Erfahrungen der ehemaligen Kriegsmarine bei der Entwicklung schnelllaufender Schnellbootmotoren und der doppeltwirkenden Zweitaktmotoren der MAN

Abstract

This article is about an appraisal carried out in 1955 by the former head of the German Kriegsmarine (war-time navy) construction department - the engineer Ferdinand Brandes, who retired in 1944 - at the request of the Amt Blank (the predecessor office to the German Federal Ministry of Defence). The aim of the appraisal was to determine the state of the art of diesel engine technology in preparation for producing the engines required for the new Bundesmarine (federal German navy). It was evidently assumed that the memories of a person directly involved could be especially valuable. The products successfully developed by the German engine industry within the relatively brief period from the end of World War I to 1945 for navy ships and high-speed watercraft of all kinds have not only influenced the further development of this technology to the very present, but also formed the basis for the leading role played by German diesel engine manufacturers on the international market to this day. The double-acting navy engines are a somewhat different story: they did not prove themselves in practice and are accordingly no longer built today. The significance of Ferdinand Brandes's memories for the history of this technology lies in the fact that they provide evidence of the practical effectiveness of the designs and correctness of the choices of engine types made under the most rigorous conceivable conditions and therefore undoubtedly served the Amt Blank as an important decision-making basis. In retrospect, Brandes's observations testify to the fact that the protagonists of the era in question made the right decisions.