{{coord missing, Schleswig-Holstein
The Ruhleben barracks (german: Ruhleben-Kaserne) is part of the German naval establishment located in
Plön
Plön (; Holsatian: ''Plöön'') is the district seat of the Plön district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, and has about 8,700 inhabitants. It lies right on the shores of Schleswig-Holstein's biggest lake, the Great Plön Lake, as well as on ...
,
Holstein
Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
From 1940 to 1945 it was home to the III U-Boat Training Division (''III Untersee-Boot Ausbildungsabteilung''). On April 22, 1945 Grand Admiral
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz (sometimes spelled Doenitz; ; 16 September 1891 24 December 1980) was a German admiral who briefly succeeded Adolf Hitler as head of state in May 1945, holding the position until the dissolution of the Flensburg Government follo ...
moved the headquarters of the Naval High Command (''Oberkommando der Marine'') there. As of April 30, 1945 until May 2, 1945, following Dönitz being named head of the
German Reich
German ''Reich'' (lit. German Realm, German Empire, from german: Deutsches Reich, ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty ...
, it was the ''de facto'' capital of Germany.
On May 7, 1945, the installation was captured by British forces who installed themselves there and renamed it the Connaught Barracks. Towards the end of formal British occupation, the British set up the King Alfred School on March 10, 1948, to teach the children of the British military service personnel stationed in Germany.
Following the re-establishment of the German Navy, the barracks reopened as the home of the Naval NCO School (''Marineunteroffizierschule Plön'') on September 9, 1960.