| Company type | GmbH[1] |
|---|---|
| Industry | Shipping |
| Founded | 1937 |
| Defunct | 1945 |
| Fate | Liquidated by order of the Allied Powers |
| Headquarters | Berlin |
Key people | Professor Dr. Hettlage, director Grosskapitän Erik Seyd, operations manager[1] |
Number of employees | 10,000 |
Transportflotte Speer was a government owned waterways transportation company inNazi Germany. At its creation it was tasked with the transportation ofbuilding material on the Germaninland waterways. During the war, it became subordinated to theMinistry of Armaments, and was given extensive coastal and inland transportation missions inoccupied Europe, mainly in the service ofOrganisation Todt. The company was named afterAlbert Speer.
Transportflotte Speer was founded in 1937 with the task of transporting Swedish and Danishgranite from the German coastal ports, to the major Nazi rebuilding projects inBerlin under Albert Speer, as inspector general of building and construction in the capital.[2]
After the outbreak of the war, the Transportflotte Speer was initially used for transportingcoal and other supplies to Berlin. DuringOperation Sea Lion, its operational headquarters were moved toGroningen in theNetherlands, in order to make better use of Dutch sailors and shipping. In 1942, the Transportflotte Speer was given the mission to supply the Organisation Todt activities inNorway,Denmark andFinland. Personnel strength now rose to about 10,000 sailors, mainly Norwegians who were trained inSandefjord. Allied bombings of the German rail and road networks, made the inland waterways increasingly more important. In 1944, the Transportflotte Speer had a fleet of more than 2,000 vessels, with a combineddeplacement of 500,000ton dwt. The company serviced 31 sea and canal ports inFrance,Belgium, theNetherlands,Germany,Denmark, Norway, Finland,Russia,Roumania andItaly.[2][3][4][5]
Transportflotte Speer was used for the transportation of building material and machinery for German military projects along the Norwegian coast. At the end of the war, the company had a fleet of more than 700 larger and smaller vessels in Norway, with an extensive administrative organization in many Norwegian ports.[6][7]
| Insignia[8] | Ranks in the Transportflotte Speer | Comparative ranks in the Kriegsmarine |
|---|---|---|
| Grosskapitän | Vizeadmiral | |
| Generalkapitän | Konteradmiral | |
| Kommodore | Kapitän zur See | |
| Stabskapitän | Fregattenkapitän | |
| Kapitän | Korvettenkapitän | |
| Hauptschiffsführer Einsatzleiter | Kapitänleutnant | |
| Oberschiffsführer Dienststellenleiter von grossere Dienststelle | Oberleutnant zur See | |
| Schiffsführer Dienststellenleiter | Leutnant zur See | |
 | Hauptbootsmann Hauptverwaltungsführer Oberinspektor | Oberbootsmann |
 | Oberbootsmann Verwaltungsführer Inspektor | Bootsmann |
 | Bootsmann geh. Fourier | Obermaat |
 | Unterbootsmann Fourier Buchhalter | Maat |
 | Hauptmatrose | Obergefreiter |
 | Obermatrose | Gefreiter |
 | Vollmatrose | Matrose |
 | Matrose | |
| Source: | [9][10] |
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)