Otto Livonius

Admiral Livonius

Otto Livonius and wife, 1893

SMS Loreley , SMS Nymphe and Sjaelland in action, 1864.

Otto Daniel Livonius (born April 1, 1829 in Wolgast ; † February 9, 1917 in Berlin ) was a German vice admiral .

Life

origin

He was a son of the royal Prussian postmaster and captain a. D. Daniel Livonius and his wife Pauline, nee Teichelmann. The later Prussian Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Livonius was his brother.

Career

Livonius left school in Berlin in 1848 as a primary student and went to sea. After six months at sea on the full ship Washington he joined the Prussian Navy on December 7, 1848 in Stettin . In the German-Danish War of 1864, Livonius was first officer on the corvette SMS Nymphe . He was wounded in the naval battle near Jasmund on March 17, 1864. The association was under the leadership of the sea captain Eduard von Jachmann . Livonius was the first German naval officer to receive the Order of the Red Eagle, IV class with swords.

In the war against France , Livonius was in command of the armored ship SMS Arminius from July 19, 1870 to April 27, 1871 . He put the ship into service in Danzig when the war broke out . He succeeded in breaking through the French blockade in the German Bight to Wilhelmshaven . From there he was used in the intelligence service.

In 1875/76 Livonius was Commodore of the East Asia Squadron and at the same time commander of the armored frigate SMS Kronprinz . He was then from February 16, 1877 to December 12, 1881 Chief Shipyard Director of the Imperial Shipyard in Danzig . On February 15, 1881 Livonius was promoted to Rear Admiral. Livonius took part in the election campaign for the Reichstag in 1881, supported by Bismarck and Interior Minister von Puttkamer - but with only moderate success: he was not elected. Of 13 December 1881 Livonius director was in the Imperial Admiralty and was on 27 December 1883 award of the character as a vice admiral for disposition made. On February 2, 1884 he was transferred to the discharged officers.

After his retirement from active service, Livonius worked in business. In December 1884 he was elected as a representative of AG Germania to the board of the Verein Deutscher Seewerften eV.

family

Livonius was married to Louise Radmann.

Fonts

• The navy of the North German Confederation, its significance and its development to date, along with an explanatory statement of all legal provisions about admission to the service of the royal navy and the prospects of those admitted. Liebrecht, Berlin 1869. 44 p. With four illustrations.
• Our fleet in the Franco-German war. Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1871, 49 pp.
• Colonial question. Berlin 1900. 68 pp.
• About the devices used to save lives in the event of a marine accident. Berlin 1900. 30 pp.

literature

• Dermot Bradley (Ed.), Hans H. Hildebrand, Ernst Henriot: Germany's Admirals 1849–1945. The military careers of naval, engineering, medical, weapons and administrative officers with admiral rank. Part I, Volume 2: HO. Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1989.
• Fraude: Postmaster Livonius. In: Our Elsterland. A home paper. Supplement to the newspaper for the Schweinitz district. dated June 12, 1932, no.160.
• Günther Stavorinus: The history of the royal / imperial shipyard Danzig 1844-1918. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Vienna 1990, p. 42 with additional information
• Wolfgang Petter (among others): German armament from Wallenstein to Tirpitz. in: Handbook on German Military History 1648-1939. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Munich 1979, p. 123.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Keyword: Armored Vehicle Arminius, in: Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German Warships. Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present. 7 volumes in one volume, Ratingen without year [1983], Volume 1, p. 108f.