 They belong to the rank group “NCOs without portepee”.Beside Austria and Russia the German Empire introduced the "Bootsmannsmaat" (in connection with the rank "Maat" and the assignment – leader of a subunit) as lowest grade of the rank grop “NCOs without portepee of the "Imperial German Navy".In the Weimarer Republik and the Kriegsmarine of the Third Reich the rank was retained.