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| Preußische Marine | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1701–1867 |
| Country |  Kingdom of Prussia |
| Type | Navy |
| Engagements | Pomeranian War, Napoleonic Wars, First Schleswig War, Second Schleswig War, Austro-Prussian War |
| Insignia | |
| Naval ensign (1816–1819) | .svg) |
| Naval ensign (1819–1850) |  |
ThePrussian Navy (German:Preußische Marine), officially theRoyal Prussian Navy (German:Königlich Preußische Marine), was thenaval force of theKingdom of Prussia from 1701 to 1867.
The Prussian Navy was created in 1701 from the formerBrandenburg Navy upon the dissolution ofBrandenburg-Prussia, thepersonal union of Brandenburg and Prussia under theHouse of Hohenzollern, after the elevation ofFrederick I fromDuke of Prussia toKing in Prussia. The Prussian Navy fought in several wars but was active mainly as amerchant navy throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, as Prussia's military consistently concentrated on thePrussian Army. The Prussian Navy was dissolved in 1867 when Prussia joined theNorth German Confederation, and its naval forces were absorbed into theNorth German Federal Navy.
TheMargraviate of Brandenburg, the predecessor of theKingdom of Prussia, possessed itsown navy, which was founded in the 16th century. From 1657 onwards, under ElectorFrederick William (the "Great Elector"), Brandenburg's naval forces were developed into ablue-water navy. The Elector designated navigation and commerce as the most significant undertakings of his state, and strove energetically to acquireoverseas colonies and become involved in theAtlantic slave trade; as such, a powerful navy was needed to defend these interests. However, his grandsonFrederick William I held little interest in colonial affairs or maintaining a powerful navy, preferring to expend state revenues on thePrussian Army. In 1721, Frederick I sold theBrandenburger Gold Coast to theDutch West India Company for 7,200ducats and 12 African slaves, marking the end for any need by Prussia for a blue-water navy; the Prussian Navy subsequently dwindled in size.[1][2]
The Prussian kings of the 18th century had little interest in maintaining their own navy. Due to the state's continental position and the lack of easily defensible natural borders, Prussia had to concentrate its military preparations on thearmy. Besides this, the kingdom was able to rely on its many friendly connections with the neighboring naval powers ofDenmark and the Netherlands.
Frederick II ("the Great") took the view that Prussia should never seek to develop its own war fleet. The kingdom could never hope to equal the great fleets ofBritain,France, theDutch Republic,Spain,Sweden,Denmark, andRussia; with their few ships, the Prussians would always remain behind those great maritime nations. He believed that naval battles would only rarely decide a conflict and preferred having the best army in Europe rather than the worst fleet among the naval powers.
Prussia nevertheless built up a small naval force of 13 makeshift warships (mixing ofGalleys,Galiots andGunboat) during theSeven Years' War. This embryonic fleet lost thebattle of Frisches Haff in September 1759 to a Swedish naval force. The Prussians lost all ships and as a consequence the Swedes occupiedUsedom andWollin. However, the ships were replaced already in 1760, and the new flotilla served until the end of the war in 1763.[3]
Even so, the Prussian monarch wanted to take part in international maritime commerce and therefore founded several trading firms (with varying success). TheEmden Company (officially, Royal Prussian Asiatic Company in Emden to Canton and China) operated four ships from 1751 to 1757. TheSocieté de Commerce maritime, founded in 1772, exists today as a foundation named thePreußische Seehandlung (roughly translated asPrussian Maritime Enterprise).
After the end of theNapoleonic Wars, Prussia slowly began to build its own small fleet for coastal defense. Again, more value was placed on the development of amerchant navy than on an actual navy. In this connection, the Prussian Maritime Enterprise played a significant role. Its ships were armed to protect againstpirates and flew the Prussian warensign. This protective fleet existed until around 1850.
One of the first to work for the development of a Prussian Navy was PrinceAdalbert of Prussia. He had made a number of journeys abroad and recognized the value of a fleet to support commercial interests and to protect one's own navigation. During theRevolutionary era of 1848–1852, at the behest of theFrankfurt National Assembly, the prince was given the responsibility of reestablishing an Imperial Fleet (Reichsflotte) -- a mission which the revolutionary parliament had undertaken in the face of the war with Denmark.
TheGerman Confederation possessed practically no fleet of its own, but relied upon the allied powers of Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Denmark. During theFirst War of Schleswig of 1848–1851, the failure of this strategy became clear because Great Britain and the Netherlands remained neutral and Denmark became the enemy. Within a few days, theDanish Navy halted all German maritime trade in the North and Baltic Seas. The navy ofAustria, Prussia's ally, lay in theMediterranean and was able to intervene only later in the war.
After the failure of the Revolutions of 1848, Adalbert was able to resume his plans for the establishment of a Prussian Navy. He began with the construction of warships and naval education and training. From the middle of the 1850s, one could find Prussiancorvettes andfrigates upon all the world's seas.
Besides Prince Adalbert, other important figures of this early period were Prussian naval officersKarl Rudolf Brommy andLudwig von Henk, who eventually became an admiral in the Imperial German Navy.
For centuries, Brandenburg and Prussia had only access to theBaltic Sea coast. Since the 1850s, the first naval base was established on theNorth Sea. In theJade Treaty (Jade-Vertrag) of 1853, theGrand Duchy of Oldenburg ceded to Prussia the so-called Jade District. Here, in the following years, arose the great naval port which received the nameWilhelmshaven after lengthy construction work, in 1869. By that time, a separate Prussian Navy had already ceased to exist as it evolved into theNorth German Federal Navy.
In the 1864Second Schleswig War, Prussian seamen, with some help from Austria, fought numerically superiorDanish Navy again inJasmund andHeligoland, but without much naval success - unlike the Prussian army that gained control over Schleswig-Holstein and its ports.
After theAustro-Prussian War of 1866, the North German states had allied under Prussian leadership as theNorth German Confederation. Out of the Prussian Navy grew theNorth German Federal Navy, which after theFranco-Prussian War changed its name again to become theImperial Navy of the new German Empire.
Even though Prussia consistently understood itself as a continental land power, its rise and fall were closely bound up with the destiny of the Brandenburger-Prussian-German naval forces. It was the ambitious appearance of the Great Elector who prepared Brandenburg's elevation as the Kingdom of Prussia. At that time, sea power and colonies were among the essential attributes of a European power; such attributes also obviously belonged to smaller and middling powers such as Denmark and the Netherlands.
For 150 years Prussia — unlike all other European powers — declined to develop its own navy. Not until the 1848-1852 war against Denmark did Prussia recognize the necessity of having at least a minimal naval force to protect maritime interests. But after only 15 years, Prussia handed over its young naval forces to the rising centralized German state, an act which would have been unthinkable for the Prussian Army. The Navy was handed over first to the North German Confederation and in 1871, as theImperial Navy, to the new German Empire.
The naval preference of the last Prussian king, German EmperorWilhelm II, prepared the end of the Prussian monarchy. The German naval buildup of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was one of the causes ofWorld War I; and it was the mutinying sailors of theHigh Seas Fleet who forced the abdication of the Emperor during theGerman Revolution of 1918–1919. The Navy continued as theReichsmarine (Reich Navy) and later theKriegsmarine (War Navy), until at the end ofWorld War II, it faced its own end.
