(Reuters) -German industrial orders rose significantly more than expected in May, due to large scale orders of ships, spacecraft and military vehicles.

Incoming orders rose by 6.4% on the previous month on a seasonally and calendar adjusted basis, the federal statistics office said on Thursday.

A Reuters poll of analysts had pointed to a 1.2% increase.

There was a 137.1% increase in the manufacture of other transport equipment, which includes ships, railway rolling stock, air and spacecraft, as well as military vehicles.

The sharp increase in this sector, driving up the main index, was due to large-scale orders, the statistics office said.

The figure for April was revised to a 0.2% increase instead of a 0.4% drop on the month.

Despite the positive data in May and April, the three-month on three-month comparison showed that new orders were 6.1% lower in the period from March to May than in the previous three months, showing a slowdown in demand.

The statistics office publishes more economic data on its website.

(Reporting by Anna Mackenzie and Maria Martinez, Editing by Friederike Heine)