it overlooks the Flensburg Firth.