Gustav Schmidt (admiral)

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Gustav Schmidt
Vizeadmiral Gustav Schmidt.jpg
Birth date 28 October 1851(1851-10-28)
Place of birth Berlin, Province of Brandenburg, Kingdom of Prussia, German Confederation
Death date 24 June 1931 (aged 79)
Place of death Kiel, Province of Schleswig-Holstein, German Reich
Allegiance  Prussia
Coat of arms of North German Confederation.png North German Confederation
 German Empire
Service/branch Kriegsflagge der Norddeutschen Bundesmarine (1867–1871).png Norddeutsche Bundesmarine
 Kaiserliche Marine
Years of service 1868–1909
Rank Charakter als Admiral
Battles/wars Franco-German War
Awards Red Eagle Order
Prussian Crown Order
Relations ∞ 1883 Martha Marx

Gustav Schmidt (28 October 1851 – 24 June 1931) was a German naval officer of the North German Federal Navy (German: Marine des Norddeutschen Bundes) and the Imperial German Navy, finally Acting Chief of the Naval Station of the Baltic Sea and Honorary Admiral.

Life

Admiral a. D. Gustav Schmidt on 6 May 1915 mourning his fallen son Roderich (picture in the background).
Deutscher Ordens-Almanach, 1908, p. 1343

On 26 April 1868, Gustav Schmidt joined the North German Federal Navy and went to sea on the sailing frigates "Gefion" and "Niobe", the armored frigate "König Wilhelm", where he was appointed Seecadett, and the covered corvette "Arcona". From 1880 to 1883, Schmidt attended courses I. to III. Coetus at the Naval Academy, which was only interrupted by a 5-month command as a watch officer on the armored frigate "Friedrich Carl".

Schmidt was first officer on the cruiser frigate "Bismarck" during a two-year trip abroad from 1886 to 1888. For about three months of this trip he had to represent the commander, Captain Kuhn, who was ill. While working as a department head in the Admiralty and in the Naval High Command, he was promoted to lieutenant captain on 19 February 1889. In 1891, he was the last commander of the cabin boy's training ship, the brig "Musquito".

From 1893 to 1895, he led the cruiser corvette "Alexandrine" from South America via East Asia through the Mediterranean, with a stop in Morocco, to Germany. In mid-June 1895, he took part in the opening ceremonies of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal as commander of the cruiser "Gefion". Schmidt was commandant of the former armored frigate and now large armored cruiser SMS "König Wilhelm".[1] The cruiser (Großer Kreuzer I. Klasse) represented the German Empire at the Fleet Review on 26 June 1897 for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

Subsequently until 1900, he served as chief of staff at the North Sea naval station. He then became director of the nautical department in the Reichsmarineamt. His most important on-board command was from September 1903 to October 1906 as commander of the reconnaissance ships of the High Seas Fleet under Grand Admiral Hans von Koester. In October 1907, he was appointed director of the General Naval Department in the Reichsmarineamt and remained so until March 1909. On 12 July 1909, Gustav Schmidt was placed at disposal of the Imperial navy (de facto retired).

  • Chief of Staff of the Naval Station of the North Sea (01 October 1897-25 September 1900)
  • Executive of the Nautical Department, Imperial Naval Office (26 September 1900-03 February 1903)
  • 2. Admiral of the I. Squadron (01 March 1903-21 September 1903)
  • Commander of the Reconnaissance Ships (22 September 1903-28 September 1906)
  • Placed at the Disposal of the Chief of the Naval Station of the Baltic Sea, then the State Secretary of the Imperial Naval Office (29 September 1906-30 September 1907)
  • Director of the General Naval Department, at the same time Deputy Plenipotentiary to the Bundesrat, Imperial Naval Office (01 October 1907-13 March 1909)
  • Placed at the Disposal of the State Secretary of the Imperial Naval Office, then Chief of the Naval Station of the Baltic Sea (14 March 1909-12 July 1909)
  • At the same time, Acting Chief of the Naval Station of the Baltic Sea (24 March 1909-07 May 1909)
  • Retired (12 July 1909)

Family

Gustav Schmidt was the son of Julius Ferdinand Schmidt (1804–1871) and his wife Bertha, née Pflugradt (1813–1889).

Marriage

On 19 May 1883 in Berlin, Lieutenant Captain Schmidt married his fiancée Martha Maria Mathilde Marx (1858–1948), a granddaughter of the politician David Hansemann. The marriage resulted in three sons and only daughter Helga Bertha Luise (4 October 1885 – 25 April 1946). While son Manfred (31 May 1884 – 10 June 1884) died in infancy, the other two sons also became naval officers.

  • The younger son, 2nd Lieutenant at Sea Curt Georg Roderich Schmidt (b. 9 August 1892), joined the Imperial Navy on 1 April 1911, was killed in action in the desert on 1 April 1915 during a three-day battle between the SMS "Emden" landing party under Hellmuth von Mücke and an attacking Bedouin tribe (which was bribed by the English) south of Dschidda/Jeddah (today in Saudi Arabia) during the First World War. Sailor Rademacher and stoker Lauig also fell. Some sources state, Roderich Schmidt was posthumously promoted to 1st Lieutenant at Sea.
  • The eldest son, Captain at Sea Ernst Fritz Herwart Schmidt (b. 16 May 1889), joined the Imperial Navy on 1 April 1906, fell in Odessa during the Second World War. Schmidt, sea commandant of Nikolajew, was appointed port commandant of Odessa on 22 October 1941. At around 5:45 p.m. on the same day, the commandant's office in Odessa was blown up. Probably due to a built-in mine with remote detonation. Kapitän zur See Schmidt was killed, as was almost the entire staff of the Romanian 10th Division under General Ioan Glogojanu, the new commandant of Odessa. The attack resulted in the loss of 135 soldiers (79 killed, 43 wounded and 13 missing), of which 128 were Romanian and 7 were Germans.

Promotions

  • 26 April 1868 Cadett (Officer Candidate)
  • 15 July 1869 Seecadett (Officer Cadet)
  • 20 June 1872 Unterlieutenant zur See (2nd Lieutenant)
  • 18 November 1875 Lieutenant zur See (1st Lieutenant)
  • 16 April 1881 Kapitänlieutenant (Lieutenant Captain)
  • 19 February 1889 Korvettenkapitän (Corvette Captain – Lieutenant Commander)
  • 29 October 1894 Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea – Captain)
  • 30 March 1902 Kontre-Admiral (Rear Admiral)
  • 13 September 1906 Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral)
  • 12 July 1909 Charakter als Admiral z. D. (Honorary Admiral at disposal)

Awards and decorations

Gustav Schmidt, Rangliste der Kaiserlich Deutschen Marine, 1909, S. 92.png
  • War Commemorative Medal of 1870–1871 (Kaiserliche Kriegsdenkmünze 1870/71; KD70/71)[2]
  • Prussian Lifesaving Medal on Ribbon (Rettungsmedaille am Band)
  • Prussian Long Service Cross (Königlich Preußisches Dienstauszeichnungskreuz) for 25 years
  • Red Eagle Order (Roter Adlerorden), 4th Class
  • Prussian Order of the Crown (Preußischer Kronenorden), 3rd Class
  • Imperial Russian Sankt-Stanislaus-Orden, 2nd Class (RSt2)
  • Red Eagle Order, 3rd Class with the Bow (mit der Schleife)
  • Order of Henry the Lion (Herzoglich Braunschweigischer Orden Heinrichs des Löwen), Commander's Cross 2nd Class (BrHL2b/BrH2b)
  • Japanese Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd Class (JVAS3/JV3)
  • Italian Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, Commander (JMuL3/JM3)
  • Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav, Commander II. Class (NO2b)
  • Mecklenburg Order of the Griffon (Großherzoglich Mecklenburgischer Greifenorden), Commander's Cross (MGrO2b/MG2b)
  • Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav, Commander I. Class [with Star] (NO2a)
  • Prussian Centenary Medal 1897 (Zentenarmedaille) on 22 March 1897
  • Crown to his Red Eagle Order 3rd Class with the Bow
  • Star to his Imperial Russian Sankt-Stanislaus-Orden 2nd Class (RSt2mSt)
  • Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Medal in Silver (GJMs/BrtJM2)
    • The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837.
  • Prussian Order of the Crown, 2nd Class
  • House and Merit Order of Peter Frederick Louis, Ehren-Komturkreuz or Honorary Commanders Cross (OV2b)
  • China Commemorative Medal (China-Denkmünze) in Steel for non-combatants
  • Red Eagle Order, 2nd Class with Oak Leaves
  • Star to his Prussian Order of the Crown 2nd Class on 17 January 1904
  • Order of Orange-Nassau, Grand Officer (NN2)
  • Crown to his Red Eagle Order 2nd Class with Oak Leaves
  • Swedish Order of the Sword, Commander 1st Class (SS2a) on 3 August 1905
  • Star to his Red Eagle Order 2nd Class with Oak Leaves and the Crown on 19 January 1908
  • Prussian Order of the Crown, 1st Class

References

  1. ↑ In 1895, "König Wilhelm" went into drydock at the Blohm and Voss shipyard in Hamburg for an extensive reconstruction into an armored cruiser. The vessel's armament was increased, the ship rig was removed, and new fighting masts were installed in place of the old masts. The ship's crew was dramatically increased, to 38 officers and 1,120 enlisted men. Work lasted through 1896, and the ship was returned to the fleet in her new guise on 25 January 1897. On 26 June 1897, she represented Germany at the Fleet Review for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. She served with the fleet until 1904, when she was removed from active duty.
  2. ↑ Liste der Kaiserlichen Marine für 1871/72, p. 27
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