Die 1980er Jahre

The Kampfschwimmer Company and the beachmaster company were both assigned to and integrated into the newly established Maritime Battalion (Seebataillon) on 16 December 1988. (The original Seebataillon had been disbanded in the 1960s.)

On 1 April 1989 the Company celebrated its 25^th anniversary. Six months before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the events which would lead to German reunification.

In the course of the 1980s the Kampfschwimmer received a clearly defined operational wartime mandate within German strategic naval planning. The Company was to provide forces which would, while acting independently, make a major contribution to wartime fleet defense. By conducting reconnaissance missions (including missions deep behind enemy lines) to provide actionable intelligence, and by disrupting or neutralizing threats or potential threats to the fleet, they were to buy time for the conventional German armed forces to conduct their own operations. The Kampschwimmer demonstrated their versatility and proved that they could fulfill the operational spectrum demanded of them. The naval commandos certified for missions on and below the water, on beaches and in coastal territory as well as deep inland (including mountains and inhospitable terrain) and from the air. Desperately needed new equipment was procured, including speedboats and special weapons, which led to a significant improvement in capabilities. This decade also was the first era in which all authorized personnel slots in the Kampfschwimmer company were actually filled. The unit went on to further enhance its capabilities spectrum by adding combat boarding of ships and oil platforms, and by training on special rescue and salvage techniques. The increasing international cooperation provided opportunities for training in various climatic zones. By the end of the decade the Kampfschwimmer were ready for a new era which would be dominated by crisis- and conflict-management.