Commander in Chief of the Baltic Sea Forces
Commander in Chief of the Baltic Sea Forces (OdO) was an existing service in the German Imperial Navy during the First World War . The sole holder of office was the Grand Admiral Prince Heinrich of Prussia .
history
On July 31, 1914 one day before the declaration of war of the German Reich in Russia , was for the war in the Baltic Sea , the new office of the "Supreme Commander of the Baltic armed forces" (OdO) created and filled with Prince Henry of Prussia, the inspector general of the Navy and younger brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II. According to the regulation originally planned for the case of mobilization , the chief of the naval station of the Baltic Sea should have taken over the supreme command of the naval forces of the Reich in the Baltic Sea, but the head of the admiral's staff , Admiral Hugo von Pohl , suggested a different approach , on July 29, 1914, before the Kaiser appointed a Commander-in-Chief of the Baltic Sea Forces, and Wilhelm II spontaneously selected his brother for the post.
As Commander in Chief of the Baltic Sea Forces, Prince Heinrich was directly subordinate to the Emperor. After his staff met in Berlin on July 31 , he carried out his official business from Kiel Castle , which had been his residence since 1888. The Grand Admiral's stand was hoisted on the castle tower instead of the prince's standard. The tasks of the German naval forces operating in the Baltic Sea included securing the Bay of Kiel and the German Baltic Sea coast, preventing or at least disrupting Russian companies, offensive mine-laying companies and finally also supporting the army by bombarding enemy land targets. For this purpose, the OdO had predominantly outdated ships and reserve formations available, some of which were only reactivated during mobilization, such as B. the old coastal armored ships of the Siegfried class .
For the actual naval warfare in the Baltic Sea, special units were formed and commanders were appointed at times. In the west there was from the beginning of the war the head of the "Coast Guard Division", Vice Admiral Robert Mischke , from January 8, 1917 Vice Admiral Herwarth Schmidt von Schwind . On August 15, 1917, the coastal protection division was dissolved and replaced by the "Security Association of the Western Baltic Sea" (SwO) and the "Security Association of the Middle Baltic Sea" (SmO). Vice-Admiral Schmidt von Schwind became Commander of the SmO, Commander of the SwO was Rear Admiral Herrmann Nordmann .
For offensive tasks there was initially from August 21, 1914 the "Detached Admiral", Rear Admiral Ehler Behring , with a small squadron of cruisers and torpedo boats , who operated in the eastern Baltic Sea until April 20, 1915. From that day until January 11, 1916, the “I. Admiral of the Baltic Sea Reconnaissance Forces, ”Rear Admiral Albert Hopman . From July 7, 1915, the chief of the IV. Squadron deployed in the Baltic Sea, Vice Admiral Ehrhard Schmidt , from September 1915 Vice Admiral Friedrich Schultz acted as "overhead line" in the eastern Baltic Sea. On January 11, 1916, the office of the "Commander of the Reconnaissance Forces of the Baltic Sea" (BdAdO) was created and occupied by Vice Admiral Schultz, who in addition to the leadership of the IV took over.
In addition to the comparatively small number of armed forces permanently subordinate to the OdO, individual units or entire formations of the deep-sea fleet were added, which were withdrawn from the North Sea for this purpose . This was already the case with several forays into the eastern Baltic Sea in September 1914, also in August 1915 with the advance into the Riga Bay , and finally in particular with the Albion company , the conquest of the Baltic Islands, with the special Baltic Sea Association under Vice Admiral Ehrhard Schmidt in September / October 1917.
After the armistice with Russia came into force on December 15, 1917 , the office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Baltic Sea Forces was dissolved on January 24, 1918. Their tasks were taken over by the naval station command of the Baltic Sea. The Security Association of the Western Baltic Sea (SwO) and the Security Association of the Middle Baltic Sea (SmO) were combined under the Commander of Securing the Baltic Sea (BSO) and transferred to the previous Commander of the SwO. The position of the commander of the reconnaissance forces of the Baltic Sea was dissolved.