The Prussian Naval Academy was the naval academy of the

Prussian Navy The Prussian Navy (German: ''Preußische Marine''), officially the Royal Prussian Navy (German: ''Königlich Preußische Marine''), was the naval force of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1701 to 1867. The Prussian Navy was created in 1701 from the ...

Foundation

The training of officers for the

started with the foundation of the ''Navigationsschulen'' in Danzig in 1817, although there were other similar schools in the first half of the nineteenth century at Memel,

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was na ...

Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

and

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund ( German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, ...

.Seeoffizieranwärter – ihre Ausbildung von 1848 bis heute, Karl Hinrich Peter, 2009, pp.12-13 http://www.pkgodzik.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Geschichte_und_Politik Under the leadership of King Wilhelm III, and the Minister of Finance

Hans von Bülow Freiherr Hans Guido von Bülow (8 January 1830 – 12 February 1894) was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. As one of the most distinguished conductors of the 19th century, his activity was critical for est ...

, 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 Cabinet ordered on 20 June 1817 the creation of a navigation school for the building and training of officers for seagoing vessels. This first Prussian school of this kind started in Danzig (today Gdansk in Poland) at the St. Jacob Church, where a tower was built as an observatory. The maintenance of the school came from the revenues of the port of Danzig, and it was supervised by a group of merchants, ship owners and ship captains (such as Johann Diedrich Longé) under the city senate. The first director was a Dr. Tobiesen, who proved capable but only stayed a few years. Already in the first year there were 40 students who mainly studied navigation but also did occasional "military maneuvers" on the schooner of war ''

'' - under Captain Longé.

Michael Bille

To succeed Tobiesen a director was sought from one of the neighboring countries with a more developed naval tradition than Prussia. An excellent candidate was found in nearby

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

: Michael Bille (Miohaei John Petroniue Bille). Michael Bille was from a noble family which had produced and would produce Danish admirals. He served actively in the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

and then was pilot inspector in Elsinore. He taught mathematics and astronomy at the

Danish Naval School Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish anc ...

(''Dansk Søværnets Officersskole'')."Norsk forfatter-lexikon, 1814-1880. Paa grundlag af J. E. Krafts og Chr. Langes "Norsk forfatter-lexikon 1814-1856"" https://archive.org/stream/norskforfatterl14kohtgoog/norskforfatterl14kohtgoog_djvu.txt In 1821 he began a very fruitful career as director of the ''Navigationsschule'' in Danzig. After three years he moved the school into a building that lay outside Danzig at the mouth of the Radaune River because the St. Jacob Church was inadequate. The school was then assigned to the war schooner ''Stralsund'' commanded by Longé. The number of students increased from 40 in 1827 to 115-120 in 1831. From 1825 the school also had the "lagoon" gunboat ''Danzig'' which was driven by sails and paddles. Bille and the two vessels were under the authority of the Ministry of War in Berlin. This can be seen as the beginning of the modern

. Bille resigned from Prussian service on 3 May 1838 because he had become a

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

in the Danish Navy. He had performed excellently and was well remembered: "A better leader for this branch of navigation at that time would have been difficult can be found. The Danish origin was not an obstacle to him, his official duties with pleasure and zeal."''Deutsch' See-Gras. Ein Stück Reichsgeschichte'': Batsch, Karl Ferdinand, Berlin 1892 In 1840 he published a book on navigation ''Tankar om och i navigationen.''

References

Naval academies Prussian Navy