History

The headgear, uniforms, and insignia worn by members of the Kriegsmarine were based upon the designs utilized by the Kaiserliche Marine and the Reichsmarine. The official regulations governing the uniforms of the Reichsmarine were issued on April 5, 1921, and they were embraced, with a few alterations, as the Kriegsmarine uniforms in 1935.

The sleeve insignia of Cadets/Officer Candidates functioned as both career and rank indicators, and they were worn on the upper portion of the left sleeve.

These insignia utilize the same career icons as the career/rank insignia worn on the sleeves of enlisted men, and Junior Non-Commissioned Officers.

The career insignia of Cadets are oval shaped and feature gold-coloured career icons, and gold-coloured embroidery along the circumference of the cloth backing. The colour of the cloth backing correlated with the uniform on which it was worn, navy-blue backing for the blue service uniform, and field-grey or dark-bluish green for the field-grey uniform.

The Defensive Ordnance Insignia features a mine as the career icon.