CHAPTER II

THE STOSCH ERA

I. In Hamburg, 1871. German fishermen under foreign flag. Foreign service. Carthagena.—2. " Those are soldiers." The militarization of the Navy. The Naval Academy. The Naval Staff. Stosch's plan for the foundation of a navy.— 3. We explore. Manysidedness of maritime interests.

FROM 1871 to 1888 the navy worked under landsmen. Lieut.-General von Stosch relieved Prince Adalbert of the supreme command in 1871, and at the same time took over the Naval Department of the War Ministry. General von Caprivi succeeded him as Chief of the Admiralty from 1883 up to the beginning of the William II era.

When the fine flag with the eagle was hauled down on our ships in 1867, and the flag of the North German Federation, more on the English pattern, was hoisted in its place, we ensigns were pained, it is true, at the disappearance of the Prussian colours, but we foreboded a great historical change, and emptied our glasses with mixed feelings. The year 1871 pushed the memory of Prussia farther back; we became Imperial officers and the navy received the black-white-and-red cockade.

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