German Naval Insignia and Craft Assistance

[Bryang]

My mom was German (my dad was U.S. Army stationed in West Germany in 1958 when they met and married).

Her biological father was patriotic and joined the Navy early in the Second World War, after which he joined the Luftwaffe as a Fallschirmjager. He was killed in action in Russia in 1943.

As she was a refugee, my mom only has a couple items which were her father's. One of them is this photograph of her father.

I'm curious to know what craft he might be on - small patrol craft?

Also any info on his uniform and rank. Appears to be a single stripe on his left sleeve. It also appears that he is holding a dark colored cap in his hand.

His name was Alfons Joseph Skorski (my mom was actually born in East Prussia).

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[Leroy]

This is a wild sort of guess (and I'm happy to be laughed at).

The cap in his hand (when blown up) appears to be a Luftwaffe overseas cap with padded cockade. The "stripe" on his sleeve is not a real stripe but rather a single wing "gull" as used on Luftwaffe flight suits as a rank insignia (this one is for the lowest NCO rank).

I have never seen this particular combination, but I believe this may be a Luftwaffe Unteroffizier serving with the Kriegsmarine on a larger ship (one with the capacity to catapult and take back aboard aircraft). The vessel he is on appears to be a launch (as used to transport personnel - especially officers - back and forth between port land facilities and the ship at anchor, or between ships at sea in very mild weather).

[NickG]

Wow very interesting mix of uniform items...
Sure looks like a. LW sleeve wing rank insignia worn on a KM fatigue jumper,
along with a LW side cap. Good eye...
I guess LW naval cooperation related as you hinted. Interesting theory.
How else could this be explained?

[compressore]

Hi,
I read that there were some ships with LW staff on board, for example the ship TOGO served as guidance ship for night-fighters with Freya and Wuerzburg equipment. These devices were operated by the Luftwaffe. The ship had 74 LW members on board. I am not sure about their uniforms, but could it be possible that they had worn some KM typical clothes for service on board ?

Regards
Christian

[Bryang]

Put this way it makes more sense to me. Here is my Grandfather in his Luftwaffe uniform. These were taken prior to his death in 1943. I'm told that he was a Fallschirmjager, although he isn't wearing the FJ badge. I've also been told that not all FJ unit members necessarily received jump training, as the services needed men, and that airborne operations dwindled.

Someone pointed out to me that he is wearing a Luftwaffe longevity award. The rank insignia on his white naval uniform would therefore conform to the Luftwaffe rank insignia on his collar in these photos of him:

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[PaulR]

Most interesting thread. Where was he killed?

[compressore]

Luftwaffen - ships

Hi,

I was a bit searching the net about the above subject.
I came across a german wikipedia site:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_v..._1935_bis_1945

They mention that the Luftwaffe had around 1000 !!!! ships under their own command and an own commado structure for them.

A lot of different types.
Who was "operating" those ships ? You need staff which knows...from the KM ?

Regards
Christian