1. Rolf Hans Wilhelm Karl Carls was a high-ranking German admiral and deputy to Kriegsmarine commander-in-chief Erich Raeder during much of World War II.
19 Facts About Rolf Carls
1. 2.
Rolf Carls was the son of Lieutenant Friedrich Wilhelm Anton Carls and his wife Martha Victoria Wilhelmine Anna Sophie, nee Pogge.
3.
Rolf Carls was baptized on 18 July 1885 in the Rostock garrison church.
4.
Rolf Carls joined the Imperial German Navy as a sea cadet on 1 April 1903 and received his shipboard training on the corvette, SMS Stein.
5.
Rolf Carls served until 1907 on the large cruiser SMS Furst Bismarck and afterwards the torpedo boat Taku.
6.
At the outbreak of the First World War, Rolf Carls served as a captain lieutenant on the cruiser SMS Breslau.
7.
Rolf Carls received the first command of his own ship, the U-9 on 31 March 1918, before taking over the U-124 on 21 July 1918, which he commanded until the end of the war.
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Erich Raeder 8.
In 1922, Rolf Carls was transferred to the Reichsmarine of the newly established Weimar Republic.
9.
From 18 March 1927 onwards Rolf Carls served in various positions in the Naval Administration.
10.
On 1 October 1930 Rolf Carls served as Chief of Staff of the Naval Command, where he became one of Admiral Erich Raeder's closest aides.
11.
Rolf Carls was appointed as commander of the pre-dreadnought battleship Hessen on 27 September 1932.
12.
On 29 September 1934 Rolf Carls was appointed as Commander of the Linienschiff, he retained this position after his command was renamed to Commander of the Panzerschiffe until 24 November 1936.
13.
Rolf Carls acted as commander of the German naval forces off Spain during the Spanish Civil War until September 1936.
14.
On 2 August 1936, the cruiser Deutschland and the torpedo boat Luchs under the command of Rolf Carls visited the Nationalist-held port of Ceuta.
15.
On 1 November 1936 Rolf Carls took over command of the Baltic Sea Naval Station.
16.
On 1 October 1939 Rolf Carls advised Admiral Raeder of Norway's value to the German navy.
17.
Rolf Carls succeeded Vice Admiral Conrad Albrecht as Commander-in-Chief of Marine Group Command East on 31 October 1939.
18.
Possibly to prevent friction among the naval leadership, Rolf Carls was honourably discharged from active service on 31 May 1943.
19.
Admiral Rolf Carls was killed in an air raid of the Royal Air Force on the spa town of Bad Oldesloe on 24 April 1945, two weeks before the end of the war.