Prussian Navy

The roots of today’s Bundesmarine are stretched over centuries and a complicated local history with the German culture as only common denominator. Germany was traditionally a land power with only a few states bordering the Baltic sea harnessing trade and war from the Medieval era onwards. The Hanseatic League was probably the first global trade corporation, dominating the Baltic with major ports from actual Poland to Denmark. Hamburg was among the largest and best known. The largest and arguably most powerful Nation inside the German confederation, inheritance of the Holy Roman Empire, was Prussia. That’s why many historians links the Royal Prussian Navy at the root of the Kaiserliches Marine born from the unification in 1870. The latter was disbanded in 1918 after the fall of the regime. Reborn as the Reichsmarine in the interwar, it became the Kriegsmarine from 1933 to 1945, and then the Bundesmarine, with its east-German mirror, the Volksmarine until 1990. A complicated history and a Navy that started to be part of the big players in Europe after 1880.

Origins of the Prussian Navy

The Brandenburg Navy

The 1686 Frigate Berlin, Electorate of Brandenburg’s flagship.
Well before Prussia became the infamous “army which owns a state”, the Prussian Kingdom did not existed yet, its own Brandenburg Navy was created to defend the ports and trade from the Electorate of Brandenburg, predecessor of the Kingdom of Prussia. This navy was founded in the 16th century. From 1657 onwards, Elector Frederick William (the “Great Elector”) bolstered the naval forces into a proper blue-water navy, meaning including first rank vessels. The Elector in fact made navigation and commerce state priorities. Due to the lack of experience in naval construction and facilities, ships were purchased aboard. One of the goals was to joined the new ongoing race for overseas colonies. Brandenbur thus soon becale involved in the Atlantic slave trade making the need for a powerful navy even more pressing. He passed out however and his grandson Frederick William I showed interest in colonial affairs or maintaining a navy, switching on the Prussian Army. In 1721, Frederick I sold the Brandenburger Gold Coast to the Dutch West India Company, obtaining 7,200 ducats, ending the only colony of what was now Prussia (since 1701) andf the drea of a blue-water navy, which dwindled rapidly.

Prussian kings following Frederick I showed little interest in the navy mostly due to continental strategy and no defensible natural borders, notably against Austria or France. For Frederick II (the great/Der Grösse), Prussia had to concentrate all means in its military preparations. More so, by pulling the right strings with Denmark and the Netherlands, there was no need to be afraid of a blockade. In fact he professed the will never to develop its own war fleet, preferring asking the Danes and Dutch to secure Prussian sea trade lines. Due to the concentration of skills and assets in the army, at the time arguably the best in Europe at least in quality as demonstrated, the new kingdom could never hope to equal Britain, France, or the the Dutch Republic’s own navies and even those from Spain, Sweden, Denmark or Russia.

1848 Prussian Frigates of the Diamond class.

Prussia had at the time 13 “makeshift warships” Galleys, Galiots and Gunboats which took part in Seven Years’ War, still. Without surprise rhis small force was crused at the battle of Frisches Haff in September 1759 by the Sweded. The Swedes occupied Usedom and Wollin. In 1760 a new flotilla was reconstituted, which defended the coast until the end of the war in 1763. Postwar, Frederick II reconsidered the question and wanted to take part in international maritime commerce. Several trading firms were created like the Emden Company (“Royal Prussian Asiatic Company”) in Emden to trade with Canton and China and had four armed ships (to deal with pirates) from 1751 to 1757. The Preußische Seehandlung was created in French as the “Societé de Commerce maritime” in 1772, still a foundation today.

The Prussian Frigate SMS Karl Friedrich at Funchal, Azores, in 1848

After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Prussia created a new small fleet for coastal defense but it was an afterthough after the development of a merchant fleet. These ships were basically indiamans, heavily armed still and trained to deal with pirates, and they flew the Prussian war ensign around 1850. Prince Adalbert of Prussia woulkd soon play a pivotal role in creating the navy, which had a few 3rd rank sailing frigates built in Britain (1848 HMS Diamond design). Prince Adalbert went abroad to UK and the Netherlands, and returned convinced of supporting commercial interests and navigation with a poper blue water fleet. The Revolutionary era of 1848–1852 saw the Frankfurt National Assembly promoting the prince into creating from scratch the Imperial Fleet (Reichsflotte) notably because relations degraded fast with Denmark.

The German Confederation at the time for naval construction depended on Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Denmark and that was shown in the First War of Schleswig of 1848–1851. Great Britain and the Netherlands remained neutral, refusing to sell the Prussians any vessels while Denmark was evidently now an enemy. The Danish Navy swarved the Prussians and soon halted German maritime trade, taking control of both the North and Baltic Seas. Austria was Prussia’s ally and took time to intervene in reinforcement.
After the failure of the Revolutions of 1848, Prince Adalbert resume his work on the Prussian Navy ordered first the construction of warships and naval education/training facilities and in the 1855s, new steam-powered Prussian corvettes and frigates were now operational. Alongside the Prince were other founding figures, naval officers Karl Rudolf Brommy and Ludwig von Henk, the latter a future admiral in the Imperial German Navy. In between the war of 1866 was a serious test for the yound navy. In 1864 Prussian vessels reinforcd by the Austrian navt fought a numerically superior Danish Navy in Jasmund and Heligoland, and lost. After the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 Northern German states allied under Prussian leadership as what was the “North German Confederation” but it was difficult to ask them a contribution for the Navy.
The first naval base was established on the North Sea via the Jade Treaty (Jade-Vertrag) of 1853 with the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg to cede the Jade District and create a new port from scratch soon to be name Wilhelmshaven (lit. “William’s Harbour”) in 1869.
Then came the Franco-Prussian War where the Prussian navy was once again in stark inferiority. After its conclusion what was the Prussian Royal Navy became the Imperial Navy, nown financed by contributions from across the new German Empire. The Kaiserliches Marine now had the means of its ambitions, but that’s another story.

From the Unification to Whilhelm II

Towards the unification

The Kaiserliches Marine (Imperial Navy) was founded in 1870, right after the the Franco-Prussian war, immortalized in the Gallery of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles near Paris, France. The Deutsche Einigung (unification) was the product of Chancellor Alfred Von Bismarck, really its main artisan. The result for the unification of all former Kingdoms, part of the old “Holy Roman Empire” made of Romanized Germanic peoples in medieval times and consolidated under the Habsburg rule. Since the 15th century the Empire’s Prince-electors had chosen alternated at the head of the House of Habsburg but only the Duchy of Austria held the title of “Holy Roman Emperor”. This fragmented state was convenient for France and Sweden. At the eve of the Napoleonic Wars this was a conglomerate of some 300 political entities, a few belobging to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or Hohenzollern Kingdom of Prussia, Swiss cantons. This “Kleinstaaterei” (small-statery) was deplored by early pan-German nationalists and early attempts of unifications had to wait for the Dissolution of the Old Empire provoked by the Napoleonic wars.

German states mozaic in 1789

The Invasion of the Holy Roman Empire by the First French Empire (War of the Second Coalition) already in 1798 until 1802 caused a trauma not seen since the first under Louis XIV of France. Napoleon Bonaparte forced out by the treaty of Lunéville in 1801 and Mediatization of 1803 a greater integration by abolishing most free imperial cities to be integrated into dynastic states. Württemberg and Baden were the most favored by these acquisitions and were more lenient or even supportive of Napoleon. In 1806, the invasion of Prussia and its defeat at Jena-Auerstedt in 1806 (War of the Third Coalition) had its fate sealed by the Treaty of Pressburg which stated the formal dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and abdication of Emperor Francis II. The “Confederation of the Rhine” became instead a French client state, which authority was still divided between a hundred petty princes and counts as well as imperial knights with Several states promoted to kingdoms such as Bavaria, Saxony and Hanover. Francis II remained solely Emperor of Austria from 1804.

Still, there was a rapid rise of German nationalism under Napoleon from 1804 to 1814. The German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte stated:

The first, original, and truly natural boundaries of states are beyond doubt their internal boundaries. Those who speak the same language are joined to each other by a multitude of invisible bonds by nature herself, long before any human art begins; they understand each other and have the power of continuing to make themselves understood more and more clearly; they belong together and are by nature one and an inseparable whole.

Long story short, the defeat of Russia encouraged many Germans to envision a Central Europe free of Napoleon’s influence and many student militias were created, such as the Lützow Free Corps, forming the basis for an insurrection. Napoleon’s 1813 campaign in the German states was returned as a War of Liberation ending in the great Battle of Leipzig (Battle of Nations). It was probably the largest, bloodiest of the entire Napoleonic wars, but ended as decisive defeat for Napoleon, leading to its abdication and exile to Elba, later return for the “100 days” until the decisive defeat of Waterloo, in which the late intervention of Blücher and its battered but still eager Prussian army, turned the tides.

The German unification was a complex and transformative process which occurred over several decades, culminating in 1871 with the proclamation of the German Empire. The Napoleonic Wars profoundly affected the German states with the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and giving a sense of pan-german nationalism to former populations that shared the same culture and language.
The Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) After Napoleon’s defeat redrawn the map of Europe to restore stability and established the German Confederation made of 39 consolidated German states under the leadership of Austria as was the former Holy German Empire.
The Zollverein (Customs Union) was an Economic integration that played a crucial role in German unification. Established in 1834, it removed internal tariffs facilitated trade among member states, fostering economic cooperation and a sense of unity.
The Revolutionary Movements of 1848-1849 (spring of nations) that swept across Europe, saw the German states fueled by demands for liberal reforms, constitutional government, and national unity ultimately failing to achieve their goals but powerfully contributed to the growth of nationalist sentiment.
The Prussian Leadership became a driving force behind German unification, under the leadership of Otto von Bismarck and King Wilhelm I. Bismarck’s Realpolitik, characterized by pragmatic diplomacy and calculated use of military force, aimed to strengthen Prussia and marginalize Austria.

The Reich after the unification in 1871

The Wars of Unification or Schleswig-Holstein Question (1864) saw Prussia and Austria jointly defeating Denmark, gaining control of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, setting the stage for conflicts between Prussia and Austria and the Austro-Prussian War in 1866) or “Seven Weeks” War, saw Prussia decisively defeating Austria, which led to the dissolution of the German Confederation and exclusion of Austria from German affairs.
The Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) was the final touch to this process, with Bismarck manipulating tensions with France to provoke a war, rallying southern German states to Prussia’s side. The war culminated in the defeat of France and the proclamation of the German Empire at the Palace of Versailles in 1871, with Wilhelm I of Prussia becoming Emperor.
With the emergence of a shared German identity and the decisive input of this statesman, paved the way for German unification under Prussian hegemony. The new German Empire becale overnight a major European power and marked a significant turning point in European history, mirrored in the south by the unification if Italy prior and loss if influence of Austrian, which became the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Otto Von Bismarck was a towering figure in European politics in the 19th century. Born on April 1, 1815 into an aristocratic Prussian family he studied law and pursued a career in the Prussian civil service, initially serving as a diplomat. He entered politics in the 1840s, representing Prussia in the German Confederation. His tenure as Prime Minister of Prussia (1862-1890) was marked by his commitment to the idea of a united Germany under Prussian leadership. Through a combination of diplomacy and warfare, Bismarck orchestrated the unification of Germany under Prussian hegemony. He famously used the phrase “blood and iron” to describe his approach, indicating the importance of military force alongside diplomacy. He skillfully manipulated diplomatic tensions and engaged in wars, such as the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), to weaken Prussia’s rivals and strengthen its position. As Chancellor of the German Empire under Kaiser Wilhelm I he sought to consolidate the new empire’s power and maintain stability in Europe. He implemented a series of domestic policies known as the “Kulturkampf” to suppress the influence of the Catholic Church and the Social Democratic Party. He also pursued a complex system of alliances to isolate France and prevent the emergence of any threats to Germany’s security, culminating in the creation of the Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy.
However his authoritarian governing style and conflicts with Wilhelm II led to his resignation in 1890. He retired to private life but remained influential in German politics until his death in 1898. His legacy as the “Iron Chancellor” and the “Founder of the German Empire” endures, with his diplomatic and political strategies shaping European history for decades to come.

The unification ceremony and proclamation in Versailles by 18 January 1871.

Kaiserliches Marine 1890

The Prussian Navy in 1860

The Prussian Navy, known as the Preußische Marine or Prussian Naval Forces, was a relatively small and fledgling maritime force compared to the powerful navies of other European nations like Britain and France.

The Prussian Navy was created in 1701 from the former Brandenburg Navy after the dissolution of Brandenburg-Prussia and personal union under the House of Hohenzollern and Frederick I from Duke to King. The Prussian Navy was actiive in many wars and merchant navy in the 18th-19th centuries, but the was Kingdom’s poor child as all efforts went to the Prussian Army. The Prussian Navy was dissolved in 1867 as Prussia joined the North German Confederation, its ships absorbed into the North German Federal Navy.

The focus of Prussia’s military efforts during this period was primarily on its army, which played a central role in the wars of German unification under Otto von Bismarck’s leadership.
The Prussian Navy’s fleet consisted mainly of small warships, coastal defense vessels, and a limited number of frigates and steam-powered ships. Its primary function was to protect Prussia’s coastline and support its maritime interests in the Baltic Sea.

During this time, Prussia did not possess a significant blue-water navy capable of engaging in large-scale naval operations or power projection beyond its immediate coastal waters. Instead, the emphasis was on coastal defense, patrolling territorial waters, and protecting trade routes.
However, the 1860s marked the beginning of a period of naval expansion and modernization in Prussia, driven by the broader trend of European naval arms race and the recognition of the importance of sea power in international affairs. This laid the groundwork for the eventual development of the German Imperial Navy following the unification of Germany in 1871.
It’s important to note that while the Prussian Navy of 1860 was relatively modest, its role in safeguarding Prussia’s maritime interests and contributing to the broader military capabilities of the Prussian state cannot be overlooked, especially considering the geopolitical context of the time.

The German State and the German Navy were creations of the second half of the 19th century, In 1860 Germany was still a patchwork of independent states. Only Prussia, the most powerful of these, had a navy, and even that was being created from virtually nothing. In 1864 Prussia, allied with Hapsburg Austria, the power that still dominated Germany, defeated Denmark in Schleswig-Holstein. In this war the Prussian Navy plaved a small part in the Battle of Heligoland between Danish and Austrian steam frigates. Two years later Prussia defeated Austria at Sadowa in a ‘six weeks war’ in which her fleet was not engaged. The removal of Austrian influence left Prussia free to found the North German Federation, to which her fleet was officially transterred in 1867.

STRENGTH OF THE PRUSSIAN FLEET 1860

Steam corvettes: Arcona, Gazelle
Steam paddle frigates: Barbarossa (ex-Cunarder Britannia. Hulked “1865, torpedoed in experiments 1880); Danzig launched 185] at Danzig, burnt out 1869); Loreley (launched 1859 at Danzig, sold 1896)
Sailing frigates: Gefion (ex-Eckernforde, ex-Gefion, captured from the _Danes when she grounded in 1848, broken up 1891), Thetis. built for the Royal Navy in 1846, exchanged with another vessel for two steam gunboats at the time of the Crimean War, broken up 1895)
Sailing corvettes: Amazone (built 1843 and lost in a storm 1861)
Armed steam yacht: Grille (built in France 1857, later rebuilt, broken up 1920)
Transport: Mercur (built 1847, broken up 1861)
Schooners: Hela, frrauenlob {built 1853/5, scrapped in 1871, lost in 1860)
Steam gunboats: The first of the Jager and Chamdleon class were coming into service
Rowing and sailing gunboats: 42
Unarmed steamer: Royal Viktoria
TOTAL: Approximately 55 vessels mounting about 270 guns in all.

• Prinz Adalbert (1864)
• Arminius (1864)
• Friedrich Carl (1867)
• Kronprinz (1867)
• K.Whilhelm (1868)
• Arcona class Frigates (1858)
• Nymphe class Frigates (1863)
• Augusta class Frigates (1864)
• Jäger class gunboats (1860)
• Chamaleon class gunboats (1860)

SMS Prinz Adalbert, was an ironclad ram built in Bordeaux in 1863, purchased from a Confederate order as Sphynx (a cover egyptian vessel) until the Consul General of the Union in Paris, John Bigelow, discovered the deception and pressed the French government to pressure the yard and terminate the contract. She was resold, completed and integrated in the Prussian Navy in 1866 and then passed on to the Imperial German Navy from 1870 to 1871 when she was discarded. Named after Heinrich Wilhelm Adalbert (1811-1873), Prince and Admiral of Prussia, creator of the Navy, the ship was criticized as being poorly constructted, slow, and having an artillery too ineffective against armored ships. She was refitted twice but leaked badly, she ended her career as guard ship and was decommissioned in 1871 but only BU in 1878 in Wilhelmshaven. Starte before, she actually ended after Arminius, so the latter was rather the first capital ship of the Prussian Navy. Her sister ship ended in Japan as Kotetsu, resold by the Danes which also complained about her.

SMS Arminius, named after the ancient Suebi war leader which led a successful war against the Romans (Teutoburg Forest battle), was a second an ironclad warship of the Prussian Navy obtained in more straightforward conditions. Inlike the ram we saw, she was a turret ship designed by Captain Cowper Coles (inventor of the turret), built by the Samuda Brothers shipyard in Cubitt Town, London, as speculative effort at first. Prussia purchased her as the the Second Schleswig War against Denmark flared up. But like Prinz Adalbert she was not delivered in time. Her selling point was to have four 21 cm (8.3 in) guns, two in each revolving gun turret amidships. She had a low freeboard and was flush to allow firing these without obstruction. Arminius was used as coastal defense ship, in the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian wars, trying to break the French blockade. She was withdrawn after 1871 and used for secondary roles, notably a training ship for engine-room crews and tender for the school ship Blücher until sold in 1901, BU in 1902.

SMS Friedrich Carl  was the first sea going broadside ironclad built for the Prussian Navy, ordered to the French Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée shipyard in Toulon (FCM) on French Broadside ironclad plans. Laid down in 1866 she was launched in January 1867, commissioned in October. She had a long career from 1867 to 1895, modernized and converted as a training ship. In the Franco-Prussian War she was part of the main German squadron under Vizeadmiral Eduard von Jachmann. But she developed engine issues which plagued her and she made only two sorties from Wilhelmshaven to challenge the blockade. In 1873 she was sent to Spain to protect German nationals in the insurrection, seizing also three rebel vessels. She was refitted at Wilhelmshaven in the 1880s, renamed Neptun in 1902, became an harbor ship until June 1905 and stricken, scrapped in the Netherlands in 1906.

SMS Kronprinz was another German ironclad this time ordered to Britain, laid down in 1866 at Samuda Bros. shipyard, Cubitt Town, like Arminius. She was launched in May 1867, commissioned in September. She was classed as an armored frigate with sixteen 21 cm (8.3 in) guns but was armed further the coming years. In the Franco-Prussian War of she made two sorties due to Engine troubles and never saw combat. In the Imperial Navy she later became a training ship for boiler room personnel in 1901, sold for BU in 1921.

She was laid down in 1865 at Thames Ironworks in Blackwall/London for the Ottoman Navy originally, but as the latter defaulted for payment, she was purchased on the stocks by Prussia in 1867 and renamed King Wilhelm, launched on April 25, 1868. She became the largest (112 meters long overall for 9,750 tons), fastest (15 knots) and most powerful ironclad in the Prussian Navy, with no les than thirthy-three 72-pounder guns, later modified with eighteen Krupp 24 cm ring cannons, five 21 cm ring cannons.
On May 31, 1878 König Wilhelm collided with Grosser Kurfürst in exercises off Folkestone (English Channel) and the latter sank. She was the flagship for the flotilla when it happened, made of the Preußen and Grosser Kurfürst sailing in two parallel lines towards Plymouth. When two small boats suddenly appeared in front of them in poot weather, König Wilhelm and Grosser Kurfürst took evasive action but in different dirtections, König Wilhelm to port, Grosser Kurfürst to starboard as the officer on watch on König Wilhelm misunderstood the order. König Wilhelm rammed Grosser Kurfürst, which had all gun ports open when she rolled over, causing instant and massive flooding.
König Wilhelm was converted into an armored cruiser in 1895–1896 but in May 1904 she was decommissioned and used as floating barracks and training ship until 1921, stricke, BU after 52 years and three German states…

Panzerfregatte SMS Koenig Wilhelm after reconstruction in 1898

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Sources

commons.wikimedia.org Category:Frigates_of_Germany
Prussian_Navy
Kingdom_of_Prussia