Submarines (3)

The most successful unit of the Monarchy’s navy was the submarine fleet. The larger surface units were not deployed at all, with the exception of cruisers and destroyers. Submarines, however, were constantly deployed. They achieved important successes, especially in disrupting enemy merchant shipping. They also successfully attacked some larger surface units of the Entente navy, but these cases were more likely to be accidental, not targeted attacks.

I have already shown the submariners’ service badge in a wearing photo here. Now I am attaching a picture of a sailor who has this badge on his jacket again. The subject of this post, however, is a submarine propaganda badge.

The service badge is always present in the few wearing photos I know of, I have not yet seen the submarine Kappenabzeichen made in a wide variety in military photos. From this I assume that these served more propaganda purposes. There are some plate badges depicting battle scenes, like the one we are presenting now. And there were the beautiful, colorful fire enamel badges, with dozens of different decorations. I think not only the latter, but also the plate badges belong more to the patriotic badge category.