Maksimilijan Njegovan | |
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| Born | (1858-10-30)30 October 1858 |
| Died | 1 July 1930(1930-07-01) (aged 71) Zagreb, CroatiaKingdom of Yugoslavia |
| Allegiance |  Austria-Hungary |
| Branch |  Austro-Hungarian Navy |
| Service years | 1877–1918 |
| Rank | Grand Admiral (on the retired list) |
| Commands | Chef der Marinesektion (Commander of Navy) (April 1917) Flottenkommandant (Fleet Commander) (1917) Commander of the 1stDiv of the 1st Battle Sqdr and battleshipTegetthoff (1914) Chief of staff of Navy Commander (1907-1909) Commander of the battleshipBudapest (1905-1907) |
| Conflicts | First World War |
| Awards | Order of the Iron Crown (1917) Order of Leopold (Austria) (1914) |
Maksimilijan Njegovan (31 October 1858 – 1 July 1930) was anAustro-Hungarianadmiral ofCroatian descent. He was the Navy's senior administrator as well as its fleet commander inWorld War I, from 1917 to 1918. He "inherited a competent but exhausted service."[1]
Njegovan was born in 1858 in Agram (nowZagreb). Upon graduation from theImperial and Royal Naval Academy in Fiume (nowRijeka), he joined the fleet in Pola (Pula) in 1877 as aSeekadett. In 1893, after receiving a short instructional course as torpedo officer ofAlpha, he received his first command, the torpedo boatCondor.
At the Naval Academy, he was an instructor in seamanship from 1898 to 1905. Njegovan then held command of the battleshipBudapest until 1907. He served from 1907 to 1909 as chief of staff to theMarinekommandant (Navy Commander),Rudolf Montecuccoli, and as adjutant and chief of operations of theMarinesektion (Naval Section of the War Ministry), of which Montecuccoli wasChef (Chief).
He was promoted toKonteradmiral in 1911 andVizeadmiral in 1913.[2] In the spring of the same year he commanded naval units at the internationalBlockade of Montenegro.[3][4] At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 he was named commander of the 1st Division of the 1st Battle Squadron, hoisting his flag in the dreadnought battleshipTegetthoff.[5] Njegovan was decorated with the Order of Leopold for his bombardment ofAncona the nightItaly declared war on the empire, 23/24 May 1915.
In February 1917 he succeeded the lateGrossadmiralAnton Haus asMarinekommandantand asFlottenkommandant (Fleet Commander). Promoted to fullAdmiral, he was appointed to the additional post ofChef der Marinesektion in April 1917, succeeding the lateKarl Kailer von Kaltenfels. Njegovan was the last man to hold all three posts. He received the Grand Cross of theOrder of the Iron Crown for the battle of theOtranto Straits, 14/15 May 1917.
Njegovan continued Haus' strategy of preserving his major forces as a 'fleet in being'. However, he was unable to ease ethnic tensions on individual warships, where sailors were also influenced by radical agitators. Another pressing problem for which Njegovan could find no solution involved shortages of food, fuel, and other vital supplies.[2] In the face of such difficulties, in 1917, KaiserWilhelm II of Germany and KaiserKarl I of Austria proposed an unrealistic plan for an invasion ofVenice using the whole fleet. Njegovan steadfastly opposed the proposal, which eventually was dropped.
The abortive nationalist-inspired mutiny at Cattaro (Kotor) in February 1918 underscored the need for a more energetic fleet commander.[6] Relieved of command, Njegovan was succeeded asFlottenkommandant byMiklós Horthy and asChef der Marinesektion by Franz von Holub.[7] The office ofMarinekommandant was left vacant.
Retired on 1 March 1918, Njegovan spent the rest of the war in Pola. Pensioned and promoted toGrossadmiral on the retired list, he was decorated with the Grand Cross of theOrder of Leopold for his services to the Empire.
After the war, Njegovan lived for a time in Venice. His homeland ofCroatia had become part of the new country of theKingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, and in 1930 he died in his hometown ofZagreb at the age of 71. He is buried inMirogoj cemetery.
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| Preceded by | Commander-in-Chief of the Austro-Hungarian Naval Fleet 1917 - 1918 | Succeeded by |
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