The German Imperial Admiralty () was an imperial naval authority in the
German Empire
The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
. By order of
Kaiser Wilhelm I
Wilhelm I (Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 1861 and German Emperor from 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the first head of state of a united Germany ...
the
Northern German Federal Navy Department of the
North German Confederation
The North German Confederation () was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated state (a ''de facto'' feder ...
(1866–71), which had been formed from the
Prussian Navy Department (Marineministerium), became on 1 January 1872 the German Imperial Admiralty (''Kaiserliche Admiralität''). The head of the Admiralty (Chef der Admiralität) administered the Imperial Navy under the authority of the
imperial chancellor and the supreme command of the
Emperor
The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...
(''Kaiserliche Kommandogewalt''). It lasted until 1889, undergoing several reorganizations, but proved an impractical arrangement given the constant growth and the expansion of the Imperial Navy. Finally it was abolished in April 1889 and its duties divided among three new entities:
German Imperial Naval High Command
The German Imperial Naval High Command () was an office of the German Empire which existed from 1 April 1889 until 14 March 1899 to command the German Imperial Navy. A similarly named office existed in the Prussian Navy and the ''Kriegsmarine'' o ...
(''Kaiserliches Oberkommando der Marine''), the
Imperial Naval Office (''Reichsmarineamt''), and the
Imperial Naval Cabinet (''Kaiserliches Marinekabinett''). The Imperial Naval High Command was, on 14 March 1899, replaced by the
German Imperial Admiralty Staff
The German Imperial Admiralty Staff () was one of four command agencies for the administration of the Imperial German Navy from 1899 to 1918. While the German Emperor Wilhelm II as commander-in-chief exercised supreme operational command and con ...
, which simply transferred over most of the personnel of the Admiral Staff detachment of the former Naval High Command.
[Terrell D. Gottschall, ''By order of the Kaiser: Otto von Diederichs and the rise of the Imperial German Navy, 1865-1902'' (Institute Press, 2003, 337 pages), p. 231]
Heads of the Admiralty (''Chef der Admiralität'')
References
{{wikisource, Allerhöchster Erlaß, betreffend die oberste Marinebehörde, Allerhöchster Erlaß, betreffend die oberste Marinebehörde. Vom 1. Januar 1872.
Imperial German Navy