Felix von Bendemann Felix von Bendemann ( 8 August 1848 – 31 October 1915 ) was an Admiral of the German Imperial Navy ( Kaiserliche Marine ) . Bendemann was born in Dresden , Kingdom of Saxony . He was the son of the painter Eduard Julius Friedrich Bendemann ( 1811 – 1889 ) and Lida Schadow , who was the daughter of the sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow . The painter Rudolf Bendemann was his brother . Naval career . Bendemann and three brothers served in the Franco - Prussian War in 1870 - 71 . He was in the Prussian Navy as an officer on the gunboat SMS " Meteor " in Key West when the war began . On 23 October the news of the outbreak of war reached the ship ’ s captain , Eduard von Knorr . The SMS " Meteor " sailed for Cuba where , on 9 November they fought the only serious naval battle of the war with the French aviso " Bouvet " commanded by capitaine de frégate Alexandre Franquet . After an artillery exchange and an attempts by the " Bouvet " to ram the " Meteor " , both ships were incapacitated . Although the French left the scene of battle , the outcome was indecisive . As a result of this wartime conduct , he was honored with the then rarely given Iron Cross . Bendeman was enrolled in the German Imperial Naval Academy ( " Marineakademie " ) in 1874 . In his class would be three other future admirals : Otto von Diederichs , Viktor Valois and Gustav von Senden - Bibran . Lieutenant - Commander ( " Korvettenkapitän " ) Bendemann commanded the SMS " Olga " in 1884 as part of the newly formed West African - cruiser squadron ( " Westafrikanische Geschwader " ) , again under Rear Admiral Eduard von Knorr , to carry out " gunboat diplomacy " in Germany ’ s Western African area of interest , the colony of Kamerun , against a local revolt . Troops landed from Knorr ’ s SMS " Fürst Bismarck " and the " Olga " stormed the rebels and by 22 December succeeded in defeating the rebels . This led to treaties with France and Britain recognizing Cameroon as a German Colony . Afterward , a pleased Kaiser Wilhelm I awarded Bendemann the Prussian Order of the Royal Crown , 3rd Class with Swords . He and the German navy suffered a misfortune on 16 February 1894 . While Captain of the SMS Brandenburg taking a trial trip with forced drought the main boiler - tube burst , the explosion causing the death of over forty men . From 14 March until 31 December 1899 , he served as Chief of the Admiralty Staff ( " Admiralstab " ) . In this position he expressed his concern for what he saw as Germany ' s hopeless situation with a weak navy and facing Britain in isolation . One solution he saw an alliance with the United States , which was already a valuable trading partner of Germany . He also favored such " realpolitik " actions as the violation of Danish neutrality , in case of war with Great Britain , by immediately occupying the waterways of the Danish archipelago ( The Belts ) to deny the Royal Navy access to the Baltic Sea and Russia . From February 1900 until 1902 , he commanded the German East Asia Squadron ( " Ostasiengeschwader " ) from his flagships the SMS Irene , and then the SMS Hertha . When Bendemann took command of the East Asia Squadron , he found it unprepared for the challenges presented by the Boxer Rebellion . He actually had to borrow charts from the Russians and maps from the British in order to operate in the Yellow Sea . Nevertheless , he forcefully advanced the idea of taking the Taku Forts and the ships under his command were able to make a noteworthy contribution in the Battle of Taku Forts . On 8 June 1900 he brought the large cruisers SMS " Hansa " , SMS Hertha and the small cruisers SMS Gefion and SMS Irene before the Taku Fort ( together with warships of other nations ) to landing detachments of " Seebataillone " ( marines ) for the protection of their citizens in Tientsin From 1903 through 1907 , he was head of the North Sea Naval Station " Marinestation der Nordsee " in Wilhelmshaven . Admiral von Bendemann died in Halensee ( Berlin ) on 31 October 1915 .