Victor Valois

Victor Valois (born August 14, 1841 in Prussian Holland ; † January 4, 1924 in Königsberg ) was a Vice Admiral of the Imperial Navy and, most recently, from 1892 to 1896 head of the North Sea naval station in Wilhelmshaven .

family

Victor Valois 'great-grandfather was one of Orléans originating Frenchman, who during the Seven Years' War lured under false pretenses to Switzerland and there from advertisers in the Austrian military service pressed was. In the Battle of Liegnitz in 1760 he was taken prisoner by Prussia, joined the Prussian army and after the war he settled in Prussian Holland in East Prussia .

His son became a little prosperous as a merchant in Königsberg and his son, the father Victor Valois, studied and then became a judicial commissioner in Prussian Holland. He was married to Antonie, geb. Pohl-Senslau, a daughter of Karl Pohl-Senslaus , a member of the Prussian manor house . Victor Valois married his wife Minna, b. von Behrendt, who temporarily accompanied him overseas during his time as head of the East Asia Squadron.

Military career

Prussian Navy and Navy of the North German Confederation

On the frigate Thetis , Valois took part in a three-year trip to East Asia

SMS Augusta

In the spring of 1857, Valois joined the Prussian Navy before he was 16 and passed his entrance exam at the Naval Cadet Institute in Berlin on June 18. Appointed as a cadet aspirant, he then took up his first command on board the corvette Amazone , with which he undertook a training trip to Scandinavia and Great Britain. This was followed by a course at the Naval Cadet Institute, which was followed in 1858 by a three-month training trip on the frigate Gefion . Together with the other cadets of his class, Valois was transferred to the frigate Thetis from 1859 to 1862 and took part in her three-year trip to East Asia. On his return Valois attended a final officer course, which he finished with the exam to lieutenant at sea , and was promoted to ensign at sea .

Because of the looming German-Danish War , the mobilization of the fleet was ordered in autumn 1863. In order to man the gunboats in reserve , Valois and other ensigns were transferred to the gunboat flotilla in Stralsund after a short service in the fleet . He was an officer on watch on the steam cannon boat Loreley , the guide boat of the flotilla chief, Captain Hans Kuhn . On March 17, 1864, he took part in the naval battle near Jasmund with this boat . After the German War in 1866, the Prussian Navy was transferred to the Navy of the North German Confederation .

From 1865 to 1868 Valois took part in the circumnavigation of the corvette Vineta . He then served on the sailing corvette Nymphe . After the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the nymph's retracted crew was transferred to the faster Augusta cruiser corvette , which was still in the equipment , in order to take part in the war. Valois, meanwhile promoted to lieutenant captain, had the task of the second officer and navigational officer. After leaving Danzig, the Augusta ran around the British Isles off the French west coast. In front of the Gironde estuary , two ships could be taken as prizes, and a steamer with supplies for the French army was sunk. The Augusta then ran to Vigo , where it was blocked by three French warships until the end of the war. In March 1871 she returned to Kiel .

Imperial Navy

Cruiser frigate Gneisenau

After the Navy of the North German Confederation had now become the Imperial Navy , Valois attended the Naval Academy in 1874 together with the later admirals Otto von Diederichs , Felix von Bendemann and Gustav von Senden-Bibran . He served as first officer on the corvette Vineta . In 1881 he was in command of the corvette Victoria and with this ship he pushed through German interests in Liberia . He also took part in a joint show of force with British forces outside Montenegro . 1884-86 Valois led the cruiser frigate Gneisenau and took part with her in operations of the East African cruiser squadron . Among other things, he submitted the first official report on the German Witu protected area .

From October 1887 to March 1889 Valois was chief shipyard director of the Kaiserliche Werft Danzig and then until March 1890 in the same position at the Kaiserliche Werft Kiel . There he was promoted to Rear Admiral on April 1, 1889. From May 1890 to February 1892 he was head of the cruiser squadron , which he led off the coast of Chile in 1891 to protect the Germans living there during a civil war. When he returned to Germany, he was chief of the North Sea naval station from October 15, 1892 to August 1, 1896, after which he would retire.

Activities after retirement

After his retirement, Valois worked as a writer and dealt with current marine issues. He was one of the opponents of the Tirpitz armor. Valois was a member of the Colonial Council and from 1900 to 1902 Executive Vice President of the German Colonial Society . Here he took a progressive position and campaigned, albeit in vain, for the abolition of slavery in German colonies.

Works

• Morocco − Heligoland. Berlin undated (approx. 1895)
• Maritime power Seegeltung Maritime rule - Brief consideration of naval warfare, Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1899
• From the experiences of an old naval officer. Potsdam undated (approx. 1900)
• The cruise. SMS Augusta on the French coast. Episode from the great war 1870–71. Berlin 1903
• Germany as a sea power. Leipzig 1908
• Amerikana Japs and Yankees: The Panama Canal as Educators: Monroe Doctrine. Berlin 1914
• Down with England! 1914 or 1915

Remembering Victor Valois

In Wilhelmshaven, Valoisplatz is named after Victor Valois. In Wilhelmshaven the City Hotel Valois and the associated hotel restaurant Le Valois are named after Victor Valois.

literature

• Hans H Hildebrand, Ernest Henriot. Germany's admirals 1849-1945. Volume 3. Osnabrück 1990.
• Wilhelmshavener Heimatlexikon. Volume 3, p. 363, Wilhelmshaven 1987.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Victor Valois. From the experiences of an old naval officer. Potsdam undated
2. ^ Report of the San Francisco News Letter and California Advertiser dated June 13, 1891
3. ↑ Otto von Bismarck : Memorandum on the German Protected Areas of December 2, 1885, in: Documents on the negotiations of the Reichstag 1885/86. No. 44, p. 137. ( Digitized version )

Remarks

1. ↑ At that time the lowest officer rank, corresponded to the future lieutenant at sea