FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Until the end?
DÖNITZ: Until the end of the war.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: After the first World War, when did you again have contact with the U-boat service?
DÖNITZ: On 27 September 1935 I became the commanding officer of the U-boat Flotilla Weddigen, the first German U-boat flotilla after 1918. As an introduction to taking up that command, that is, in September 1935, I spent a few days in Turkey, in order to go there in a U-boat and to bridge the gap from 1918.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Thus from 1918 to 1935 you had nothing to do with U-boats?
DÖNITZ: No, nothing at all.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: What was your rank when you went to the U-boat service in 1935?
DÖNITZ: I was a Fregattenkapitän.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: What did the German U-boat service at that time consist of?
DÖNITZ: The U-boat Flotilla Weddigen, of which I became the commanding officer, consisted of three small boats of 250 tons each, the so-called “Einbäume.” Besides, there were six somewhat smaller boats which were in a U-boat school, which was not under my command, for the purpose of training. Then there were afloat and in service perhaps another six of these small boats.