Alexander Meurer

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Alexander Meurer
Meurer's Maritime War History was published in 1925 and was reprinted several times from 1941

Alexander Albert August Meurer (born August 15, 1862 in Krehlau ; † February 3, 1948 in Hamburg ) was a German Vice Admiral in the Imperial Navy and naval historian . Vice-admiral Hugo Meurer (1869–1960) was his cousin .

Life

Meurer, son of Heinrich Albert Meurer (1832–1918), joined the Imperial Navy as a cadet on April 15, 1881 and completed his basic and sea training on the sailing frigate SMS Niobe . He then continued his training at the naval school and on various school ships. On November 21, 1884, Meurer was promoted to lieutenant at sea , initially without a patent . he received the patent on December 19, 1885. After completing his training, Meurer worked as a company officer in the 1st Sailor Artillery Department from January 4 to May 31, 1886 and then served as a watch officer on the cruiser corvette SMS Nixe . After his promotion to lieutenant at sea , he was on board the artillery school ship SMS Mars from September 23, 1887 to April 9, 1888 , then officer on watch on the Aviso SMS Pommerania for six months , until he was transferred as a company officer to the boy’s department on October 13, 1888 has been. This was followed from April 16, 1889 to September 30, 1890 as an officer on the watch on the cruiser corvette SMS Ariadne .

From October 1893 he served on the SMS Württemberg tank corvette . He was promoted to lieutenant captain on May 14, 1894 and graduated from the 1st and 2nd Coetus at the Naval Academy in Kiel from autumn 1894 to spring 1896. Between the two courses, Meurer was again on the Württemberg as a navigation officer in the summer of 1895 . After successfully completing the academy, on May 11, 1896, he was transferred to the great cruiser SMS Kaiser , which was deployed in East Asia and participated in the German occupation of the Chinese ports of Tsingtau and Kiautschou at the end of 1897 . At the end of June 1898 he disembarked and started his journey home to Germany from Manila on the Darmstadt steamer . After his return, Meurer was briefly made available to the I. Marine Inspection. He then served from October 1, 1898 to June 19, 1900 as First Adjutant to the Inspector of Education in the Navy. In 1900/01 he served as first officer on the liner SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm , which was sent to China to suppress the Boxer Rebellion . In March 1901 he was promoted to corvette captain and as such appointed on September 30, 1902 to commander of the IV. Sailor Artillery Department. At the same time, Meurer had been entrusted with the management of the commander of Cuxhaven . On October 13, 1903, he was transferred to the naval artillery inspection department, where he served as second, later first adjutant.

On April 26, 1905, Meurer, meanwhile promoted to frigate captain, was appointed commander of the newly commissioned small cruiser SMS Lübeck . The Lübeck was the first ship of the Imperial Navy with a steam turbine drive . During the test voyages, the Lübeck was sent to the Gulf of Finland in order to maintain the postal service to the government in Saint Petersburg during the revolutionary unrest in Russia and to offer the tsarist family a refuge on board in an emergency .

End of March 1906 gave Meurer command of the Lübeck and was commander of a training ship cruiser frigate used stone . He took them on training trips to the Baltic Sea , the West Indies , Madeira and the Mediterranean . In the same year he was promoted to sea captain. In April 1907 he gave command of the stone , which was subsequently decommissioned and removed from the list of warships.

Meurer then became the inspector of the naval depot inspection in Wilhelmshaven. On April 10, 1911, he was awarded the character as a rear admiral called into question, but as an officer for. D. still used. He acted as President of the Ship Survey Commission in Hamburg, a naval authority established in 1904 to monitor the readiness of merchant ships for war, and on September 16, 1916 received the patent for his rank. On September 19, 1918, Meurer was placed at the disposal of the chief of the Baltic Sea Naval Station until further notice and, after the end of the war, on November 17, 1918, was finally released from active service. On November 24, 1919, with seniority from November 17, 1918, he was awarded the character of Vice Admiral.

Publications (selection)

Meurer wrote several marine history works, some of which were published several times. These included:

  • Naval war history in outline: naval power and naval wars, mainly from the 16th century onwards. (1925, 1941, 1942, 1943)
  • The sea, the fate of the peoples. (last published in 1972 in the 6th edition revised with Gustav-Adolf Wolter )

Awards

Medal Meurers in the International Maritime Museum Hamburg (IMMH)

literature

  • Dermot Bradley (eds.), Hans H. Hildebrand, Ernest Henriot: Germany's Admirals 1849-1945. The military careers of naval, engineering, medical, weapons and administrative officers with admiral rank. Volume 2: HO. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1989, ISBN 3-7648-1499-3 , pp. 471-472.

Web links

Commons : Alexander Meurer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ranking list of the German naval forces in East Asia
  2. ↑ Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. Volume 4, 1st edition, Herford 1982, ISBN 3-7822-0235-X . P. 88ff.
  3. ↑ Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. Volume 5, 1st edition, Herford 1982, ISBN 3-7822-0236-8 . P. 130f.
  4. ↑ Marine Officer Association (Ed.): Honorary Ranking List of the Imperial German Navy 1914-18. Thormann & Goetsch, Berlin 1930, p. 570.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h Marinekabinett (ed.): Ranking list of the Imperial German Navy for the year 1914. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1914, p. 176.
personal data
SURNAME Meurer, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meurer, Alexander Albert August (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Vice Admiral of the Imperial Navy and naval historian
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Krehlau
DATE OF DEATH February 3, 1948
Place of death Hamburg