Karl Rudolf Brommy
Encyclopedia
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, Electorate of Saxony
Electorate of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony , sometimes referred to as Upper Saxony, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356...
– January 9, 1860) was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
naval officer who helped establish the first unified German fleet, the Reichsflotte
Reichsflotte
The Reichsflotte was the first all-German Navy. It was founded on 14 June 1848 during the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states by the Frankfurt Parliament to provide a naval force in the First Schleswig War against Denmark.-History:...
, during the First Schleswig War which broke out just before the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, also called the March Revolution – part of the Revolutions of 1848 that broke out in many countries of Europe – were a series of loosely coordinated protests and rebellions in the states of the German Confederation, including the Austrian Empire...
.
During his youth, he had served in the Chilean
Chilean Navy
-Independence Wars of Chile and Peru :The Chilean Navy dates back to 1817. A year before, following the Battle of Chacabuco, General Bernardo O'Higgins prophetically declared "this victory and another hundred shall be of no significance if we do not gain control of the sea".This led to the...
, Brazilian
Brazilian Navy
The Brazilian Navy is a branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces responsible for conducting naval operations. It is the largest navy in Latin America...
, and Greek
Hellenic Navy
The Hellenic Navy is the naval force of Greece, part of the Greek Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy has its roots in the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independence...
Navies under the command of Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald
Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald
Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, 1st Marquess of Maranhão, GCB, ODM , styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a senior British naval flag officer and radical politician....
. A skilled sea commander, Brommy also made significant contributions to German naval education and shore infrastructure.
Early life and career
Born Karl Rudolf Bromme in Anger (now part of LeipzigLeipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
), he was the fifth child of Johann Simon Bromme and his wife, Louise; he was orphaned while still a child. In 1818, the youth received permission from his guardian to become a sailor; he studied at the navigational school in Hamburg and made his first sea voyage on the brig Heinrich. Eventually, he served on various United States sailing vessels. During this time, the young man altered the spelling of his name to “Brommy,” to match the English pronunciation.
Service in South American and Greek revolutions
In 1820, during a stay on the western coast of South America, Brommy enlisted as a midshipman in the Chilean Navy, at the time when it was led by British nobleman Lord CochraneThomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald
Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, 1st Marquess of Maranhão, GCB, ODM , styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a senior British naval flag officer and radical politician....
, the former Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
officer who had achieved distinction in the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. Cochrane undertook the education of young Brommy, so that the youth was soon fit to take on his first command: the 18-gun brigantine Maypo. Brommy took part in several actions in Chile's War of Independence against the Spanish including the capture of Valdivia
Capture of Valdivia
The Capture of Valdivia was a battle in the Chilean War of Independence between Spanish forces commanded by Colonel Manuel Montoya and the Chilean forces under the command of Lord Cochrane, held on 3 and 4 February of 1820.-Background:...
. When Brazil became an independent empire in 1822, Cochrane left Chile in order to develop a Brazilian fleet. Brommy followed him, remaining in Brazilian service until 1825.
From 1827 to 1828, Cochrane led the Greek war fleet in battle against the Turks and Egyptians. Brommy also followed him to Greece, now with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He was initially first officer of the Epicheiresis (the former Enterprise), later commander of the 64-gun steam frigate Hellas (formerly Hope). As second in command of the corvette Hydra, he took part on October 20, 1827 in the Battle of Navarino
Battle of Navarino
The naval Battle of Navarino was fought on 20 October 1827, during the Greek War of Independence in Navarino Bay , on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea. A combined Ottoman and Egyptian armada was destroyed by a combined British, French and Russian naval force...
, where a combined British-French-Russian-Greek fleet defeated the Turks and the Egyptians.
On June 11, 1828, Brommy was advanced to the rank of Commander, and given command of a modern steam frigate. In the squadron of Greek Admiral Andreas Vokos Miaoulis
Andreas Vokos Miaoulis
Andreas Vokos, nicknamed Miaoulis , was an admiral and politician who commanded Greek naval forces during the Greek War of Independence ....
, Brommy took part in the battles in the Gulf of Arta, and participated in the recapture of Missolonghi. In 1829, during the turmoils of the third Greek civil war, Miaoulis and Brommy supported the bourgeois camp. Soon, however, Brommy left Greece and returned to Saxony. In Meissen, he published an autobiographical novel under the pseudonym R. Termo.
In 1832, the Bavarian prince Otto von Wittelsbach became Otto
Otto of Greece
Otto, Prince of Bavaria, then Othon, King of Greece was made the first modern King of Greece in 1832 under the Convention of London, whereby Greece became a new independent kingdom under the protection of the Great Powers .The second son of the philhellene King Ludwig I of Bavaria, Otto ascended...
, King of Greece. The King was conducted to his new realm by a Greek delegation under Admiral Miaoulis
Andreas Vokos Miaoulis
Andreas Vokos, nicknamed Miaoulis , was an admiral and politician who commanded Greek naval forces during the Greek War of Independence ....
; Brommy attached himself to this delegation, and became an officer in the Greek Navy. He was named commander of various warships, harbor master of Piraeus
Piraeus
Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....
, and head of the admiralty court. Later he became first commandant of the naval school in Piraeus. In 1845 Brommy requested the Prussian King Frederick William IV
Frederick William IV of Prussia
|align=right|Upon his accession, he toned down the reactionary policies enacted by his father, easing press censorship and promising to enact a constitution at some point, but he refused to enact a popular legislative assembly, preferring to work with the aristocracy through "united committees" of...
for transfer into the Prussian navy, but this request was denied.
Organizing the first German Navy
Following the revolutionary events of 1848, the cry became louder in all German states for the creation of a purely German navyGerman Navy
The German Navy is the navy of Germany and is part of the unified Bundeswehr .The German Navy traces its roots back to the Imperial Fleet of the revolutionary era of 1848 – 52 and more directly to the Prussian Navy, which later evolved into the Northern German Federal Navy...
(Deutsche Marine), which was founded on 4 June 1848 as the Reichsflotte
Reichsflotte
The Reichsflotte was the first all-German Navy. It was founded on 14 June 1848 during the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states by the Frankfurt Parliament to provide a naval force in the First Schleswig War against Denmark.-History:...
. In a letter of July 23, 1848 to Heinrich von Gagern
Heinrich von Gagern
Heinrich Wilhelm August Freiherr von Gagern was a statesman who argued for the unification of Germany.The third son of Hans Christoph Ernst, Baron von Gagern, a liberal statesman from Hesse, Heinrich von Gagern was born at Bayreuth, educated at the military academy at Munich, and, as an officer in...
, President of the Frankfurt National Assembly
Frankfurt Parliament
The Frankfurt Assembly was the first freely elected parliament for all of Germany. Session was held from May 18, 1848 to May 31, 1849 in the Paulskirche at Frankfurt am Main...
, Brommy offered his help in building up a German fleet. In a reply of November 4, 1848, he was directed by Commerce Minister Duckwitz to come to Frankfurt am Main, where Brommy arrived at the end of the year.
At first, Brommy worked in Maritime Technical Commission of the Assembly's naval department (Marineabteilung). After the department’s head, Prince Adalbert of Prussia
Adalbert of Prussia
Prince Adalbert of Prussia was a son of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and Landgravine Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg. He was a naval theorist and admiral. He was instrumental during the Revolutions of 1848 in founding the first unified German fleet, the Reichsflotte...
, was removed from this position by the King of Prussia, Brommy took over the office.
On March 18, 1849, Brommy became Commander-in-Chief of the North Sea Flotilla with his flagship Barbarossa in Brake, Lower Saxony. The seaport of Brake became at this time the provisional naval base of the first German fleet. Brommy undertook the military fortification of this base by means of the Hamburg flotilla.
In 1849, in Berlin, Brommy published his “Naval Handbook” (Lehrbuch der Marine) – an easy-to-understand manual for educating all levels of seamen.
The Battle of Heligoland (1849)
At the beginning of the war against Denmark (the "First Schleswig War"), Brommy (now promoted to post-captain (Kapitän zur See) became head of the naval depot in Bremerhaven, that served as arsenal for the growing fleet. Despite material, personal, and financial problems, Brommy succeeded in establishing a small fleet for the war against Denmark. This fleet was initially comprised nine seaworthy steamships, two sailing vessels, and 27 gunboats (Ruderkanonenboote). Due to a shortage of native personnel, Brommy was forced to fill the ranks of the higher officers largely with Britons and Belgians.The only wartime action of the German fleet under Brommy, the Battle of Heligoland (1849)
Battle of Heligoland (1849)
The first Battle of Heligoland took place on 4 June 1849 during the First Schleswig War and pitted the fledgling all-German navy known as the Reichsflotte , which had been founded less than a year prior, against the Royal Danish Navy, which had blocked German naval trade in North Sea and Baltic Sea...
against the Danes ended on June 4, 1849, with the breaking off of battle before the then-British territory of Heligoland
Heligoland
Heligoland is a small German archipelago in the North Sea.Formerly Danish and British possessions, the islands are located in the Heligoland Bight in the south-eastern corner of the North Sea...
, in order to prevent a conflict with Great Britain.
Promotion to flag rank
On November 23, 1849, the "Provisional Central Authorities" established by the Frankfurt Parliament appointed Brommy to flag rank, as a Rear Admiral. The appointment was made by Archduke John of Austria (1782-1859), the Imperial Vicar (Reichsverweser).Disestablishment of the fleet
In the following days, Brommy was further busied with the development of the fleet, but found himself opposed by the reactionary ruling powers. In 1850, the German ConfederationGerman Confederation
The German Confederation was the loose association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries. It acted as a buffer between the powerful states of Austria and Prussia...
was reestablished. Yet on April 2, 1852, the Federal Diet of the German Confederation in Frankfurt am Main, at the insistence of Prussia, disestablished the first German fleet in Brake. Lorenz Hannibal Fischer was the politician appointed as federal commissioner to oversee the naval disestablishment.
Into this situation Brommy threw himself, to defend colleagues and subordinates who were threatened with dismissal. The ships of the fleet were sold in the same year, most of them at less than their true value. Two modern ships were taken over by Prussia. On March 31, 1853, Brommy signed the dissolution order. So on April 1, with the disestablishment of all naval authorities, and the release of the personnel still in service, thus ended the history of the first German navy.
At this difficult time in his life, Brommy found personal happiness with his marriage to Caroline Gross, the daughter of a merchant and hotel owner of Brake.
Rear Admiral Brommy took his departure on June 30, 1853. From the German Confederation
German Confederation
The German Confederation was the loose association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries. It acted as a buffer between the powerful states of Austria and Prussia...
he received a one-time payment of 2,500 Taler. A short time later he was given a monthly pension of 125 Taler for the duration of his unemployment. His offer of service to the Prussian Navy
Prussian Navy
Throughout the centuries, Prussia’s military consistently concentrated on its land power, and never sought a similar power at sea. Yet historically there were always Prussian naval forces , beginning in the days when "Prussia" meant only the Margraviate of Brandenburg.- The Navy of Electoral...
was turned down.
Later career and death
In June 1857 Brommy took a position as technical adviser in the Austro-HungarianAustria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
Navy in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, but was forced to give up the position after a few months due to poor health. Disappointed, he returned with his wife and son to Germany and settled in St. Magnus near Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
, where he died on January 9, 1860. Covered with the black-red-gold flag of his flagship Barbarossa, Brommy’s coffin was carried on the steamship Merkur to the cemetery of the village Kirchhammelwarden (today a district of Brake) for burial.
Legacy
In 1916, the Imperial German Navy built the Brommy, a convoy ship [Räumbootbegleitschiff], in honor of the admiral.External links
- Eckhart, Albrecht. "Brake, Brommy and the Federal Fleet." ["Brake, Brommy und die Bundesflotte"] - An essay in German from the Brake Maritime Museum, Germany
- Website of the City of Brake (http://www.brake.de) [in German]
- Admiral Brommy and Villa Schwalbenklippe (Admiral Brommy und Haus Schwalbenklippe) - Information on Brommy's villa in Saint Magnus, Germany [In German]
- Rulers.org - Germany - Background on the provisional central government of Germany during the Revolution of 1848