The Generalinspekteur der Marine (Inspector-General of the Navy) was a position in the government of the German Empire. It was founded in 1871 as the command authority of the German Imperial Admiralty and lasted intermittently to 1919.
The first Inspector General was Admiral Prinz Adalbert of Prussia, who had held this position in the predecessor Prussian Navy and the Navy of the North German Confederation. He served under the emperor’s direct command, controlling inspections throughout the navy to maintain regulations for the highest efficiency. When Adalbert died on 6 June 1873, the position was left vacant.
Only in March 1899, when Wilhelm II took over as the supreme commander of the Navy through the Admiralstab (Admiralty Staff) was the Inspector General reactivated. Admiral Hans von Koester held the office from 14 March 1899 until 29 December 1906, when the office was again left vacant.
Flag of the Generalinspekteur used shortly in 1900
Flag of the Generalinspekteur used 1900-1918
Sources
Die organisatorische Entwicklung der Marine nebst Stellenbesetzung 1848 bis 1945 / Hans H. Hildebrand. - Osnabrück: Biblio-Verl.; (Formationsgeschichte und Stellenbesetzung der deutschen Streitkräfte 1815 - 1990; Teil II, Band.1, S.74
Related Research Articles
The Reichsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany. It was the naval branch of the Reichswehr, existing from 1919 to 1935. In 1935, it became known as the Kriegsmarine, a branch of the Wehrmacht; a change implemented by Adolf Hitler. Many of the administrative and organizational tenets of the Reichsmarine were then carried over into the organization of the Kriegsmarine.
Hans Zenker was a German admiral.
Prince Henry of Prussia was a younger brother of German Emperor Wilhelm II and a Prince of Prussia. Through his mother, he was also a grandson of Queen Victoria. A career naval officer, he held various commands in the Imperial German Navy and eventually rose to the rank of Grand Admiral and Generalinspekteur der Marine.
Hans Ludwig Raimund von Koester was a German naval officer who served in the Prussian Navy and later in the Imperial German Navy. He retired as a Grand Admiral.
Hermann Bauer was a German naval officer who served as commander of the U-boat forces of the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I. In addition to his World War I career, Bauer is well known as the author of the book Das Unterseeboot, a treatise on the design and operation of U-boats, which was later translated into English by Hyman G. Rickover. Rickover's translation became a basic text for the US submarine service.
The Seekriegsleitung or SKL was a higher command staff section of the Kaiserliche Marine and the Kriegsmarine of Germany during the World Wars.
The Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, is the highest-ranking military position held by a commissioned officer on active duty in the Bundeswehr, the present-day armed forces of Germany.
SMS Prinz Adalbert was an ironclad warship of the Prussian Navy and later the Imperial fleet. She was built in Bordeaux, France in 1864 for the Confederate States Navy. Prussia bought her during the Second Schleswig War against Denmark, but she was not delivered until after the war. She was designed as an armored ram but also carried three guns: one 21 cm (8.3 in) and two 17 cm (6.7 in) pieces in armored turrets. She was named after Prince Adalbert of Prussia, an early proponent of Prussian naval power.
SMS Prinz Adalbert was an armored cruiser built in the early 1900s for the Imperial German Navy. She was named after Prince Adalbert of Prussia, former Commander-in-Chief of the Prussian Navy, and was the lead ship of her class.
Alfred Saalwächter was a high-ranking German U-boat commander during World War I and General Admiral during World War II.
The Prussian Ministry of the Navy (Marineministerium) grew out of that established by the Frankfurt National Assembly (1848–1849) for its ‘Imperial Fleet' Reichsflotte. From 1866 it served additionally as the Navy Department of the North German Confederation.
The German Imperial Naval High Command was an office of the German Empire which existed from 1 April 1889 until 14 March 1899 to command the German Imperial Navy. A similarly named office existed in the Prussian Navy and the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany.
The German Imperial Admiralty Staff was one of four command agencies for the administration of the Imperial German Navy from 1899 to 1918. While the German Emperor Wilhelm II as commander-in-chief exercised supreme operational command and control of the naval forces, the military staff was split into the Admiralty, the Naval Office, the Naval Cabinet, and the Inspector-General. The command structure had a negative impact on German naval warfare in World War I, as a professional head of the Imperial Navy, similar to the First Sea Lord, was not established until August 1918. After the war and the German Revolution of 1918–19, the Admiralty Staff became subordinate to the Naval Office and was finally disestablished by order of the German President.
Otto Schultze was a Generaladmiral with the Kriegsmarine during World War II and a recipient of the Pour le Mérite during World War I. The Pour le Mérite was the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order for German soldiers until the end of World War I. As a U-boat commander during World War I, he was credited with the sinking of 53 merchant ships for a total of 132,567 gross register tons, and HMS Falmouth of 5,275 long tons (5,360 t) displacement.
Friedrich Lützow was a German naval officer who served in the Kaiserliche Marine, the Reichsmarine and the Kriegsmarine, eventually reaching the rank of Vizeadmiral during World War II. He was also a writer on naval warfare.
Alfred Meyer-Waldeck, born Alfred Meyer, was a vice admiral in the Imperial German Navy. He was the final governor of the Kiautschou Bay Leased Territory from 1911 to 1914 and was most notable as the German naval commander in the Siege of Tsingtao during World War I.
The Commander of Ships of the Line was a naval command of the Reichsmarine, as well as briefly the Kriegsmarine, from 1930 through 1936. The commander of liners was an administrative posting assigned to oversee the development and deployment of German capital ships, but did not operationally control the ships once at sea.
Guido von Usedom was a German admiral that served in the Boxer Rebellion and World War I. His most notable service was in the Dardanelles Campaign.
This is the order of battle of the Imperial German Navy on the outbreak of World War I in August 1914.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
