Schleswig-Holstein Navy
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The Schleswig-Holstein Navy is the name given to the total of the naval forces of the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein during the Schleswig-Holstein Uprising from 1848 to 1851. The name Schleswig-Holstein Flotilla, which is also used, is the summary of all ships in this Navy.
Decision to build a fleet
When the Schleswig-Holsteiners rose against Denmark in 1848, they formed the Schleswig-Holstein army ; own naval forces were controversial. The War Minister of the Provisional Government , Prince von Noer , was in favor of the relatively autonomous duchies remaining in the Danish state association , and he saw naval forces as the task of the state as a whole. Since "Schleswig-Holstein" ships would have to be handed over to the Danish Navy after the end of the conflict, he did not want to make any unnecessary effort.
The lack of German naval forces had already made itself felt in the first days of the war. Within a few days, German sea and coastal trade came to a standstill. In the first on May 18, 1848 St. Paul Church convened National Assembly decided already on 14 June of the same year in one of its first decisions, a German Reichsflotte set up.
The Schleswig-Holstein authorities only allowed the construction of a few gunboats to begin in the summer of 1848 . Only after the armistice in Malmö on August 26, 1848 was the planned establishment of the naval forces initiated. According to Article III § 19 of the Paulskirche constitution , these were to be incorporated into the imperial fleet. That was done formally on April 26, 1849. The ships of the Schleswig-Holstein flotilla therefore carried the flag of the Reichsflotte, while the Schleswig-Holstein merchant ships carried a red flag with the Schleswig lion and the Holstein nettle leaf. However, the factual assumption was never carried out.
The Schleswig-Holstein Navy at war
The Schleswig-Holstein Navy was not yet involved in the clashes of 1848. It was not until the spring of 1849 that the first usable vehicles were available. The greatest defeat the Danish Navy suffered in this war was inflicted on it on April 9, 1849 in the battle near Eckernförde by land batteries. She lost the ship of the line Christian VIII . by explosion and the frigate Gefion , which had to surrender and was taken over into the Reichsflotte.
North Sea 1849
In March 1849, Denmark announced the armistice and began to occupy the North Frisian Islands with the help of its navy . As the largest Danish warship, the corvette "Valkyrien" stationed in List on Sylt was involved in these operations, with 24 cannons and a crew of 200. In order to regain the islands and to drive out the Danish occupation, a division of four, later five gunboats was dispatched from Kiel on April 19, 1849 over the Eider Canal towards the North Sea . This so-called West Sea expedition , named after the name West Sea for the North Sea, which was then used in Schleswig-Holstein , under the leadership of Lieutenant zur See Kjer , reached the island of Föhr on April 25th . The enemy met for the first time there, and some shots were exchanged with the Danish occupation of the island. After the ships from Schleswig-Holstein appeared, the Danes quickly withdrew from Sylt and Föhr, despite their superiority , and on May 3rd they were the last of the islands to vacate Sylt. They left some of their armament and equipment behind. Their warships were also no longer used in the sea area around Föhr and Sylt, but Danish crews remain on Amrum and Fanö .
During the summer, the West Sea Division remained active and prevented further Danish sea operations on the west coast. For this task, gunboats were divided into two guard stations. Two boats were moored at Föhr, three at Lister Tief off Sylt.
Baltic Sea 1849
After the end of the armistice, the Danish Navy began to block the Baltic ports of Schleswig-Holstein . On May 9, there was a first exchange of fire between ships on both sides. On May 11th, a Schleswig-Holstein unit consisting of the steamer Bonin attacked the blockade squadron lying in front of Kiel with five towed gunboats. It consisted of the steamer Hekla , a frigate and a cutter brig . The battle went without major damage on either side. Similar attacks were repeated over the following weeks. One or two steamships were always used together with several gunboats, with the steamships towing the rowed gunboats into the area of operation. In this combination, they caused too much larger Danish sailing warships, like the battleship Skjold , always to retreat. After the Prussian-Danish armistice on July 24, 1849, the fighting activities of the Schleswig-Holstein Navy ceased.
Winter 1849/50
It was common practice to take warships out of service in winter and repair them for the next year. In view of the departure of Prussia and other allies from the coalition against Denmark, the Schleswig-Holstein ships were quickly overhauled in order to be ready for action again in the spring without exception.
North Sea 1850
During the negotiations that led to the Berlin peace between Prussia and Denmark, no fighting took place with Schleswig-Holstein participating. After the peace agreement on July 2, 1850, Schleswig-Holstein was on its own in its fight against Denmark. Therefore, the Navy was mobilized in July 1850 .
Shortly after the peace in Berlin, new fighting broke out between Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark. On 24 and 25 July there was in the little north of Schleswig place located Idstedt to a battle in which the Danes were able to win a decisive victory. Then they pushed further south and thus interrupted the connections between the naval units stationed in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.
The Westsee Division, which consisted of the steamer Kiel and three gunboats, was largely cut off from supplies. It stayed in the North Frisian Islands until September. The Danes advanced ashore and prepared to take possession of the islands from there. At the same time they pulled together superior naval forces. On September 16, the West Sea Division threatened to be cut off from the open North Sea by these forces. During the eruption on the following day, there was a battle with the Danish steamer Geyser , which was significantly damaged. The Schleswig-Holstein gunboats also received hits and recorded four dead and several wounded, but only minor damage to the ships. They withdrew first to Büsum , later towards the mouth of the Elbe. The division got into a severe storm in which the gunboat 8 was lost with the entire crew on November 8th.
Baltic Sea 1850
The Danish armed forces also went on the offensive on the Baltic coast in July 1850. For the Schleswig-Holstein Navy, the fighting there began with a major loss. On the night of July 20th to 21st, the only steam gunboat, the Von der Tann , ran aground during a battle near Neustadt in Holstein and was blown up by its crew. As in the previous year, there were also a number of smaller skirmishes, including at Heiligenhafen (July 19 and September 5) and Kiel (July 21 and August 16). All of these skirmishes had no effect on the course of the war.
In autumn the Schleswig-Holsteiners tried again with reinforced troops to turn the war around by attacking the fortress Friedrichstadt , which is in Danish hands . Although the city is inland, four gunboats under the leadership of Oberleutnant zur See Kjer on the Eider were brought near the city. They intervened in the siege battle, which lasted from September 29th to October 4th, and fired over 1,100 grenades at the enemy positions and the city itself, which suffered severe damage. The boats were fought heavily, but received only lighter hits. Only one soldier was killed and several, including the division chief Kjer, were wounded. Despite the very heavy bombardment, it was not possible to capture Friedrichstadt.
Dissolution of the Navy
On January 11, 1851, the Schleswig-Holstein State Assembly had to accept the conditions that arose after the Prussian-Austrian agreement on the continuation of the German Confederation in the Olomouc punctuation . Most of the ships of the Schleswig-Holstein flotilla and their armament fell to Denmark at the end of the war. They were gradually handed over from mid-1851. The handover was completed with the formal transfer of command on March 4, 1852. The only exceptions were a few vehicles and weapons that were handed over to the German Reich authorities, such as the steamer Kiel and some cannons.
guide
In the provisional government of Schleswig-Holstein established in 1848 , the war department under the direction of Prince von Noer was also responsible for naval affairs. Noer took his leave on September 9, 1848 and was replaced by Friedrich Karl Ferdinand Jacobsen, who was more interested in matters of naval defense. On October 22, the provisional government was replaced by the joint government for Schleswig and Holstein, which on February 1, 1849 a naval commission as III. Department of the new ministerial department of war established and charged with the management of the navy. The naval commission initially consisted of three people with the major engineer v. Jeß as chairman. Later the tasks of the Naval Commission went to the VI. Department over. In November 1850, the management of the department was transferred to Corvette Captain Lorenz Karberg. The Naval Commission had three departments for personnel, materials and finance.
In August, the Schleswig-Holstein Navy, which is subordinate to the Navy Commission, was organized in six elements:
- Sea enrollment system
- Inspection of the warship structures
- Commander of the Schleswig-Holstein fleet
- Provision management
- Naval depot
- Naval Cadet School
fleet
Most of the ships and boats were combined in the fleet, also known as the Schleswig-Holstein flotilla . At the beginning of the survey, the sea captain Peter Hansen was made admiral of the fleet. However, when attempting to take possession of the Danish blockade frigate Galathea off Kiel, he proved to be completely unsuitable for his task and withdrew.
Subsequently, the fleet was commanded by Johann Otto Donner, who was taken over from Danish service as sea captain . After the battle near Eckernförde in April 1849, Donner took command of the captured frigate Gefion , which was transferred to the Imperial Fleet. After his departure, he was followed by Lieutenant Second Class Johann Ernst Kjer, who was also the second member of the Naval Commission. He was promoted to lieutenant at sea, 1st class and in this rank led the fleet until his discharge in July 1851.
For their operations, the fleet was subdivided as follows (as of August 1850):
- West Sea Division
- Steamship Kiel
- Gunboats 4, 8, 11
- Baltic Division
- Steamship Von der Tann
- Gunboats 2, 5
- Reserve in Kiel
- Steamships Bonin (also the flagship of the fleet), Löwe , Elbe
- Gunboats 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12
Land organization
The fleet was supported by a land organization. This included coastal batteries with controlled sea mines , an optical telegraph , workshops and depots, a cadet institute and a hospital .
Coastal batteries and sea mines
Coastal batteries were to be installed near Kiel as one of the first protective measures against Danish attacks. It was feared that the Danish navy would bombard the state capital, as the Danish press called for it. Therefore, in April 1848, the battery of the Friedrichsort Fortress, which was still in Danish hands , was captured at the entrance to the Kiel Fjord . In April 1849 the navy also took over the battery in Düsternbrook after the army artillery did not provide any personnel for it.
The inventor and later industrialist Werner von Siemens , who had already led the occupation of the Friedrichsort battery as an artillery lieutenant, developed the idea of protecting the port with underwater charges that could be detonated from land as a first measure. The provisional government approved the plan, which Siemens implemented together with his brother-in-law, the chemist August Friedrich Karl Himly . The mines consisted of a number of powder-filled drums sealed with rubber. Electrical lines led from them to camouflaged land stations. The mines were anchored so that they floated about six meters below the surface of the water.
The mines were laid in April 1848. Shortly afterwards, one of them was accidentally detonated. It is said to have contained 5,000 pounds of powder and also caused damage to land. This made their existence known to the Danish Navy, which refrained from further attempts to penetrate the port of Kiel, even though its other protection was poor.
Optical telegraph
Several optical telegraph lines have been set up in order to receive early warning about operations of the Danish fleet. The idea of setting up such an organization was reported to the Schleswig-Holstein General Command on March 15, 1849. Implementation should be completed by the end of the armistice on March 23. In fact, the navy was able to report the connections ready for use with the exception of one route to Schleswig on March 22nd, i.e. within eight days. The system should consist of the following lines, not all of which have been completed:
- Kiel - Friedrichsort - Bülk
- Kiel - Gettorf - Aschau - Eckernförde
- Gettorf - Rendsburg junction (not completed)
- Eckernförde - Schleswig (not built)
The optical telegraph only knew five simple signals to report the appearance of enemy ships or a landing. It proved its worth in the Danish attack on Eckernförde in April 1849, but was later deactivated.
Shipyards, bases and depots
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There was a powerful shipbuilding industry in the state of Schleswig-Holstein . A greater number of shipyards were able to build smaller ships. This made it possible to have the gunboats built in parallel in several places. The Kiel-based company Howaldt & Schweffel broke new technical ground with the demanding new builds of the Von der Tann screw cannon boat and the Brandtaucher submarine .
In addition to these civil shipyards, the Navy needed its own support capacities. Within the naval commission, a machine department was set up under the direction of the Kiel engineer Diederichsen, who received the rank of chief engineer. From 1849 a separate naval shipyard for repair work was built on the east bank of Kiel. In the winter of 1849/50, most of the gunboats were overhauled there, and each of the boats required a week of working time. This shipyard, known as the Marineplatz, was taken over by the Danish Navy, as were the depots. Georg Howaldt , a son of August Howaldt, later built his first shipyard on the shipyard site, which he sold to the Navy of the North German Confederation in 1867 . It became the Kaiserliche Werft Kiel and now houses the naval arsenal of the German Navy .
In Kiel-Holtenau , the customs packing house was set up as a marine depot. It also served as a barracks, storage room, prison, kitchen and workshop building. Another depot was operated in Düsternbrook, where weapons and ammunition were stored. An ammunition laboratory was also set up there, which produced all of the navy's ammunition. In addition, a naval hospital was established in Kiel, which existed until April 1, 1851.
With these facilities, Kiel was the only naval base. The two operational divisions were based on trading ports in Heiligenhafen , Neustadt (Baltic Sea Division) and on the island of Föhr (West Sea Division).
staff
recruitment
At the beginning of the Schleswig-Holstein survey there was a Danish military organization including a recruiting system for service members of the naval forces, which was divided into several districts. This organization could be used in building the navy. In addition, parts of the crews of Danish warships had transferred, especially those from Schleswig-Holstein. One of them was Johann Otto Donner, who, as Lieutenant Commander, was in command of the customs cruiser on the Elbe and at the same time in command of the Elbe watch ship .
On January 20, 1849, a general military survey for seafaring personnel took place, during which the suitability and professional experience in seafaring was determined. It was intended to raise 700 seafarers. At the same time the recruiting of officers and NCOs began . A number of men with seafaring experience reported, including skippers and helmsmen. They were hired as auxiliary lieutenants or ensigns at sea. Most officers began their service in February 1849, while the start of service for the crews was set on March 1.
Most soldiers only remained active in the summer and released over the winter. When the Navy began to dissolve in December 1850, it had 750 active members, which was reduced to 168 for the winter period. Two officers and 65 NCOs and men died during the war. 4 NCOs and men were disabled.
education
Although there were many people in shipping professions in Schleswig-Holstein , only a few with experience in a navy. Officers like Donner were the exception. Therefore, in October 1848 a midshipman's school was opened in Kiel , which was supposed to train the next generation of officers. The curriculum was based on the Dutch model. As a training boat, the sailing cutter Tummler was subordinate to the naval cadet school.
When the Danish troops advanced in Schleswig-Holstein in 1850 and occupied the town of Tönning , the civil navigation school there was relocated to Kiel and combined with the naval cadet school to form a joint teaching institute. After the institution was closed, several of the teachers and professors went to other naval schools, including in Prussia, and took over parts of the training system at the Kiel cadet school.
Ranks
In accordance with their low formal qualifications, most officers and deck officers were hired in very low ranks , which did not always correspond to their leadership role. After the departure of "Admiral" Hansen, this rank was not awarded again.
| Ranks | ||
|---|---|---|
| Naval rank | Equivalent in the army | Comments | |
| Sea captain | Lieutenant colonel | Only awarded to Johann Otto Donner |
| Corvette Captain | major | Awarded only to Lorenz Karberg (March 9, 1850) |
| Marine Senior Physician | Captain 1st class | Only Georg Theodor Valentiner awarded |
| Lieutenant at sea 1st class | Captain | Also called Ober-Leutnant, in the same rank also naval auditor as chief of the martial law |
| Second Class Lieutenant | Prime Lieutenant | Also called sub-lieutenant, naval cashier and chief paymaster of the same rank |
| Auxiliary Lieutenant (zS) | In the rank of second lieutenant but senior | |
| Ensign at sea | In the rank of second lieutenant but younger in service | |
| Deck officer, chief fireman | sergeant | |
material
Ships and vehicles
The Schleswig-Holstein Navy was able to take possession of a few ships when it was erected. The steamships Bonin and Löwe were bought and converted into warships. The schooner Elbe and the steamer Kiel belonged to the Danish Navy and were the first ships for their own Navy to fall to Schleswig-Holstein when the survey began.
Since these ships were insufficient for defense, it was decided to build gunboats. The first four boats were ordered from local shipyards as early as May 1848. They were built based on older Danish blueprints from 1807. Oars and auxiliary sails served as propulsion. Their armament consisted of two 60-pound bomb cannons and two light guns in a rotating arrangement. A total of eleven of these boats were built in two versions, one of which had a closed deck, the other boats were open. The crew was between 43 and 50 men.
As an alternative to the rowing cannon boats, steam-powered boats were considered early on. However, the original plan to build ten such vehicles was abandoned. In fact, the Schweffel & Howaldt company built a boat called Von der Tann . This boat was one of the first screw-propelled warships in the world . It turned out to be technically successful. After it was blown up by its own crew, it was salvaged and repaired. After it was handed over, it served in the Danish Navy until 1862; its boilers were installed in another ship and remained in service until 1886.
| Ship list | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surname | Type | drive | Armament | Remarks |
| Ships | ||||
| Bonin | Paddle steamer | Steam, wheel drive, auxiliary sails | 1 × 84 lbs., 1 × 60 lbs., 2 × 30 lbs. Bomb cannons | |
| Elbe | More beautiful | sail | 6 - 8 × 18 lbs. | |
| Kiel | Paddle steamer | Steam, wheel drive, auxiliary sails | 4 × 18 lbs | |
| lion | Paddle steamer | Steam, wheel drive, auxiliary sails | 1 × 18 lbs., 2 × 12 lbs | |
| Gunboats | ||||
| No. 1 Von der Tann | Screw gunboat | Steam, screw drive, auxiliary sails | 2 × 60 lbs., 4 × 3 lbs. In rotating carriage | Exploded in front of Neustadt on July 21, 1850 |
| No. 2 Elmshorn | covered rowing gunboat | Oars, auxiliary sails | 2 × 60 lbs., 2 × 3 lbs. In rotating carriage | |
| No. 3 | open rowing gunboat | Oars, auxiliary sails | 2 × 60 lbs., 2 × 3 lbs. In rotating carriage | |
| No. 4 | covered rowing gunboat | Oars, auxiliary sails | 2 × 60 lbs., 2 × 3 lbs. In rotating carriage | |
| No. 5 | covered rowing gunboat | Oars, auxiliary sails | 2 × 60 lbs., 2 × 3 lbs. In rotating carriage | |
| No. 6 | open rowing gunboat | Oars, auxiliary sails | 2 × 60 lbs., 2 × 3 lbs. In rotating carriage | |
| No. 7 Glückstadt | covered rowing gunboat | Oars, auxiliary sails | 2 × 60 lbs., 2 × 3 lbs. In rotating carriage | |
| No. 8 Nübbel | covered rowing gunboat | Oars, auxiliary sails | 2 × 60 lbs., 2 × 3 lbs. In rotating carriage | Sank in the North Sea on November 9, 1850 |
| No. 9 | open rowing gunboat | Oars, auxiliary sails | 2 × 60 lbs., 2 × 3 lbs. In rotating carriage | |
| No. 10 Arnis | covered rowing gunboat | Oars, auxiliary sails | 2 × 60 lbs., 2 × 3 lbs. In rotating carriage | |
| No. 11 Women's Association | covered rowing gunboat | Oars, auxiliary sails | 2 × 60 lbs., 2 × 3 lbs. In rotating carriage | |
| No. 12 | open rowing gunboat | Oars, auxiliary sails | 2 × 60 lbs., 2 × 3 lbs. In rotating carriage | |
| other vehicles | ||||
| Porpoise | Training boat | Sailing cutter | without | The naval cadet school shelter |
| Eider | Customs and tugboat | Steam, auxiliary sails | 2 × 24 lbs | |
| Rendsburg | Tugboat | steam | 2 × 3 lbs. In rotating carriage | |
| Fire diver or iron seal | Submarine | Crank drive | Foreseen: charges and mines | Sank during an attempt at diving on February 1, 1851 in the port of Kiel |
The submarine fire divers
The inventor Wilhelm Bauer, who came to Schleswig-Holstein as a non-commissioned officer in the Bavarian Army during the Schleswig-Holstein War, was able to win over the local naval authorities for his project of a submarine that was supposed to be capable of detonating explosive charges on enemy ships and facilities to attach. The boat initially worked on a few test drives, although the original plans had been compromised considerably on the design. During a test on February 1, 1851, however, it got out of control and sank in the port of Kiel. The three-man crew managed to free themselves after the fuselage was slightly dented and the pressure equalized.
See also
literature
- Gerd Stolz: The Schleswig-Holstein Navy 1848–1852 . Heide (Holstein) 1978, ISBN 3-8042-0188-1
- Klaus Friedland: The Schleswig-Holstein Flotilla 1848 to 1851 , in: Walter Hubatsch: The first German fleet 1848-1853 . Herford 1981, pp. 29-40.
- Jan Schlürmann , Ulrich Schiers: Black-Red-Gold and Screw Steamers : The Schleswig-Holstein Navy 1848-1851 , in: AufBruch & BürgerKrieg. Schleswig-Holstein 1848–1851. Volume 2 , ed. by Jens Ahlers and Jan Schlürmann, Kiel 2012, pp. 321–348, ISBN 978-3-941713-10-9
- Jan Schlürmann : A new source on the history of the uniforms of the Schleswig-Holstein Navy from 1849 , in: Zeitschrift für Heereskunde 83 (2019), No. 471, pp. 13-16.
- Max Bär: Die deutsche Reichsflotte 1848-1852 , (Chapter: The Schleswig-Holstein Squadron ), BoD 2017, ISBN 3954271753 , ISBN 9783954271757
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Constitution of the German Empire
- ↑ Admiral Hansen and the attack on the Galathea ( Memento of the original of October 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
