2 Guides to First World War German Navy Records at the National Archives
Thousands of rolls of microfilm containing Imperial German Navy records are stored at the United States National Archives. The following two PDFs providing finding aids for research were provided by archivist and military history author Tim Mulligan.
Tim Mulligan received his Ph.D. in diplomatic history from the University of Maryland. He is the author of three books and over 20 articles most relating to the Second World War in Europe, including Lone Wolf: The Life and Death of U-Boat Ace Werner Henke and Neither Sharks Nor Wolves: The Men of Nazi Germany’s U-Boat Arm.
Mulligan worked as an archivist at the National Archives for 34 years and volunteered 10 more years after he retired. One of the projects he undertook was compiling lists of the records of captured Imperial German Navy records from the First World War that are available at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. These finding aids are essential for anyone who wants to do research on the German Navy in the Great War 1914-1918.
Operations in the North Sea 1914-1919 (87 pages)
This compilation includes dozens of intelligence, operational, after-action, and battle damage reports, including records of operations of German naval airships (zeppelins) in the North Sea theater, including airship raids on Great Britain, as well as British naval and air strikes on German bases and facilities. In particular the records provide extensive information on the principal naval engagements fought in the North Sea during the war, the Battles of Helgoland (or Heligoland) Bight (28 August 1914), Dogger Bank (24 January 1915), and Jutland (31 May-1 June 1916), as well as bombardments of the English coast (2-3 November and 15-16 December 1914 and 24-25 April 1916).