Eduard von Knorr

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Eduard von Knorr
Admiral Eduard von Knorr.jpg
Admiral von Knorr
Birth date 8 March 1840
Place of birth Saarlouis, Rhenish Prussia, German Confederation
Death date 17 February 1920 (aged 79)
Place of death Berlin, German Reich
Allegiance  Prussia
Wappen des Deutschen Bundes.jpg German Confederation
Coat of arms of North German Confederation.png North German Confederation
 German Empire
Service/branch Prussian war ensign after 1850.png Royal Prussian Navy
Kriegsflagge der Norddeutschen Bundesmarine (1867–1871).png Norddeutsche Bundesmarine
 Kaiserliche Marine
Years of service 1854–1899/1918
Rank Admiral
Commands held Commanding Admiral of the German Imperial Navy (1895–1899)
Battles/wars Franco-German War
Awards Iron Cross (1870)
Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle with Collar
Knight of the Order of the Red Eagle (Grand Cross)
Relations ∞ 1872 Luise Viktoria Friederike Zirzow

Ernst Hugo Eduard Wilhelm Heinrich Knorr, since 1896 von Knorr (8 March 1840 – 17 February 1920), was a German naval officer of the Royal Prussian Navy (German: Königlich Preußische Marine), the North German Federal Navy (German: Marine des Norddeutschen Bundes) and the Kaiserliche Marine, finally a highly decorated Admiral and Commanding Admiral of the German Imperial Naval High Command. He retired on 7 March 1899, but remained, as a special honour by Kaiser Wilhelm II, zur Disposition and à la suite of the Seeoffizerkorps until the end of WWI, but was never activated for service again.

Life

Battle of Havana (1870)
Kapitän zur See Knorr in 1880
Vize-Admiral Knorr in 1891
Letter (1911)

Knorr entered the Prussian Navy (Königlich Preußische Marine) on 24 June 1854 as a 14-year-old Kadett. While serving on the paddle corvette SMS "Danzig", he fought against pirates off the coast of Morocco in 1856 and was, just like Adalbert Prinz von Preußen (1811–1873) and 20 others, wounded during the Battle of Tres Forcas against thousands of Berber Riffians on 7 August 1856. Seven German men fell (). Despite being a tactical failure, the landing and the courage of Prince Adalbert (de) and his sailors were praised for decades to come.

In 1857/58, he served on the SMS "Thetis". In 1859, Knorr became an officer and served on the SMS "Elbe" during an expedition to the Far East. Upon his return, he served on the SMS "Arcona" and was later commanded to the Marine-Depot in Stralsund. From March to September 1864, he commanded the Dampfkanonenboot II. Klasse SMS "Natter" during the Prusso-Danish War as part of the II. Flottillen-Division.

Franco-Prussian War

On 9 November 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, Knorr commanded the gunboat SMS "Meteor" (43.28 m long, 6.96 m wide; 6.5/9.3 knots; 422 tons, three guns, 62/64 man crew) in a battle with the larger and faster French aviso "Bouvet" (55.75 m long, 8.5 m wide; 13 knots; 760 tons, five mounted broadside cannons, four swivel guns, 85 man crew) near Havana.

The Battle of Havana on 9 November 1870 was an indecisive single ship action between the German gunboat Meteor and the French aviso Bouvet off the coast of Havana, Cuba during the Franco-Prussian War. The battle was the only naval engagement of the war, and showed the inability of either navy to gain a decisive advantage over the other. During the war, most of the French fleet blockaded the German fleet in their harbours, although a few German ships managed to slip out and evade the French, proceeding to engage in commerce raiding against the French merchant marine or harass the French in other ways. The Meteor was one such ship who managed to elude the French blockade, sailing from Nassau to Havana. A French aviso, the Bouvet, noticed her and sailed outside the harbour of Havana. Havana was at the time ruled by Spain, a neutral country in the conflict, and the captain of the Bouvet issued a challenge, which the German captain accepted. The Meteor sailed out of the harbour on the ninth of November, and proceeded to engage the Bouvet. Despite both sides pouring fierce fire, neither side could inflict significant damage on the other ship, and after a German cannon shot temporarily disabled the engine of the Bouvet, the French were compelled to retire, safely withdrawing to neutral waters. Both captains were subsequently promoted for their bravery in the battle.

At 8 a.m. on 7 November 1870, "Meteor", under Kapitänleutnant Eduard von Knorr, arrived in the harbour of Havana after leaving Nassau some days before. Cuba was then a Spanish colony, with Spain being a neutral power during the Franco-Prussian war. An hour later the French aviso "Bouvet", under Commander (German: Fregattenkapitän) Alexandre Franquet (1828–1907) arrived from Martinique, steaming in from the opposite direction. The next day the French mail steamer SS "Nouveau Monde" left the harbour for Veracruz but was forced to return a few hours later due to fears that she would be captured by the Prussian gunboat. Franquet issued a formal challenge to von Knorr, who accepted it. "Bouvet" steamed out of the harbour to wait for "Meteor" to meet her. "Meteor" had to wait twenty-four hours before she could meet the French vessel due to neutrality laws governing warfare at the time.[1] She was under escort from the Spanish warships "Hernán Cortés", with governor-general Antonio Caballero y Fernández de Rodas (1816-1876), two Spanisch rear admirals an their staff officers, and "Centinela", tasked with making certain the battle would take place 10 miles (16 km) off Cuba, outside territorial water, and thus ensure that the battle would not violate Spanish neutrality. On board the Spanish ships were many observers, but also doctors of the fleet.

At 14:30, the action started with the "Bouvet" firing the first shots from four thousand metres, starting an artillery duel that failed to score any significant hit on either side for two hours. Around 16:30, "Bouvet" increased her speed to ten or eleven knots[8] and turned towards the Meteor, in an attempt to ram her. The ships collided under a steep angle; although the hull of the Meteor managed to resist the ramming attempt, the shock of the impact collapsed her rigging, sending sails and debris on her deck and, most significantly, wrapping lines around her propeller. German sailors attempted to use the opportunity to try and board the "Bouvet", but the French sailors repelled them with rifle fire as well as French hand grenades and the "Bouvet" quickly retreated to a safer distance. As the "Bouvet" was preparing to ram the immobilised "Meteor" again, a German shell struck her exposed boiler, allowing her steam to leak on deck and rendering her dead in the water as well. In all the chaos, Knorr had stayed calm and directed the gunfire. The "Bouvet" then unleashed her sails and fled from the battle, as German sailors attempted to free their propeller and give chase. As "Bouvet" reached Cuban territorial waters, the Spanish intervened to stop the battle, with the Spanish corvette "Hernán Cortés" firing a warning shot at the "Meteor" to signal to her that the engagement was over. Both the "Bouvet" and "Meteor" then sailed back to Havana. 80.000 men, women and children waited in the harbour and especially cheered the courageous "Meteor".

Knorr lost two men: Helmsman Carbonnier, standing right beside Knorr, was shot three times in the chest. Sailor (Matrose II. Klasse) Thomsen's head was almost ripped off through shrapnel. A third sailor, von Schramm, was severely wounded. A boot from "Hernán Cortés" was sent directly to the "Meteor" with medical help. The French had 10 wounded, many severely.[2] Knorr and two of his officers (among them the later admiral Felix Eduard Robert Emil von Bendemann) and a seaman were awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class while on the opposite the French ship's commander, Frigate Captain Franquet, was promoted to captain at sea (ship-of-the-line captain). Under diplomatic pressure from France, the Spanish shipyard in Havana delayed completing the repairs to Meteor until the war ended on 10 May 1871. Three days later, the ship departed for Germany; she sailed up the eastern coast of the United States and Canada before crossing the Atlantic. The "Meteor" reached Plymouth on 13 June 1871 and arrived in Kiel on 25 June 1871, celebrated fanatically in the new German Empire. There, she was decommissioned on 20 July 1871.

Further duties and Africa

Korvettenkapitän Knorr was until 1874 Direktor des hydrographischen Amtes im Marineministerium. Knorr then commanded the SMS "Hertha" (1864). The ship was part of the East Asia Squadron (Ostasiatisches Kreuzergeschwader) from March 1874 to June 1876. In the years from 1874 to 1877 the corvette S.M.S. "Hertha" on a long trip to East Asia and the South Pacific. On a voyage through the Pacific that he began in 1874, he concluded a friendship and trade treaty with Tonga on behalf of the German Empire. At the end of 1884, Knorr, as head of the Westafrikanisches Geschwader (Flagship: Kreuzerfregatte SMS "Bismarck", other ships were the "Ariadne", "Gneisenau", "Olga" and "Adler"), suppressed the "negro insurrection" (Neger-Aufstand) in Kamerun (between the Niger Delta and Gabon), intervening in disputes between rival tribes in Douala. He thus enforced the recognition of the German protectorate of the Cameroon Estuary and temporarily managed the administrative business for the German colony until the arrival of the first governor, Julius Freiherr von Soden. He was awarded the Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd Class (neck order) with Oak Leaves and Swords for this success in 1885. He then commanded a cruiser squadron travelling to Zanzibar and negotiated with its sultan for the acquisition of a strip of German colonial territory and the recognition of German patronage on the East African mainland.

In the beginning of 1884 more and more complains came up regarding black tribe members attacking the German population. The chiefs were bribed by the other colonial forces, seeing their power decreasing, to break the old contracts with Germany. Therefore the "Reichsregierung" German senate took the colony Kamerun under the protection of the German Reich. Issued on September 27, 1884, the so called "Westafrikanische Geschwader" (West African Squadron) was formed and set under power of Eduard Knorr. The order Eduard von Knorr received from the Kaiser enables him to use military force: "......should there be a violation of German rights of persons implemented by tribes in Kamerun or Kamerun coastal areas, you have to solve these problems. If this isn't possible on a peaceful way, you have to use military force." On the other hand the Kaiser was aware of the problems that could result using military forces in an area of common interest of the other colonial countries: ".......always try to not get into conflicts with ships of the other European Nations. If you get involved, try to get out if in a peaceful and passive way." The ships left Wilhelmshaven Germany October 30, 1884. The squadron was set together of Kreuzerfregatten BISMARCK, Knorrs Flaggschiff, and GNEISENAU, as well as Kreuzerkorvetten OLGA and ARIADNE. In Porto Grande on the "kapverdischen" islands the GNEISENAU and ARIADNE was redirected to fulfill different orders. BISMARCK and OLGA reached the African coast the beginning of December and stopped December 17 in the delta of the Kamerun river. December 20 the landing corps was shipped to the land, while OLGA went up the river to take some tribe villages under artillery fire. The corps, 18 officers, 2 medical doctors and 287 soldiers, were able to beat the revolting tribe members and pushed them back into the forests. The following night, December 21, most of the revolting leaders were arrested. The Germans had one total los of men and 8 wounded. Admiral Knorr implemented a barricade on the coastal line. The piece was brought back and the German settlers were protected. While Admiral Knorr was send of for other challenges in the Pacific Ocean, the OLGA went back into Kiel, Germany, May 25, 1885. The Kaiser was so impressed with their military work, that he ordered one NCO (Obermaat) and 8 soldiers to Berlin to honor them on June 1885 in front of the Berlin's chateau. They were the first members of the Imperial German Navy that experienced this honor.[3]

On 28 April 1888, Sultan Khalifah bin Said finally signed a treaty, ceding the administration of the Tanganyika mainland to the German East Africa Company. This led to the "slave trader revolt" (German: Sklavenhändlerrevolte) along the coast of what is now Tanzania in 1888, the Arab elite feared for their slave and ivory trade, the Germans promised to abolish slavery.

Last years

After his time as Kommandat of the SMS "Hertha", he was Ober-Werft-Direktor in Wilhelmshaven from 1878 until 16 April 1881, when he became Chief of Staff of the Admiralty. In 1886, Knorr intervened as chief of the Permanent Cruiser Squadron (Permanentes Kreuzergeschwader) in Samoa. After his return, he became Inspekteur der 1. Marineinspektion in Kiel. In 1889, he was appointed vice admiral and chief of the naval station of the Baltic Sea (Chef der Marinestation der Ostsee), on 31 May 1893 admiral and in 1895 commanding admiral (Kommandierender Admiral) of the Imperial Navy. In this capacity he was on 31 May 1895 with others in Lübeck for the laying of the foundation stone of the Elbe-Trave Canal.

On 18 January 1896, Kaiser Wilhelm II elevated Knorr to the hereditary Prussian nobility.During the obligatory autumn maneuvers of the Imperial Navy, Eduard von Knorr was appointed commander of the participating fleet units. At the beginning of 1896, he had a conversation with the Reichskanzler Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, which dealt, among other things, with the need to inform the Admiralty staff in the event of war. In May of the same year, in a personal letter to the Reich Chancellor, von Knorr reaffirmed his view that precautions had to be taken in peacetime by organizing a secret naval intelligence service via the attachés deployed at the German legations. Three years later, on 7 March 1899, he was made available (de facto retired) and at the same time assigned à la suite to the naval officer corps.

In 1904, Knorr began writing his memoirs. In doing so, he used materials that had been made available to him by the Secret Admiralty Councilor Paul Koch, who worked in the Reichsmarineamt and regularly published articles on German naval history in the semi-official Marine-Rundschau. However, von Knorr's memoirs, which cover the period from around 1856 to around 1895, have not yet been published. They are now in the Federal Archives-Military Archives in Freiburg im Breisgau as estate (N) 578. Von Knorr was chairman of the Anti-Ultramontane Reich Association (Antiultramontaner Reichsverband) founded in November 1906.

Death

Eduard von Knorr contracted pneumonia after a hunt in 1920 and died shortly thereafter. His grave in the Columbiadamm Cemetery in Berlin's Hasenheide survived WWII and can still be visited today.

Family

Eduard was the fith child and only son of Prussian colonel (Oberst) Ernst Wilhelm Knorr (24 June 1796 – 21 June 1861) from Norok in Upper Silesia and his wife Wilhelmine Luise, née Wachter (19 November 1807 – 26 January 1871) from Eschersheim near Frankfurt am Main. Both died in Schierstein. He had seven sisters.[4]

Marriage

Korvettenkapitän von Knorr married in Berlin on 14 September 1872 his fiancée Luise Viktoria Friederike Zirzow (22 July 1846 – 5 January 1928). They had two (known) children:

  • Elisabeth Mathilde Frieda (b. 10 May 1878 in Wilhelmshaven) ∞ Berlin 5 October 1898 Ingenieur Friedrich Wilhelm Tassilo Freiherr von Meerscheidt-Hülleßem (1877–1945)
    • They had one daughter: Elfriede Luise Gerdrud Marie (b. 27 July 1902 Charlottenburg near Berlin; d. 2002) ∞ 22 August 1925 Dr. med. Leonardo Conti (1900–1945), later Member of the Reichstag (MdR), Prussian State Councilor, Oberarzt der Reserve of the Wehrmacht, Oberbefehlsleiter of the NSDAP, SS-Obergruppenführer, Reichsgesundheitsführer and State Secretary; Elfriede was also an early member of the NSDAP (Nr. 90,829) an recipient of the Golden Party Badge. They had four children, a son (b. 26 July 1926) and three daughters (b. 7 February 1928, 26 April 1932 and 21 July 1935).
  • Arthur Friedrich Wolfram (7 July 1880 – 7 December 1940) ∞ photographer Anna Auguste Julie "Jula" Wedekind (1883–1968); Their son Wolf was born on 24 June 1907 in Charlottenburg. Wolf died in 1928 at the age of 21 as a result of an accident.
    • After attending school, Wolfram decided to pursue a career as a naval officer and joined the Imperial Navy in April 1897. He went through basic seamanship training on various training ships and graduated from the naval school in Mürwik. This was followed by board commands as a watch and deck officer, including 1908 on the Königsberg, as well as attending other special courses until he completed his training as a naval officer. He was promoted to Kapitänleutnant on 9 March 1907. This was followed in 1913 by a brief period of orientation with the Naval Admiralty in preparation for his post as naval attaché of the German legation in Tokyo, Japan, which he would become on 25 June 1913. Alexander von Falkenhausen was the military attaché of the army. On 22 March 1914, he was promoted to Korvettenkapitän. He was awarded the Red Eagle Order, 4th Class with the Crown and the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure, 4th Class (JZ4). Von Knorr left Japan by ship in August 1914, but he had orders to report to the German leg in San Francisco for a suitable assignment. In the USA he was available to the naval attaché in Washington Karl Boy-Ed (1872-1930) until the summer of 1915. He deployed the personnel from the ships that had been stranded in the USA since the beginning of the war mainly to monitor ship movements towards Europe and to check whether they were loaded with war equipment. In the summer of 1915, von Knorr received an offer to serve as commander of a new auxiliary cruiser that was yet to be put into service. He accepted the offer and named the ship "Meteor" in memory of his father's gunboat. The new SMS "Meteor" made its first voyage from Wilhelmshaven on 29 May 1915 in the direction of the northern sea route. The order consisted in laying mine belts on the shipping route to Arkhangelsk. Von Knorr took over as commander of SMS "Breslau", which ran under the Ottoman flag. Originally belonging to the Imperial Navy, the ship was sold to the Ottoman Navy at the beginning of World War I. Here it bore the ship name "Midilli", the German crew stayed on board, but wore the Turkish Fez as headgear. When von Knorr assumed command in September 1915, the light cruiser was still being repaired at the shipyard after being hit by a torpedo. From February 1916 the ship was operational again and was ordered to the Ottoman port of Trabzon. From here it was involved in the naval battles and coastal shelling against Russian naval forces in the Black Sea. At this time, von Knorr was under the command of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ottoman Navy, Vizeadmiral Souchon. At the end of July 1917, von Knorr handed over the command of the ship to Fregattenkapitän Georg von Hippel and returned to Germany. Once here, he was briefly at the disposal of the North Sea Naval Command. From December 1917, he was employed in the operative group of the Admiralty for foreign wars. This department was primarily responsible for the military protection of Germany's remaining colonies and for organizing so-called "revolutionary wars" in the overseas countries belonging to England, France and Russia. He received both classes of the Iron Cross, the Prussian Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords and Ottoman awrads. It was also here that he experienced the end of the First World War and was discharged from the Navy in 1919 in accordance with the terms of the Versailles Treaty with the rank as Charakter als Fregattenkapitän. Since shortly after the Treaty of Versailles came into force in Germany, there were only extremely limited possibilities for a revival of the German Navy, let alone for questions of the new development of ships, especially submarines, seafaring weapons technology and maritime equipment, von Knorr joined a group of former members in 1920 of the Imperial Navy. She pursued the goal of marketing her maritime know-how outside of Germany. These included the naval officer and shipbuilding engineer Bruno Gluer (1880-1952), the Konteradmiral a. D. and former naval attaché Paul von Hintze[5] (1864-1941), Friedrich Hack (1887-1949), who came from Japanese captivity, the naval officer Johann Mann (1880-1945) and the Japanese honorary consul Albert Schinzinger (1856-1926). They had decided to build up appropriate cooperation with Japan for this purpose. They became aware very early on that this would primarily involve top secret projects for the manufacture and development of war technology, which were banned from Germany under the Versailles Treaty. In order to have official legitimation and his own camouflage, von Knorr became a correspondent for the Berliner Lokalanzeiger and traveled to Japan in 1920 for the first activations and soundings. Here he managed quite quickly to renew the previous contacts, to find business and government circles in Japan who also saw development opportunities in these businesses. The construction of the first Unterseeboot for Germany after WWI began in 1922 at the shipyard in Osaka. From May 1924, Wilhelm Canaris (1887-1945), disguised as a "professional experience trip", stayed in Japan for several weeks as representative of the chief of the naval command under Admiral Paul Behncke to check the status of the joint armaments projects and to agree on further armaments deals between Germany and Japan.

Promotions

  • 24 June 1854 Volontair-Cadett
  • 27 July 1856 Seekadett
  • 1859 Fähnrich zur See (mit dem Range eines Sekonde-Leutnants in der Armee)
    • 1863/64 renamed Unterleutnant zur See
  • 1861/62 Leutnant zur See 2. Klasse (mit dem Range als Premierleutnant)
    • 1863/64 renamed Leutnant zur See
  • 1865 Kapitänleutnant
  • 1 January 1871 Korvettenkapitän
    • Korvettenkapitän was normally a rank as major, but could also carry the addition "mit Oberstleutnant-Rang" equivalent to lieutenant colonel; in 1898 a new rank was introduced, "Fregattenkapitän" would become the fully fledged lieutenant colonel of the German Navy.
  • 22 March 1876 Kapitän zur See
  • 16 August 1883 Konteradmiral
  • 27 January 1889 Vizeadmiral
  • 31 May 1893 Admiral

Awards, decorations and honours

Eduard Knorr, Rangliste der deutschen Reichsmarine (1873).jpg
Eduard von Knorr, Deutscher Ordens-Almanach 1908.png
Admiral von Knorr, Rangliste 1914.jpg
  • War Commemorative Medal of 1864 (Kriegs-Denkmünze für 1864; KD64) on 10 November 1864
  • Iron Cross (1870), 2nd Class
  • War Commemorative Medal of 1870–1871 (Kaiserliche Kriegsdenkmünze 1870/71; KD70/71) on 20 May 1871
  • Red Eagle Order, 4th Class
  • Service Award Cross (Prussia) for 25 years (Preußisches Dienstauszeichnungskreuz) on 13 June 1874 (time outside of the Reich or during war counted double)
  • Red Eagle Order, 3rd Class with the Bow (mit der Schleife) on 19 July 1877
  • Baden Order of the Zähringer Lion (Orden vom Zähringer Löwen), Commander 2nd Class with Swords, 1878
  • Order of the Prussian Crown, 2nd Class (Neck Order) on 17 September 1881
  • Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd Class with Oak Leaves and Swords on 5 May 1885
  • Orden des Strahlenden Sterns von Sansibar"", 2nd Class, 1st Grade (Grand Cross; ZstSt2a/ZanSt2a/ZStII.1/ZSt1) on 18 May 1886
  • Swedish Order of the Sword (Schwertorden), Grand Cross (SS1) on 27 July 1888
  • Russian Order of Saint Stanislaus, 1st Class (RSt1) on 18 August 1888
  • Grand Cross of the Danish Order of the Dannebrog on 30 July 1888 (DD1) on 18 August 1888
  • Star to the Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd Class with Oak Leaves and Swords on 10 September 1890
  • Star to the Order of the Prussian Crown, 2nd Class on 18 September 1888
  • Grand Cross of the Bavarian Military Merit Order (BMV1/BMV G.Kr./BMV.G.Kr) on 15 October 1890
  • Knight of the Austrian-Hungarian Order of the Iron Crown, 1st Class (ÖEK1) on 18 November 1890
  • Russian Order of Saint Anna, I. Class (RA1) in 1892
  • Grand Cross of the Mecklenburg Order of the Griffon (MGrO1/MG1) in 1892
  • Order of the Prussian Crown, 1st Class on 15/18 January 1893
  • Crown to the Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd Class with Star, Oak Leaves and Swords on 24 June 1894
  • Anniversary Oak Leaves "25" 1870/1895 to his Iron Cross (1870), 2nd Class
  • Order of the Red Eagle, 1st Class with Oak Leaves, Crown and Swords on Ring on 20 June 1895
  • Grand Cross of the Saxon Albert Order (Albrechts-Orden) with the Golden Star (SA1mgSt) on 29 August 1895
  • Grand Cross of the Order of the Zähringer Lion (BZL1/BZ1) on 29 August 1895
  • Grand Cross of the Italian Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (JMuL1/JM1) on 15 September 1895
  • Grand Cross of the Austrian-Hungarian Imperial Order of Leopold (ÖL1) on 15 September 1895
  • Grand Cordon of the Belgian Order of Leopold (BL1)
  • Knight of the Russian Order of St. Alexander Nevsky (RAN) on 14 December 1896
  • Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle with Oak Leaves, Crown, Swords and with Swords on Ring on 27 January 1897
  • Kaiser Wilhelm I. Erinnerungsmedaille 1897
  • Order of the Black Eagle with the Collar/Chain (Ordenskette)
    • Black Eagle on 15 June 1898
    • Kette on 17 January 1899
  • Diamonds (Brillanten) to the Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle with Oak Leaves, Crown, Swords and with Swords on Ring on 24 June 1904
  • Colonial Medal (Kolonial-Denkmünze) mit der Spange (with the clasp) "Kamerun 1884", 1912[6]

Honours

  • Elevation to Prussian nobility on 18 January 1896
  • Weltlicher Domherr dritter Klasse beim Domstift Brandenburg a. d. H.
  • In 1905, a bust of the admiral was erected in front of the naval academy (Marineakademie) in Kiel.
  • The Admiral-Knorr-Straße in Saarlouis, his home town, and Knorrstraße in Wilhelmshaven and Kiel are named after him.
  • Two outpost boats of the Kaiserliche Marine were named after him: the "Admiral von Knorr", built at the end of the 19th century, and the "Admiral von Knorr", built at the end of the 1910s.

Further reading

  • G.Beckmann, K.U. Keubke (Hrsg.): Alltag in der Kaiserlichen Marine um 1890, pp. 102-103
  • Cord Eberspächer/Gerhard Wiechmann: Admiral Eduard von Knorr (1840-1920). Eine Karriere in der neuen Elite der Seeoffiziere in Preußen-Deutschland. In: Karl Christian Führer/Karen Hagemann/Birthe Kundrus (Hg.): "Eliten im Wandel. Gesellschaftliche Führungsschichten im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Für Klaus Saul zum 65. Geburtstag", Münster 2004, pp. 239-258

References

  1. Georg Hiltl: Der Französische Krieg von 1870 und 1871. Nach den besten Quellen, persönlichen Mitteilungen und eigenen Erlebnissen geschildert, Bielefeld / Leipzig 1892, p. 518
  2. Jürgen W. Schmidt: Reichskanzler Fürst von Bismarck und eine Matrosenschlägerei in Smyrna im Januar 1877. Die erfolgreiche Entschärfung eines drohenden deutsch-französischen Konflikts, p. 325
  3. Cameroon 1884
  4. Ernst Wilhelm KNORR (Archive)
  5. Paul von Hintze retired from the Imperial German Navy as a Rear Admiral and was then appointed as ambassador to Mexico in 1911. He later served as ambassador to China in 1914, as well as to Norway in 1917. When Foreign Minister Richard von Kühlmann was chased out of office by General Erich Ludendorff, von Hintze was brought in as his replacement and immediately began pushing for a policy of cooperation with the Bolsheviks. Hintze is also known to have advised Kaiser Wilhelm II near War's end to seek an "honorable death" at the western front as head of his troops. Admiral von Hintze was replaced by Wilhelm Solf and died on 19 August 1941 in Merano, Italy.
  6. Kolonial-Denkmünze, award list