Werner Rahn is a naval historian and former German naval officer.

Professional career

Werner Rahn entered the Naval Academy Mürwik

Naval Academy Mürwik

The Naval Academy at Mürwik is the main training establishment for all German Navy officers.It is located at Mürwik which is a part of Germany's most northern city, Flensburg. Built on a small hill directly by the coast, it overlooks the Flensburg Fjord...

 and served at sea and ashore in a variety of appointments, reaching the rank of captain. He studied history at the University of Hamburg

University of Hamburg

The University of Hamburg is a university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by Wilhelm Stern and others. It grew out of the previous Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen and the Kolonialinstitut as well as the Akademisches Gymnasium. There are around 38,000 students as of the start of...

 under Professor Dr. Moltmann and received his PhD in 1974 with a thesis entitled Reichsmarine und Landesverteidigung, 1919-1928. He served as lecturer in military history at the Naval Academy Mürwik

Naval Academy Mürwik

The Naval Academy at Mürwik is the main training establishment for all German Navy officers.It is located at Mürwik which is a part of Germany's most northern city, Flensburg. Built on a small hill directly by the coast, it overlooks the Flensburg Fjord...

, and later Docent for military history at the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr

Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr

The Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr is the highest military academy of the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr. Established in 1957, and since 1958 located in Hamburg, it is the successor of the Prussian Military Academy that was established in 1810...

 at Hamburg. From 1980 to 1997, he served at the German Armed Forces Military History Research Office

German Armed Forces Military History Research Office

The German Armed Forces Military History Research Office is located at Potsdam, the capital of Brandenburg, Germany.-Mission:...

(Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt) in Freiburg im Breisgau as head of the naval history section and deputy director, and later after that office moved to Potsdam, as Director from 1995 to 1997. He retired from active service in the German Navy in 1997.

Published works

Rahn has published many books and articles on German naval history:

• Reichsmarine und Landesverteidigung, 1919-1928, (1976)

• Die Deutsche Flotte im Spannungsfeld der Politik 1848 - 1985 : Vorträge u. Diskussionen d. 25. histor.-takt. Tagung d. Flotte 1985 edited by Werner Rahn (1985).

• Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, vol. 6 (1990)

• Kreigstagebuches der Seekreigsleitung, 1939-1945, senior editor of the 68-volume facsimile edition, im Auftr. des Militärgeschichtlichen Forschungsamtes in Verbindung mit dem Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv und der Marine-Offizier-Vereinigung hrsg. von Werner Rahn und Gerhard Schreiber unter Mitw. von Hansjoseph Maierhöfer (1988–1997).

• Deutsche Marinerüstung 1919 - 1942: die Gefahren der Tirpitz-Tradition, edited by Wilhelm Treue, Eberhard Möller, Werner Rahn (1992).

• Vom Kaiserreich zur Bundesrepublik: aus den Schriften eines engagierten Offiziers und Staatsbürgers, by Siegfried Sorge edited by Werner Rahn (1993).

• Die deutsche Kriegsmarine: 1935 - 1945 by François-Emmanuel Brézet with a Foreword by Werner Rahn (2003).

• Deutsche Marinen im Wandel: vom Symbol nationaler Einheit zum Instrument internationaler Sicherheit edited by Wener Rahn (2005).

• Der Krieg in der Nordsee, im Auftrag des Militärgeschichtlichen Forschungsamtes bearbeitet und neu herausgegeben von Gerhard P. Gross unter Mitarbeit von Werner Rahn.