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1935

June

18
- The Anglo-German Naval AgreementOn 18 June 1935 Britain agreed that Germany's navy could reach 35 per cent of British tonnage, setting aside the naval limits of Versailles on its own.

1939

January

27
- Plan ZOn 27 January 1939 Hitler approved Plan Z, a programme to build a fleet against Britain by 1948. The war cut it short after eight months.

March

23
- Germany takes KlaipėdaOn 23 March 1939 the Wehrmacht entered the Klaipėda Region and Hitler arrived by sea aboard the Deutschland. It was the Reich's last bloodless conquest.

September

October

November

December

1940

February

15
- Germany widens the U-boat warContrary to popular chronologies, no new order came on 15 February 1940. The zones where U-boats sank even neutral ships unwarned had grown since January.

April

June

08
- The sinking of HMS GloriousOn 8 June 1940 the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sank the carrier Glorious and two destroyers returning from Narvik. More than 1,500 men died.

August

September

17
- Hitler postpones Operation Sea LionOn 17 September 1940 Hitler postponed the landing in England indefinitely. The RAF was unbeaten and British bombers were wrecking barges in the Channel ports.

November

05
- The sinking of HMS Jervis BayOn 5 November 1940 the armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay took on the Admiral Scheer to shield convoy HX 84. She sank, but most of the ships escaped.

1941

May

August

28
- The fall of TallinnOn 28 August 1941 the Germans took Tallinn. The Baltic Fleet broke through to Kronstadt via the Juminda minefields, losing dozens of ships and thousands of men.

October

05
- The Germans take the Estonian islandsOn 5 October 1941 Saaremaa fell after three weeks of fighting, and Hiiumaa on 21 October. The Germans took the islands from which bombers had flown to Berlin.

November

19
- HMAS Sydney and KormoranOn 19 November 1941, off Western Australia, the cruiser Sydney and the raider Kormoran destroyed each other. Not one of the 645 Australians survived.

1942

February

11
- The Channel Dash (Operation Cerberus)On the night of 11–12 February 1942 Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen left Brest and broke through the English Channel by day to German ports.

March

28
- Key eventThe St Nazaire raidOn 28 March 1942 the explosive-laden destroyer Campbeltown rammed the gate of the Normandie dock at St Nazaire. The dock was wrecked; of 611 men, 169 died.

April

14
- The sinking of U-85On the night of 13–14 April 1942 the destroyer Roper sank U-85 off Nags Head. Four days later a dim-out was ordered on the US East Coast.

June

27
- Convoy PQ 17 sails from IcelandOn 27 June 1942 convoy PQ 17 sailed from Iceland for the USSR – 35 ships carrying equipment for the Red Army, covered by British and American warships.

December

31
- The Battle of the Barents SeaOn 31 December 1942 British destroyers and two cruisers beat off an attack by Admiral Hipper and Lützow on convoy JW 51B. Every ship reached the USSR.

1943

May

24
- Key eventBlack MayIn May 1943 the U-boats lost 41–43 boats for meagre results. On 24 May Dönitz pulled them out of the North Atlantic – the turning point of the Atlantic battle.

September

22
- Operation SourceOn 22 September 1943 British midget submarines laid charges under the Tirpitz in Kåfjord. The battleship was put out of action for half a year.

October

23
- The sinking of HMS CharybdisOn 23 October 1943 German torpedo boats sank the cruiser HMS Charybdis and the destroyer Limbourne off Brittany. More than 500 British servicemen died.

December

26
- Key eventThe sinking of the ScharnhorstOn 26 December 1943 ships of Admiral Fraser's Home Fleet sank the Scharnhorst in the Barents Sea. Of a crew of almost two thousand, only 36 survived.

1944

February

18
- The sinking of HMS PenelopeOn 18 February 1944 U-410 torpedoed the cruiser Penelope west of Naples as she returned to Anzio. 417 men were killed and 206 survived.

April

27
- Key eventThe Slapton Sands disasterOn 27 April 1944 US troops rehearsed the Normandy landing in Devon. That night German E-boats torpedoed convoy T-4, killing at least 749 soldiers and sailors.

June

04
- The capture of U-505On 4 June 1944 a US carrier group led by USS Guadalcanal forced U-505 to surface off Africa. A boarding party seized the boat, its Enigma and codes.

August

28
- The surrender of Toulon and MarseilleOn 28 August 1944 the last German garrisons of Toulon and Marseille surrendered. French Army B had taken both ports weeks ahead of the planned schedule.

September

November

1945

January

20
- The flight from East PrussiaAround 20 January 1945 a mass flight of civilians began from East Prussia. Koch had long banned evacuation, so the wagon columns left too late, in bitter frost.

April

09
- The raid on KielOn the night of 9/10 April 1945, 591 RAF Lancasters bombed the port of Kiel. The Admiral Scheer capsized; the Admiral Hipper and Emden were badly damaged.

May