On 5 April 2023 at 14:30, the new units of the Naval Special Forces Command (KSM) will be commissioned by the Commander of the Fleet and Support Forces and Deputy Inspector General of the Navy, Vice Admiral Frank Lenski (61), as part of a ceremonial roll call.
The new structure and thus a significant expansion of the KSM was approved by the Ministry of Defence some time ago. The "KSM 2023+" structure is now taking great strides forward.
Starting on 1 April 2023, the Bundeswehr's oldest special forces unit will grow to around 600 posts by 2025. This means that the number will have almost doubled by then. In addition, two new units, the Special Operations Boat Company and the Support Company, will be established, the Training Group will be disbanded and also set up as a new unit, the Naval Special Forces Training Centre.
KSM demonstrates capabilities with LUH H145M. Photo: Bundeswehr/J.Baier
Background information
The combat swimmers have been stationed at the Eckernförde naval base since 1974, where they have formed the core of the KSM since 1 April 2014.
The Naval Special Forces Command is the maritime component of the Bundeswehr's special forces. With the combat swimmers, including their support and command teams, it provides experts for special military tasks in the maritime environment. Their operational areas are therefore primarily the open sea, coastal areas, estuaries and inland waters.
The combat swimmers are divers, parachutists, speedboat pilots, explosives experts, lone fighters and much more. In an emergency, they are the first to go into action in the most dangerous situations.
Their capabilities include: gathering key information in crisis and conflict zones, hostage rescue, repossession of ships, arresting targets abroad, offensive defence against terrorist threats, and covert operations across the entire spectrum of Bundeswehr tasks. They are supported by boat teams and mobile medical units.
English 
German
The date 1974 cannot be correct. Because in 1964
I completed my training and was then a member of the combat swimmer company in Eckernförde.
M.f.g.
Kurt Zimmer
Dear Mr Zimmer, thank you for your comment, which I have followed up. The information I used in the article comes from the Navy's press release - one would have to assume that the figures are correct. The following result of my own research - very briefly and without guarantee!
When the Bundeswehr and the Bundesmarine were established in 1956, a combat swimmer unit was already planned to disrupt the enemy's amphibious landing operations and prepare its own. In organisational terms alone, this unit has a turbulent past.
The first combat swimmers were trained in List on Sylt from August 1958 and in December 1959 were assigned to the sea battalion's beach master company as a combat swimmer platoon in Sengwarden. When the sea battalion moved to Borkum in 1963, the platoon went to Eckernförde (branch of the naval base command in Kiel). The combat swimmers became an independent company there in April 1964, although they were still subordinate to the amphibious group in Wilhelmshaven (later Emden). In July 1985, the Eckernförde outpost was promoted to an independent naval base in Eckernförde. In October 1991, the combat swimmers were merged with the mine divers in the weapons diving group - now subordinate to the flotilla of the mine forces. With the reorganisation of the Navy that began in 1997 (and the dissolution of the boat flotillas), the combat swimmer company became part of the Specialised Naval Forces (SEK M), which was subordinated to Operational Flotilla 1 in Kiel. Since April 2014, the combat swimmers have formed the core of the Navy's Special Forces Command (KSM) in Operational Flotilla 1.
The available data is not always conclusive, but organisational changes are known to be lengthy processes.
With kind Easter greetings
Axel Stephenson
KptzS (retired)