A Short History of the Imperial Navy - Part 1

The German fleet has a relatively young history; before 1848 it was essentially non‑existent¹. There was a lack of a central authority, as existed in Great Britain and France. In Prussia the hesitant construction of a fleet began in the 1840s. The actual first chapter of the German Imperial Fleet, however, began in 1848². Prompted by the Hanseatics and against the background of independence movements in Schleswig‑Holstein, the Frankfurt National Assembly decided to found the German Imperial War Fleet and provided the necessary funds. But, analogous to the political fate of the National Assembly, the small fleet (just equipped and armed) was dissolved again in 1852 (decision of the German Confederation on 01.04.1852) and the ships were sold. At that time the fleet comprised 11 ships and 27 small craft. Some ships were taken over by Prussia. Prussia then intensified its maritime efforts and bought the Jade area in 1853. The naval base Wilhelmshaven was to be established here. At the same time the Admiralty was created as a central and independent command‑administrative authority (AKO of 14.11.1853). A naval department had already been formed within the Prussian War Ministry. As the first Prussian officer, Prince Adalbert received the rank of Admiral of the Prussian coasts. Already in 1852 the Prussian navy had sent a squadron to South America. In 1859 a squadron embarked on an economically motivated voyage to Japan, China and Siam. In 1860 the SMS Frauenlob sank with her entire crew in a typhoon off the Japanese coast. The loss of the SMS Amazone on 21.06.1861 in the southern North Sea was also a terrible blow. With the ship and crew all embarked naval cadets also perished. In 1864 there were minor engagements with the Danish fleet in the German‑Danish War.

The Prussian fleet became the core of the North German Federal Navy in 1867³. In that year the expansion of the fleet to 10 armored ships, 20 cruiser frigates/‑corvettes, 8 avisos and 22 steam gunboats within a period of 10 years was also decided. After the victorious campaign against France and the founding of the Reich in 1871, the North German Federal Navy became the Imperial Navy. Article 53 of the 1871 Imperial Constitution stated: “The war navy of the Reich is a unified body under the supreme command of the Emperor. Its organization and composition rest with the Emperor, who appoints the officers and officials of the navy, and before whom they, together with the crews, are to take the oath of duty. The port of Kiel and the Jade port are imperial naval ports. The expense required for the founding and maintenance of the war fleet and the institutions connected with it shall be borne from the imperial treasury. The entire seafaring population of the Reich, including engine personnel and shipwrights, is exempt from service in the land army, but is obliged to serve in the Imperial Navy.”

Chief of the Imperial Navy was (since 1888) Wilhelm II. He was supported by a Federal Committee for Maritime Affairs, the chairman of which was the State Secretary of the Imperial Naval Office. Chief of the Naval Cabinet (Berlin) in 1913 was Admiral Müller. On foreign missions (embassies/ legations) there were naval attachés. The Imperial Naval Office, as the supreme administrative authority, was based in Berlin and was headed by State Secretary Grand Admiral v. Tirpitz. It was divided into various departments with different responsibilities. The Admiralty Staff was headed by Admiral v. Pohl as chief.

For the individual areas of the navy there were — as in the army — inspections as administrative and control instances. The navy itself was divided into station districts, namely the Naval Station of the Baltic Sea (Kiel) and of the North Sea (Wilhelmshaven). The various naval components were distributed across the two naval stations: seamen, dockyard and torpedo divisions, seamen artillery detachments, naval infantry, submarine detachments, depots and shipyards, fortifications, technical institutes, various authorities, ships, etc. The High Seas Fleet was organized under Chief Admiral von Ingenohl (as of 1913) into Squadrons I–III, as well as the scouting ships under Rear Admiral Hipper. The Imperial Navy also commanded the East Asian occupation brigade in the Kiautschou protectorate under Governor Captain at Sea Meyer‑Waldeck.

The authorized strength of the Imperial Navy in the fiscal year 1903/04 was:

Anyone wishing to become a naval officer first had to demonstrate their personal and academic suitability. If there was an appropriate need, they could begin their military career as a cadet. After being sworn in, the aspirant served as an enlisted man on a cadet training ship and received the first basic military training there. This was followed by attendance at the Naval School on the Flensburg Fjord. There the candidates were prepared for the naval cadet examination. After passing the exam, a usually two‑year posting to a training ship for naval cadets typically followed.

After returning, the first naval officer examination had to be passed. Only after election by the corps of naval officers was the naval cadet appointed to the rank of Sub‑Lieutenant at Sea, subject to the issuance of the patent. After practical service in the summer, another roughly year‑long course (11 months) at the Naval School followed from autumn. This included further theoretical preparation for the naval officer professional examination. After passing the exam, the granting of the patent by highest authority could be requested.

The Naval Academy was located, like the naval cadet admissions commission, in Kiel; the Naval School was in Flensburg‑Mürwik and the engineering and deck officer schools in Kiel and Wilhelmshaven⁷. Educational qualifications had especially high importance as selection criteria in the naval officer corps; consequently its educational level was far higher than that of the army. Thus the proportion of naval cadets with the Abitur was: 45.4% between 1890–94, 47.3% between 1895–99, 59.0% between 1900–04 and 76.7% between 1905–06⁸.

The named battleship was christened on 26.10.1904 and transferred to the Imperial Shipyard Kiel for final fitting out. It was officially commissioned on 29.11.1904. Already taken out of service on 17.03.1913, it was reactivated shortly before the start of the First World War and thereafter belonged to the 4th Squadron. The ship survived the war and remained in the Reichsmarine from 1924 to 1931. It was then sold on 31.10.1935 and scrapped in Bremerhaven in 1936.

The ranks of the various officer career paths were as follows:

The Navy Medical Corps was formed by the active physicians and those on leave as well as the personnel of the hospital assistants and the military orderlies. It was divided into the following ranks:

The ratings of the navy included the following ranks: senior deck officers, deck officers, sergeants or warrant officers, deputy sergeants, naval cadets, deputy naval cadets, assistant physicians, one‑year volunteer physicians, senior petty officers, petty officers and ratings.

In the hierarchy the deck and non‑commissioned officers followed the naval officers. Deck officers did not receive wages but were salaried employees. For their retirement or pension provisions the regulations applicable to the officers were also applied.

In the torpedo mechanic, torpedoman, pyrotechnics and ordnance personnel there were deck officer and non‑commissioned officer career paths that could also lead to an officer career. Other career paths ended with the position of senior petty officer, sergeant or deck officer. Prerequisites for any promotion were, in addition to good practical qualifications and good conduct, usually a certain amount of sea service together with passing an examination.

The boatswain, signal master, helmsman, gun master, pyrotechnic master, machinist, master and material steward career paths likewise led to the position of deck and senior deck officer. The non‑commissioned officers of the other branches could at most become deputy sergeants or sergeants⁹_.

The ranks of the naval engineer candidates and the general naval ranks were as follows:

Life aboard warships followed a tradition similar in all fleets, the so‑called routine or sea routine¹⁰. The daily schedule and the various duties were precisely defined, with the day usually beginning at 5:00 a.m. with the boatswain’s wake‑up call and ending at 9:00 p.m. with tattoo. At sea the tattoo was omitted because the ship’s crew was divided into watches to carry out their duties. One distinguished daily and weekly routines, harbor and sea routines, work and tropical routines. For the various duties there were also so‑called roles. Each member of the ship’s company received a ship number that assigned their specific task and place for all relevant duties. Crewmembers with odd ship numbers belonged to the starboard watch; those with even ship numbers to the port watch. The watches were divided into corporals’ groups. Crews of ships without rigging were divided into divisions. There were various plans for the distribution of the crew for different duties (roles), in particular clearance or combat, closure, salvage, firefighting, maneuver roles, etc. A specific signal was provided for each role. These were given with drum and horn or only with drum. From the so‑called station table each crew member could see his ship number, watch half, quarter, division, corporals’ group, gun, rack for rifle, kit bag, hammock, etc., symptomatic of the strict service on board. The clearance role contained the distribution of the crew to all works necessary to make the ship ready for combat. The closure role was intended to enable a rapid closing of all watertight doors in case of a leak in the ship and danger. It also contained the assignment of the crew to the pumps. The fire role contained the distribution of the crew to the firefighting apparatus in the event of a fire. The boat role distributed the crew to the boats carried. The galley roles were a record of the crew distributed to their galley tables. The distribution was made by numbers beginning at the front. Those on the starboard side had odd and those on the port side even numbers. The so‑called senior baker was in charge of all matters of the galley crew during the stay in the galley. The salvage role assigned — like the boat role — each man his place in one of the boats, should the ship have to be evacuated¹¹.

The annual salary or annual pay for senior deck officers was: 2,142 marks; for deck officers: 1,692 marks; for non‑commissioned officers with portepee: 828 marks (sergeant) or 729?0 marks (deputy sergeant) — (note: original appears to contain a typographical error); for non‑commissioned officers without portepee: 720 marks (senior petty officer) or 540 marks (petty officer). The ratings received as senior able seaman: 288 marks or as ordinary rating: 234 marks and the ship’s boys: 234 marks (ship’s boy non‑commissioned officer) or 144 marks (ship’s boy). The clothing allowance (108 marks) was also included in the pay for non‑commissioned officers and ratings and was not paid out but retained. On land subsistence allowances were paid. On board full pay was paid and complete free shipboard provisions were granted. Furthermore there were various personal allowances, e.g. with regard to length of service (longevity allowance), re‑enlistment (surrender‑hand money) or embarkation as a reservist (reservist allowance). In addition the system knew numerous position allowances, e.g. for secondment to labor service at shipyards, depots or torpedo workshops, for divers or for certain specialist duties. Everyone also received a hammock, a mattress, 1 or 2 woolen blankets and 2 towels.

The officers and the officials holding officer rank dined together in the officers’ mess¹². There were also deck officer, ensign and naval cadet messes. The commander had his own mess. The costs of the messes were covered by so‑called mess and table funds. These funds, set by the Imperial Naval Office, were used to manage the messes. Non‑commissioned officers who did not belong to the deck officer mess and the crew received free shipboard provisions, i.e. there were no deductions from pay. For provisioning the crews were divided into so‑called galley crews (each 10–14 men), who ate together at one table. The galley tables were set up for meals in the tween deck and in the battery; provisions had to be fetched in turns and the tableware cleaned. The later general of the paratroopers Bernhard Ramcke reports about the provisioning on a training ship: “… But we were always hungry. The provisions on the old sailing frigates at sea were, on the whole, still such as had long been customary as seafaring fare. Peas, beans, lentils and salted meat with peas, beans, lentils, labskaus and codfish (fried corned beef) played a major role. On Sundays there was hard bread pudding with raisins and a white sauce made from diluted canned milk for dessert. Fresh bread was only available in the home port, otherwise only hardtack and two to three times a week the gray bread baked in small loaves in the ship’s bakery”¹³.

Life on board was shaped by the particularities of seafaring life and, in more recent times, increasingly dominated by increasingly complex weapons systems. Cramped conditions, hard drill and little personal space characterized everyday life on the ships. Since the German fleet went to sea only very limitedly during the world war, long periods of waiting arose. These led to strains among people living in the closest quarters; criticism also arose about the sharply differing provisioning situations between naval officers and the other crew members. It is no coincidence that the revolution of 1918 did not come from the army but from the navy (in Kiel).