Friedrich Karl Topp (29 September 1895,

Voerde Voerde ([]) is a town in the Wesel (district), district of Wesel, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, approximately south-east of Wesel, and 20 km north of Duisburg. City structure According t ...

– 24 April 1981) was a naval officer in Germany during both World Wars. Topp was born in

in the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

n Rhine Province. His father was a minister. He joined the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Kaise ...

in 1914 and took part in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in the U Boat service. At the end of the war he was a first officer of under the command of

Martin Niemöller Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (; 14 January 18926 March 1984) was a German theologian and Lutheran pastor. He is best known for his opposition to the Nazi regime during the late 1930s and for his widely quoted 1946 poem " First they ca ...

. After the war he was transferred to the

Reichsmarine The ''Reichsmarine'' ( en, Realm Navy) 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 '' ...

. In the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

he was "Generalreferent" (chief-official in charge) for military problems of shipbuilding, later on chief of military department at the main office of warship building, an administrate body of the

Marineamt The Navy Office () was a higher command within the German Navy, founded in 1965 and disestablished in 2012. Its original responsibility was training, education and armaments planning for the German Navy. It was situated at Wilhelmshaven until it w ...

(highest command of the Kriegsmarine) and on 15 January 1941 - 24 February 1943 as

Kapitän zur See Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The rank is equal to the army rank of colonel and air force rank of group captain. Equivalent ranks worldwide include ...

(KzS, Captain) the first commander of the . Later, he was the chairman of the commission for shipbuilding reporting to the Reichsminister für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion Albert Speer (Minister of Armament and War Production); his last rank was

Vizeadmiral (abbreviated VAdm) is a senior naval flag officer rank in several German (language), German-speaking countries, equivalent to Vice admiral. Austria-Hungary In the Austro-Hungarian Navy there were the flag-officer ranks ''Kontreadmiral'' (al ...

(Viceadmiral). After the war the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

engaged him some months for winding up the German shipyards. In 1946 he was released from being a prisoner-of-war. After this, for nearly ten years he worked as a commercial representative, living in

Jever Jever () is the capital of the district of Friesland in Lower Saxony, Germany. The name Jever is usually associated with a major brand of beer, Jever Pilsener, which is produced there. The city is also a popular holiday resort. Jever was granted c ...

, Lower Saxony, where he died after retirement.

Bibliography

* Martin Niemöller: Vom U-Boot zur Kanzel. Edition 3, Warneck, Berlin 1937 *

Ludovic Kennedy Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy (3 November 191918 October 2009) was a Scottish journalist, broadcaster, humanist and author best known for re-examining cases such as the Lindbergh kidnapping and the murder convictions of Timothy Evans an ...

. ''Menace: The Life and Death of the Tirpitz''. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1979. , 1895 births 1981 deaths People from Wesel (district) People from the Rhine Province Imperial German Navy personnel of World War I Reichsmarine personnel Vice admirals of the Kriegsmarine Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United Kingdom {{Germany-mil-bio-stub