August von Thomsen August von Thomsen ( born 6 August 1846 in Oldenswort , Schleswig - Holstein , Germany , married 6 May 1888 in Naples , Italy , and died 26 September 1920 in Kiel , Schleswig - Holstein ) was an Admiral of the German Imperial Navy . He was the son of Adolf Theodor Thomsen ( a Prussian politician ) and Catharina Tönnies . In 1898 - 1903 he was senior admiral ( commander ) at the North Sea Naval Station ( Marinestation der Nordsee ) at Wilhelmshaven . His fame as " the father of German naval artillery ” dates from 1885 when he was appointed chief gunner . He set up the first long range experiments , on the battleship SMS Bayern ( 1878 ) in October 1885 . In September 1894 he took part in the fall maneuvers of the fleet as commander of the Third Squadron with the SMS Stein ( flagship ) , SMS Moltke ( 1877 ) , SMS Stosch , and SMS Gneisenau ( 1879 ) . In the late 1890s , at a temperance meeting in Kiel , spoke out bravely : " Alcohol is the great foe of our country . " On his flagship " SMS Stein " on 4 September 1894 as Rear Admiral and chief of the Second Squadron he took part in a Fleet Review before the Kaiser ( Paraden und Manöver vor dem Kaiser ) at Swinemünde . In 1899 he was involved in contingency planning for a war against the United States . He objected to the original plan of sailing directly to attack New York City , suggesting instead an attack on Puerto Rico which would pull the American ships away from their Atlantic coastal bases . As a member of the Kaiserlicher Yacht Club he met with representatives of the Eastern Yacht Club of Boston in September 1905 to arrange for the establishment of an American - German Challenge Cup . As commander of the Marinestation der Nordsee , he oversaw the building ( 1905 – 08 ) of a heavy gun fortress installation at Cuxhaven at the mouth of the Elbe River to protect the Elbe estuary , Hamburg and the North - Baltic Sea Canal ( Kiel Canal ) from enemy raids from the North Sea . Kaiser Wilhelm II named the fortress in his honor ( Fort Thomsen ) . It is today a residential area of Cuxhaven . Grand Admiral Prince Heinrich of Prussia called him the " Reformer of sea Warfare Management . ( Reformator der Seekriegsführung . " He was also known as " the father of German naval artillery . " He had the future Admiral Franz von Hipper as navigator aboard his flagship the SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm . In 1900 , he objected , along with his counterpart Hans von Koester , commander of the Second Division ( Baltic Sea Naval Station ) in Kiel , to the poor preparation and staffing of the German Imperial Admiralty Staff under Otto von Diederichs . Again like Koester , he opposed the use of resources as Diederichs proposed for a major increase in the size of the Admiralty Staff , the creation of a separate intelligence section , and , especially , the removal of the Naval War College ( Marineacademie ) to Berlin . He supported the activities of the German Navy League ( Flottenverein ) to build public support for building and paying for a large navy , and was its second - vice president in 1906 . During World War I he came to oppose the " soft " policy of Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann - Hollweg toward Britain and came to support a resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare against Britain . On 30 July 1916 he spoke along these lines at a meeting in Munich . He was honored in 1916 by being raised to the Prussian nobility ( knighted ) , and in 1918 an auxiliary patrol ship ( 215 ton Trawler FV ) built by Unterweser in Bremerhaven was named " Admiral von Thomsen " in his honor . August von Thomsen spent his last years in Kiel in his house ' Villa Barbara ' , named after Saint Barbara , the patroness of artillerymen . He died there 26 September 1920 , having seen his beloved fleet destroyed at Scapa Flow .