''Oberleutnant zur See'' (''OLt zS'' or ''OLZS''
in the
German Navy
The German Navy (, ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified ''Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Mari ...
, ''Oblt.z.S.'' in the ''
Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
'') is traditionally the highest rank of Lieutenant in the German Navy. It is grouped as OF-1 in
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
.
The rank was introduced in the
Imperial German Navy
The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhel ...
by renaming the former rank of ''Premier Lieutenant'' in 1890. Within the navy officers of this rank were simply addressed as ''Herr Oberleutnant''. To distinguish naval officers from those of the army, the suffix ''zur See'' (at sea) was added in official communications, sometimes shortened to ''z.S.'' (''Oblt.z.S.''). The rank has since been used by the ''
Reichsmarine
The ''Reichsmarine'' ( en, Realm Navy) was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany. It was the naval branch of the ''Reichswehr'', existing from 1919 to 1935. In 1935, it became known as the ''K ...
'', ''
Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
'', and ''
Bundesmarine
The German Navy (, ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified ''Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Mari ...
''. In the ''
Volksmarine
The ''Volksmarine'' (VM, ; en, People's Navy) was the naval force of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The ''Volksmarine'' was one of the service branches of the National People's Army and primarily performed a coastal d ...
'' the rank was originally used in the same way until the suffix ''zur See'' was dropped. In the ''Kriegsmarine'' engineers (''Ingenieur – Ing.'') of the same rank were distinguished as ''Oberleutnant (Ing.)''.
See also
*
Ranks of the German Bundeswehr
The ranks of the German Armed Forces, (in German: Bundeswehr), were set up by the President with the '' Anordnung des Bundespräsidenten über die Dienstgradbezeichnungen und die Uniform der Soldaten'' on the basis osection 4 paragraph 3 of the ''S ...
*
Rank insignia of the German Bundeswehr
References
{{German military ranks
Naval ranks of Germany