[Extract from Anlagen Ski Ib]
Immediate
By special messenger.
Secret
Berlin 11/11/1936.
1. Subject: U-Boat Construction Program.
On the 27th October 1936 I made my decision on how to make use of the U-boat tonnage that was for the time being still at our disposal in accordance with the London Naval Treaty of 1935, and on orders to be placed for the immediate construction of the new U-boats U 41 to U 51.
The military and political situation urgently demands that the extension of our U-boat fleet should be taken in hand immediately and completed with the greatest energy and dispatch, as it is a particularly valuable part of our armament at sea and possesses special striking powers.
I therefore impose the obligation on all naval departments concerned to do everything to make sure that the U-boat fleet is entirely completed, taken into commission and prepared for action in the shortest possible space of time, and to remove all obstacles and difficulties in the way of this aim by the strongest pressure on the armament industries participating in the construction and by the employment of all other suitable measures.
I order in particular that the requirements of the extension of the U-boat fleet are in every case to be given absolute priority over export orders.
[Pencil note] : It is to be reported to me after renewed negotiations with the Arms and after exerting the strongest pressure when the seven 500 ton boats and the eight 740 ton boats will be completed.
C in C of the Navy.
2. Send copy of 1 to :
A (4 copies)
B (4 copies)
M Wa (4 copies)
MPA
C
K (3 copies)
E
Engineer
Z.J.
T.J.
A.J.
S.M.J.
Fleet.
Chief of the U-boats Stat 0.
Stat. N.
Dockyard
Naval Adjutant at War Office Arsenal
E.A. U-boats.
954
Instructions to naval departments to prioritize the construction of U-boats
Authors
Erich Raeder (admiral, Navy commander in chief (1935-43))
Erich Raeder
German naval officer and Großadmiral during World War II
- Born: 1876-04-24 (Wandsbek)
- Died: 1960-11-06 (Kiel)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: historian; naval officer
- Member of political party: Nazi Party
- Participant in: Nuremberg trials (role: defendant)
- Military rank: Großadmiral
- Military branch: German Navy; Imperial German Navy; Kriegsmarine
Date: 11 November 1936
Literal Title: 1. Subject: U-Boat Construction Programme.
Defendant: Erich Raeder
Total Pages: 1
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: D-806
Citations: IMT (page 9950), IMT (page 10031)
HLSL Item No.: 453040