Fritz Spit
Fritz Spiess (also Friedrich Spiess , born October 28, 1881 in Wiesbaden , † February 19, 1959 in Hamburg ) was a German naval officer , most recently rear admiral .
Life
Fritz Spieß began his career in the Navy in 1900 as a midshipman . In 1901 he was Midshipman , 1903 Ensign , 1905 Lieutenant 1910 Lieutenant 1918 Lieutenant Commander 1925 Commander 1927 Sea Captain , 1929 Rear Admiral , 1934 Assistant Secretary of State with the rank insignia of a major-general and in 1939 Secretary with the rank insignia of a lieutenant general .
Between 1914 and 1916, Spieß held various command posts; so at the beginning of the war he was briefly in command of the auxiliary mine steamer Prinz Adalbert before he was appointed head of the 1st torpedo boat flotilla of the 1st torpedo boat flotilla from December 1916. From March 1918 until the end of the war, Spieß commanded the latter association.
From 1925 to 1927 he took part in the German Atlantic Expedition on the Meteor as commander and hydrographic advisor in the nautical department at the naval command . After the death of Alfred Merz in August 1925, the overall management of the German Atlantic Expedition was transferred to the commander, frigate captain Fritz Spieß, by a unanimous decision of the scientific staff.
In 1934 he was appointed President of the Deutsche Seewarte in Hamburg.
On July 22, 1945, Spieß retired.
Honors and honors
The spit summit in Queen Maud Land in East Antarctica was named in his honor. The same applies to the Spieß Glacier on the Antarctic Peninsula and the Spiessbåane cliffs in front of Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic .
In 1927 he received the gold Leibnitz Medal from the Prussian Academy of Sciences and an honorary doctorate from the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel .
In 1930 Fritz Spieß was accepted as a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in the geography section .
Works
- The meteor ride. Research and experiences of the German Atlantic Expedition 1925 - 1927 . Berlin: Reimer, 1928.
- Scientific results of the German Atlantic Expedition on the research and survey ship "Meteor" 1925 - 1927 , Volume 1: The research ship and its voyage . Ed .: Albert Defant , Berlin: de Gruyter, 1932.
literature
William J. Emery, Walter Zenk: Captain F. Spiess and the German Meteor Expedition of 1925-27 (with German foreword). BrownWalker Press, Irvine 2019, ISBN 978-1-62734-712-9
Web links
- Member entry of Friedrich Spiess at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
- Axis Biographical Research
Individual evidence
- The bequests in the German archives (with additions from other holdings). (List of the written personal papers in the German archives and libraries , Volume 1, Parts I and II), edited by Wolfgang A. Mommsen . Publications of the Federal Archives 17 / I and 17 / II. Boppard: Boldt, 1971, 1983
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Spit, Fritz |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Spiess, Friedrich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German rear admiral |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 28, 1881 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wiesbaden |
| DATE OF DEATH | 19th February 1959 |
| Place of death | Hamburg |