Hunold von Ahlefeld

Vice Admiral Hunold von Ahlefeld (around 1907)

Hunold von Ahlefeld (born March 5, 1851 in Kiel , † September 5, 1919 in Gremsmühlen ) was a German Vice Admiral of the Imperial Navy and an economic manager who made a significant contribution to the armament of the Imperial Navy and the resulting German-British naval armament based on the naval laws .

Life

Born a Danish citizen , von Ahlefeld joined the Prussian Navy in 1867 and later the Navy of the North German Confederation . Between 1874 and 1876, under the command of Captain Georg von Schleinitz, he took part in the SMS Gazelle's research voyage , which primarily served to research the bottom profiles of the South Atlantic and the major ocean currents at the equator and near New Guinea . In October 1880 he became an employee of Kapitänleutnant Alfred von Tirpitz in the development of torpedo weapons and worked for them until autumn 1891. Subsequently, on September 21, 1891, as Korvettenkapitän, he became the commander of the tank corvette SMS Bayern and, after being promoted to captain of the sea, held this command until September 24, 1893.

In 1897, von Ahlefeld became chief shipyard director of the Kaiserliche Werft Kiel (KWK), before he became Rear Admiral and successor to Rear Admiral Hermann Kirchhoff as Second Admiral of the East Asia Squadron with the flagship SMS Hansa in November 1901 . In August 1902 he became head of the shipyard department in the Reichsmarineamt , headed by State Secretary von Tirpitz . In May 1907 he was promoted to Vice Admiral and appointed Chief of the North Sea Naval Station in Wilhelmshaven . However, he was released from this job in November 1907 because of a rejected duel request and was retired .

He then switched to the private sector and became a consultant at the Morse telegraphy company C. Lorenz , before becoming CEO of Schiffswerft AG Weser in Gröpelingen on February 1, 1908 . During his activity there until December 31, 1917, the company developed into a large shipyard.

Publications

• The participation of the private shipyards in the development of the fleet material in Germany , co-author Hugo Herold, 1913

literature

• Shipbuilding Society: 100 Years Shipbuilding Society - Biographies on the History of Shipbuilding , Springer, Berlin, 1999, ISBN 3-540-64150-5 , p. 5.

Web links

• 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 1: A-G. Biblio Publishing House. Osnabrück 1988. ISBN 3-7648-1499-3 . Pp. 10-11.
• Literature by and about Hunold von Ahlefeld in the catalog of the German National Library
• Dieter Ziegler, Jürgen Kocka, Hartmut Berghoff, Jürgen Kocka, Dieter Ziegler: Economy in the Age of Extremes , p. 28ff. 2010. ISBN 3406601561 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Albert Hopmann, Michael Epkenhans: The eventful life of a "Wilhelminer" , p. 37, 2004, ISBN 348656840X
2. ↑ Jonathan Glover: Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century , pp. 195 f., 2001, ISBN 0300087152