Karl Rudolf Brommy: German admiral, Philhellene, one of the organizers of the Greek and Prussian Navy

 

 

Karl Rudolf Brommy (1804 – 1860), was a German naval officer and a Philhellene.

He was born in the village of Anger, which was incorporated into the city of Leipzig in 1889. He was the son of Judge Johann Simon Bromme (1758-1808) and Friederike Louise Bromme (1771-1806). He lost his parents during his childhood. In 1818 he received permission from his guardian to become a sailor. He studied at the Hamburg Navigation School and then embarked on his first sea voyage with the boat “Heinrich”^[1].

Little is known about the early years of Brommy’s naval career after graduating from the Hamburg Naval Academy in the summer of 1820^[2].

He travelled extensively in Central America with the “Heinrich”. According to his own statements, he was then recruited on various American sailing ships as of 1822 and was promoted to captain in 1826^[3]. He also changed his surname from Bromme to Brommy during this period.

When Brommy was informed about the Greek Struggle for Independence, he decided to follow in early 1827, the British Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Lord of Dundonald (1775-1860)^[4], who came to Greece to take command of the Greek Navy.

Brommy initially served as the first officer of the flagship frigate “Hellas”, until 1828. In 1828 he was transferred to the corvette “Hydra”, with which he took part in the operations to rescue revolted Cretans to free Greece and to the suppression of piracy. It is worth noting here that the Corvette “Hydra” was an important ship of the Turkish-Egyptian fleet, which was captured by Cochrane and handed over to Greece. Then, in 1829, Brommy was placed in the squadron of the Greek Admiral Andreas Miaoulis, as captain of the steam-powered corvette “Epicheirisis” (a ship of the same type as the Karteria, designed by the great Philhellene Captain Abney Hastings). From this position he participated in the battle of Preveza (gulf of Arta) and finally in the liberation of Messolonghi, on May 2, 1829^[5].

In 1831 Brommy left Greece, and made a series of scientific trips to France, England and Germany, and eventually ended up in Saxony.

In 1832, Prince Othon of Bavaria was proclaimed King of Greece. Brommy was then part of the Greek Delegation, which under Kostas Botsaris, Andreas Miaoulis and Dimitrios Plapoutas, offered the crown of Greece to Othon and accompanied the young king to Greece. With the arrival of Othon in Greece, Brommy was initially appointed captain of the ship “Ermis”. He later became a member of the Committee of the Ministry of the Navy and commander of the Naval Station in Poros^[6].

During his next term in the Ministry of the Navy, Brommy created a new organizational plan for the Greek Navy. Later he became deputy commander of the military school, first in Aegina and then in Piraeus. His desire to establish a naval school did not come true during his service in Greece^[7]. According to his ideas, a naval school should be created on a ship, so that the manoeuvres to be successful in practice and not in theory. In many of his memoirs to King Othon, Brommy promoted his idea, but without success^[8]. Even when the Greek captain Leonidas Palaskas (1819-1880) had the same idea in 1846 and tried to create the “Naval Academy” on the corvette “Ludwig”^[9] , he failed due to the resistance of the political leadership.

After the revolution of September 3, 1843, Brommy was appointed president of the Maritime Court, where he served until April 19, 1849. He then formally retired from the Greek service. As early as 1845, King Frederick William IV of Prussia (1795-1861) had invited him to organize the Prussian Navy, after reading his handbook “Die Marine – eine gemeinverständliche Darstellung des gesammten Seewesens für Gebild”^[10]. Brommy had recorded all his experience from his participation in the navy, and especially in Greece, in an important book. This book was ideal for training young Navy sailors.

Brommy accepted the proposal of the Prussian King in 1848. It was presented to him, through the Prussian Minister of Trade and Shipping Arnold Duckwitz, by the President of the Frankfurt National Assembly Heinrich von Gagern^[11].

With his direct collaborator, Prince Adalbert of Prussia, Brommy devoted himself to the organization of the Prussian Navy from the beginning, being the captain of the flagship “Barbarossa”. On March 18, 1849, Brommy became Commander of the North Sea Fleet with the flagship of the Prussian fleet Barbarossa. A steamer similar to ‘’Karteria’’ and ‘’Epicheirisis’’ that Brommy had studied and commanded in Greece.

In fact, Brommy intervened and turned it to a powerful weapon, despite the minimal time he had to organize it. The strength of the newly formed Prussian Navy was quickly demonstrated in the Denmark – Prussia War of 1849. This war ended with the Battle of Heligoland on June 4, 1849^[12], which resulted in the London Protocol of May 8, 1852, which reinstated the pre-war status quo^[13].

Brommy was retired with the rank of rear admiral on June 30, 1853, due to his poor health and the disbandment of the early Prussian Navy. The decision was taken by the National Assembly of Frankfurt on April 2, 1852, with the aim of creating a new fleet. Despite all this, Brommy was accepted a commission as technical consultant in the Austrian Imperial Navy in June 1857. However, as his health further deteriorated, he resigned and retired with his family to Bremen, where he died in 1860^[14].

Karl Rudolf Brommy was a great Philhellene, with a significant contribution to Greece. Admiral Brommy participated in the liberation struggle of the Greeks. He then played an important role in setting up the Greek Navy and in designing a training program for naval officers. SHP honours this important Philhellene.

 

References

^[1] Uhlrich, Claus, ‘’Carl Rudolph Brommy. Der Admiral der ersten deutschen Flotte’’, εκδ. Semikolon Verlag, Βερολίνο, 2000.
^[2] Αρχείο υποναυάρχου Karl Rudolf Brommy (ανέκδοτο), Μουσείο Ναυτιλίας Brake, Ολδεμβούργο, Γερμανία.
^[3] Βλ. στο ίδιο.
^[4] Τρικούπης, Σπυρίδων, ‘’Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως’’, εκδ. Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Αθήνα, 2007,σελ. 118.
^[5] Wagner, Erwin, ‘’ Carl Rudolph Brommy (1804–1860) als Marineoffizier in Griechenland (1827–1849)’’, εκδ. Isensee-Verlag, Brake, 2009.
^[6] ‘’Εφημερίς της Κυβερνήσεως του Βασιλείου της Ελλάδος’’, 17 Αυγούστου 1835, Αθήνα, Φ.Ε.Κ. αριθμ.24.
^[7] Carsten, Jöhnk, ‘’ Ein Sachse erobert die Welt. Admiral Brommy zum 200. Geburtstag’’, εκδ. Schiffahrtsmuseum, Brake, 2004.
^[8] Αρχείο υποναυάρχου Carl Rudolph Brommy (ανέκδοτο), Μουσείο Ναυτιλίας Brake, Ολδεμβούργο.
^[9] Λυκούδης, Στυλιανός, ‘’Ολίγα τινά δια τον μέγαν του ναυτικού μας ευεργέτην, τον τότε Λεωνίδαν Χ. Παλάσκαν, πλοίαρχον του Β.Ν.’’, ιδ. εκδ., Αθήνα, 1938.
^[10] Brommy, Karl Rudolf,‘’ Die Marine – eine gemeinverständliche Darstellung des gesammten Seewesens für Gebildete aller Stände’’, εκδ. Carl E. Schünemann, Βερολίνο, 1849.
^[11] Αρχείο υποναυάρχου Carl Rudolph Brommy (ανέκδοτο), Μουσείο Ναυτιλίας Brake, Ολδεμβούργο.
^[12] ‘’Das Seegefecht bei Helgoland’’, εφ. ‘’Illustrirte Zeitung’’, Λειψία, 1849, αρ. φυλ. 27.
^[13] Beseler, Georg, ‘’Der Londoner Vertrag vom 8. Mai 1852 in seiner rechtlichen Bedeutung geprüft’’, εκδ. Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, Βερολίνο,1863.
^[14]  Wiechmann, Gerhard, ‘’Karl Rudolf Brommy (1804–1860) in deutschen Erinnerungsorten’’, εκδ. Isensee-Verlag, Brake, 2010.

 

Bibliography-Sources

• Brommy, Karl Rudolf, “Die Marine – eine gemeinverständliche Darstellung des gesammten Seewesens für Gebildete aller Stände“, εκδ. Carl E. Schünemann, Βερολίνο, 1849.
• Τρικούπης, Σπυρίδων, ”Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως”, εκδ. Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Αθήνα, 2007, σελ. 118.
• Uhlrich, Claus, “Carl Rudolph Brommy. Der Admiral der ersten deutschen Flotte“, εκδ. Semikolon Verlag, Βερολίνο, 2000.
• Carsten, Jöhnk, “Ein Sachse erobert die Welt. Admiral Brommy zum 200. Geburtstag’”, εκδ. Schiffahrtsmuseum, Brake, 2004.
• Αρχείο υποναυάρχου Carl Rudolph Brommy (ανέκδοτο), Μουσείο Ναυτιλίας Brake, Ολδεμβούργο.
• Beseler, Georg, “Der Londoner Vertrag vom 8. Mai 1852 in seiner rechtlichen Bedeutung geprüft”, εκδ. Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, Βερολίνο, 1863.
• “Das Seegefecht bei Helgoland”, εφ. “Illustrirte Zeitung”, Λειψία, 1849, αρ. φυλ. 27.
• Wagner, Erwin, “Carl Rudolph Brommy (1804–1860) als Marineoffizier in Griechenland (1827–1849)“, εκδ. Isensee-Verlag, Brake, 2009.
• Λυκούδης, Στυλιανός, ‘’Ολίγα τινά δια τον μέγαν του ναυτικού μας ευεργέτην, τον τότε Λεωνίδαν Χ. Παλάσκαν, πλοίαρχον του Β.Ν.’’, ιδ. εκδ., Αθήνα, 1938.
• “Εφημερίς της Κυβερνήσεως του Βασιλείου της Ελλάδος”, 17 Αυγούστου 1835, Αθήνα, Φ.Ε.Κ. αριθμ. 24.