Inspector General of the Navy
The office of the Inspector General of the Navy - like the command authority of the Imperial Admiralty - was founded in 1871 and existed until 1919.
The first general inspector was Admiral Prince Adalbert of Prussia . On behalf of the emperor, but only after his direct orders, he had to carry out control inspections in the entire naval area in order to "check whether and to what extent the organic and regulatory provisions issued for the fleet and the various naval parts and establishments have been successfully implemented." Prince Adalbert already held this position in the Prussian Navy and in the Navy of the North German Confederation , which he now also held in the Imperial Navy until his death on June 6, 1873. After that, the position was initially not filled again.
It was not until 1899, when Wilhelm II took over the command of the navy, that the new command authority of the Admiralty's staff was again assigned an Inspector General. Admiral Hans von Koester held the office from March 14, 1899 until he was retired on December 29, 1906. Again, the position remained vacant for several years.
On October 1, 1909, Grand Admiral Prince Heinrich of Prussia took over the office until it was finally repealed on August 10, 1918.
In the Reich and Kriegsmarine , the position was not re-created, apart from the fact that after his resignation on January 30, 1943 , Grand Admiral Erich Raeder was appointed Admiral Inspector of the Kriegsmarine, a position created especially for him. It was a purely decorative office without authority.
In contrast, the inspector of the navy in the Bundeswehr is the highest military superior and commander in chief of the armed forces navy.
literature
- Hans H. Hildebrand: The organizational development of the navy including staffing 1848 to 1945, vol. 1 (formation history and staffing of the German armed forces 1815-1990; vol. 2). Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 2000, ISBN 3-7648-2541-3 , p. 74.