Ulrik Christian Kaas was born 21 April 1729 in Copenhagen, died 22 March 1808, also in Copenhagen. He was the son of Ulrich Kaas On 6 October 1766 at Ormslev,[1] near Aarhus, he married Frederikke Amalie Charisius, daughter of Councillor (konferensråd) Constantin August Charisius and whose sister Frederikke Amalie Charisius had married Ulrik Kaas' older brother, Frederik Christian Kaas in 1765.[2][3] In 1780 he was appointed chamberlain at the court and from 1781 to 1783[1][2][4][Note 2] he was Adjutant General to the monarch . In 1801 he was awarded the Order of the Dannebrog[2]
Career
Ulrik Christian Kaas was enrolled as a cadet in 1742 age 13 years (the normal age for enrollment ). In 1746 he sailed with ship-of-the-line Sydermanland in the squadron commanded by Ulrik Adolph Danneskiold-Samsøe:da: to Algiers.
Commissioned as Junior Lieutenant in 1749, Kaas was again in North Africa from 1751 to 1753 - this time with the frigate Docquen, principally in Morocco. On 3 June 1753 he happened to be visiting the frigate Falster in the harbour of Safi when that ship caught fire. He stayed on board to help fight the fire, and managed to get a sail set, but the ship exploded with the loss of many of her crew (see List of shipwrecks in 1753 ) and Kaas was only rescued by cadet Hans Schiønnebøl at the last minute.[2][5] 31 March 1755 brought promotion to Senior Lieutenant and orders to the frigate Christiansborg on a voyage to the West Indies, returning in 1756.[1] In December 1758 Kaas was further promoted to Lieutenant Captain and served on the ship-of-the-line Fyen on convoy duties to and from the Mediterranean.[2]
The Old Dry Dock
From April 1760 he was appointed interim supply officer for the dry dock at Christianshavn,[6] Copenhagen,[2] a position which may have continued even while he served in ships in home waters until 1765. In 1761 became second-in-command of the ship-of-the-line St Croix in the home squadron. In 1762 he captained the small sailing ship (hukkerten) Amager while she was acting as the watch ship in the Great Belt, and in 1763 was in command of the frigate Docquen on similar duties in Øresund.[2] His promotion to full captain followed in August 1763 and two years in command of the cadet training ship Hvide Ørn.[2]
From 3 September 1766 Ulrik Kaas was given leave of absence for a period which extended to five months for him to travel to Jutland, where he was to be married.[2]
Promotion to commander came in March 1770 and with it the ship-of-the-line Mars which took part in the poorly planned expedition to Algiers.[2][Note 3] In escorting a convoy of Danish merchant ships from Port Mahon, the convoy called at Gibraltar to replenish water supplies and during the time in port a duel was fought between two officers of the Oldenborg regiment who were taking passage on his ship from Port Mahon. The survivor, one Captain Bezancene, fled over the border to Spain.[2] Reports by Ulrik Kaas to Denmark on the poor condition of the ship received the response that he should forthwith return to the Mediterranean and inform his senior officer, Rear Admiral Frederik Christian Kaas. Mars, in company with Havfruen, was ordered back to Denmark in January 1772 but overwintered at Lisbon, eventually arriving in Danish waters at the end of May 1772. 1773 saw Kaas captaining the ship-of-the-line Ebenezer to the Baltic as part of the Danish home squadron. In 1776 he was an observer at the sea trials of the two frigates Kiel and Perlen
When on 11 May 1778 Commander Gerhard Christopher von Walterstorff took over as head of the naval base at Holmen head, Kaas became the Quartermaster General (ekvipagemester) at Nyholm in his place and at the same time admitted to membership of the Construction Committee.
Holsteen escorting a convoy of three Chinamen and two East Indiamen back from the Cape of Good Hope.
In 1779 and 1780 Kaas captained Holsten to the Cape of Good Hope to escort in convoy a number of homeward bound East India and Chinese trading ships, as well as carrying reinforcements for the Danish colonies in Guinea which had come into conflict with the Dutch.[7] He reported from Lisbon on the outward voyage of severe storm damage and the loss of both fore mast and main mast.[2] As the voyage continued 84 crew members were lost to scurvy and dysentery, which led (on his return to Denmark) to an investigation of Ulrik Kaas' management of the ship. Although Kaas was found blameless of mismanagement, the rations and treatment of the crews in the Royal Danish Navy improved noticeably.[1][7] In the return from Cape Town, his crew's health restored, he convoyed a total of five merchant ships.[1]
On the last day of 1781 Kaas was promoted to Commodore with some further commands at sea. In the short "Cranberry War" of 1788 -1789 with Sweden Kaas took command of the sea defences of the naval base at Copenhagen but left after a short period to his final posting as head of the Customs Service.[1] Whilst in post at the Customs Service he achieved flag rank with promotion to Rear Admiral in 1790, Vice Admiral in 1797 and full Admiral in 1804.[2]
Death
Ulrik Christian Kaas was still head of the Customs Service at the time of his death - 22 March 1808. He is buried in the chapel of the naval church in Copenhagen, Holmens Kirke.[2]
Notes
↑ Confusion appears to reign concerning portraits of the various Admirals Kaas. An unreferenced comment from Danish Wikipedia da:Ulrik Christian Kaas records that a portrait of Ulrik Christian is really one of his brother Frederik Christian (1727). A similar comment appears in the reference Rosenkamp below
↑ The reference "Projekt Runeberg" differs from the other references by two years in the year of his marriage, and by ten years in the year he was appointed Adjutant General
↑ The expedition was commanded by one Rear Admiral Frederik Christian Kaas, but this was not Ulrik's brother of the same name. See hatnote above!
Related Research Articles
Frederik Christian Kaas was a Danish naval officer and landowner. He served as the governor of the Royal Danish Naval Academy from 1770 to 1781.
Lorentz Fisker (1753–1819) was a Danish naval officer who charted the waters of southern Norway and the Kattegat, and organised Norwegian defences against Britain and Sweden.
HDMS Elephanten was a ship of the line of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy that served from 1703 to 1728. There were three other Danish ships-of-the line of the same name, dating from 1684, 1741 and 1773. The ship was sometimes referred to as Nye Elefant to differentiate from others of similar name. For much of her service career, which coincided with the Great Northern War, Elephanten was the flagship of the Danish fleet active in the Baltic Sea.
Christian Wulff was a Danish naval officer. He commanded HDMS Bellona on her expedition to South America in 1840–41.
Andreas Lous was a Danish naval officer responsible for early navigational charts of Danish Waters and the dredging of harbours, in addition to sea-time on various Danish warships. He was captain of the ship-of-the-line HDMS Printz Friderich when she ran aground in 1780 near Læsø and was a total loss.
Henrik Lorentz Fisker was a successful naval officer in the service of Denmark. He was the son of an attorney at the supreme court, and deputy mayor of Copenhagen. From the age of thirteen as a cadet in the Danish-Norwegian navy, he rose through the ranks to vice admiral in 1775 and full admiral in 1790. He died 20 June 1797 and was buried in the Holmens Kirkegård, the Danish naval cemetery, in Copenhagen.
Ernst Wilhelm Stibolt was a Danish naval officer and ship builder, who served in the French navy for four years. and became a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.
HDMS Hvide Ørn , was a light frigate designed by Frantz Hohlenberg and built in Copenhagen. She capsized and was lost with all hands off Corsica at the end of 1799. There were three previous ships bearing this name in the Danish navy. The name was after the loss of the ship retired. An 1898 model of the ship is in the collection of the Royal Danish Naval Museum.
Frederik Michael Krabbe (1725–1796) was a Danish naval officer and master shipbuilder (fabrikmester)
HDMS Ørnen (1694) was a frigate in the Royal Danish Navy active during the Great Northern War
Daniel Ernst Bille was a naval officer and rear admiral in the service of the Danish crown.
Bendix Lasson Bille was a naval officer and rear admiral in the service of the Danish crown.
Frederik Christian Kaas (1725–1803) was a naval officer and admiral in the service of the Danish-Norwegian Crown.
Olfert Fasvier Fischer was a naval officer in the service of the Danish crown who became a director of the Danish Asia Company and completed his career as a vice admiral.
Ulrich Jørgensen Kaas was a member of the old noble family of Mur Kaas, and an officer in the Dano-Norwegian navy. He rose to the rank of rear admiral in the Great Northern War and later to full admiral in 1732. Following a power struggle within the Danish admiralty, he left the naval service for a senior post in Bergen.
Broder Knud Brodersen Wigelsen was an officer in the Royal Danish-Norwegian navy at the time of the gunboat war with Britain. After the war he served in various capacities, principally in the Danish customs service.
Poul de Løvenørn (1751–1826) was a Danish naval officer and cartographer, scientist, administrator and diplomat.
HDMS Justitia was a ship-of-the-line designed by Ole Judichaer built at Nyholm, Copenhagen for the Royal Danish-Norwegian Navy.
Edouard Suenson (1805-1887) was a Danish vice admiral known for his participation in the First and Second Schleswig War, and served as the main Danish commander at the Battle of Heligoland in the latter.
T. A. Topsøe-Jensen og Emil Marquard (1935) “Officerer i den dansk-norske Søetat 1660-1814 og den danske Søetat 1814-1932“. Two volumes. Download here.
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.
Denmark–Norway (1742-1808)
Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy 
