page_title: Kommando Spezialkräfte Marine
section_title: Roles
hierarchical_section_title: Kommando Spezialkräfte Marine / Roles
caption_attribution_description: English: A German Kampfschwimmer, Navy Commando Combat Swimmers, collects the fingerprints of a role-player during one of the practical exercises of the NATO Special Operation Forces (SOF) Campus Technical Exploitation Operations Coordinator Course in the SOF campus, on Chièvres Air Base, in Chièvres, Belgium, Feb. 26, 2016. (U.S. Army photo by Visual Information Specialist Pierre-Etienne Courtejoie/Released)
context_page_description: Naval Special Forces Command, also called the Kampfschwimmer or Verwendungsgruppe 3402 are an elite special forces unit of the Germany Navy, specializing in commando and amphibious warfare operations. They are the only special-purpose force of the German Navy. The Kampfschwimmer were set up when Germany joined NATO in 1955.
  During the existence of the GDR, the People's Navy of the GDR also had a commando frogman force, which was stationed in Kühlungsborn. They trained at Prora on Rügen.
context_section_description: In the Gulf War, German frogmen completed various operations that are classified by German Intelligence and such. Frogmen have decreased ten times in size as in the 1990s they had est. 3,500-4,000 troops.
  The naval commandos were also active from 1994 to 1996, during the NATO arms embargo against former Yugoslavia. The frogmen conducted boarding operations of suspicious freighters from German frigates and destroyers. Due to insufficient berthing capabilities on board the German warships, the boarding parties were usually undermanned. The commandos had to train ordinary crewmembers as auxiliaries in tasks such as keeping watch and taking control of the engine room and bridge of the boarded vessels.
caption: KSM frogman
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