page_title: Eduard von Jachmann
section_title: Wars of German unification
hierarchical_section_title: Eduard von Jachmann / Naval career / Wars of German unification
caption_attribution_description: English: Moderne Kunst had this picture as part of its series Unsere Bilder accompanied by some history about the battle of Jasmund and the Prussian Navy.
context_page_description: Eduard Karl Emanuel von Jachmann was the first Vizeadmiral of the Prussian Navy. He entered the navy in the 1840s after initially serving in the merchant marine. In 1848, Jachmann received his first command, the corvette SMS Amazone; through the 1850s and early 1860s, he held several other commands, including the frigates Thetis—aboard which he took part in the Eulenburg expedition to East Asia—and Arcona. During the Second Schleswig War in 1864, he commanded Prussian naval forces in the Baltic from Arcona, and led a small squadron at the Battle of Jasmund on 17 March. Though defeated in that battle, he was promoted to Konteradmiral for his aggressive handling of the Prussian fleet.
  Jachmann was the senior-most officer in the Prussian Navy by the mid-1860s, second only to Prince Adalbert of Prussia. In 1867, Jachmann became the director of the Ministry of the Navy, and the following year, he was promoted to Vizeadmiral. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, he commanded the squadron of ironclad warships based in the North Sea, though his ships saw no action owing to engine difficulties.
context_section_description: At the start of the Second Schleswig War in 1864, the bulk of the Prussian fleet was concentrated in the Baltic Sea. Prince Adalbert was the senior navy commander, and Jachmann, as the senior-most captain, became the squadron commander, with Arcona as his flagship. The much larger Danish fleet blockaded Prussia's main ports, trapping Jachmann's ships—Arcona and SMS Nymphe—in Swinemünde. On 17 March, Jachmann took his two ships and the armed paddle steamer SMS Loreley out to challenge the Danish blockade force. In the ensuing Battle of Jasmund off the island of Rügen, Jachmann's squadron was defeated by the more powerful Danish squadron and forced to retreat. This was to be the only major naval battle fought in the Baltic during the war. Nevertheless, he was appointed Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) for his aggressive handling of the fleet at Jasmund. The arrival of a Danish ironclad warship precluded any further attacks on the Danish fleet, as the traditional guns that armed Jachmann's ships were entirely useless against the armored vessel.
  On 24 March 1865, with the fleet having returned to its demobilized, peacetime status, Jachmann was given command of the Marinestation der Ostsee (Naval Station of the Baltic Sea). Later that year, Jachmann moved the fleet to its new main base at Kiel in the newly annexed Duchy of Schleswig. There, he was responsible for establishing the new base, the land defenses for which were established at Hörup Haff and Holtenau Bay under the direction of Generals Helmuth von Moltke, the Chief of the General Staff, and Albrecht von Roon, the Prussian Minister of War. Later that year, Jachmann accompanied Roon aboard Loreley for a survey of the Jade Bay, where the naval base at Wilhelmshaven was planned. Jachmann remained in his post in the Baltic Sea during the Austro-Prussian War, commanding the main squadron of frigates and corvettes. Before the outset of hostilities, he sent the gunboat Tiger to Elbe to block the movement of an Austrian brigade that was garrisoned in Holstein. Since the Austrian fleet was occupied with Prussia's ally Italy during the war, the Prussian Navy saw relatively little action; the only major operations were conducted in the North Sea, under the command of KzS Reinhold von Werner.
  On 17 July 1867, Jachmann attended the fleet review held in Spithead, Britain in honor of the Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz. On 22 August, he became of the director of the Ministry for the Navy, serving under Roon. Jachmann and Roon were good friends, which led to an effective partnership between the two. Jachmann presented his fleet plan in October that year, as part of Roon's overall military budget. The plan projected a ten-year construction program for sixteen ironclad warships, twenty corvettes, and eight avisos. Jachmann included the large number of corvettes to bring pro-colonialist factions to support the plan, though he was himself ambivalent to colonial aspirations. The Reichstag approved Roon's budget without objection. Jachmann was promoted to Vizeadmiral (VAdm—Vice Admiral) on 22 March 1868; he was the first man to hold that rank in the Prussian Navy. By mid-1869, the ironclads that the navy had begun to acquire under Jachmann's direction had started to enter service, permitting the formation of an ironclad squadron.
  At the start of the Franco-Prussian War in July 1870, Jachmann left Berlin to take command of the ironclad squadron based in Wilhelmshaven. At the time, Jachmann had under his control the ironclads König Wilhelm, Friedrich Carl, Kronprinz, and Arminius. Work had not yet been completed on the fortifications outside Kiel and Wilhelmshaven; Jachmann ordered the acquisition of naval mines, a technology then still in its infancy, to help defend the German coast. The French Northern Squadron had arrived off the North Sea coast to blockade Germany's ports. He sortied with the fleet in late August, but located no French warships. König Wilhelm and Friedrich Carl thereafter developed engine problems, preventing Jachmann from taking further offensive actions, for which he was publicl
caption: Painting of the Battle of Jasmund, depicting the Prussian squadron, by Willy Stöwer
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