Richard Eckermann

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Richard Eckermann
Born	(1862-07-15)15 July 1862 Ratzeburg
Died	13 January 1916(1916-01-13) (aged 53) Kiel
Allegiance	German Empire
Service/branch	Imperial German Navy
Years of service	1881-1916
Rank	Vizeadmiral
Commands held	SMS Schwaben SMS Braunschweig SMS Brandenburg SMS Panther
Battles/wars	World War I

Heinrich Paul Christian Richard Eckermann (15 July 1862, near

.

Life

Eckermann was the fourth child of the justice-councillor Rudolf Eckermann (1824-1904) and his wife Marie (1840-1873). He was born in Ratzeburg, but in 1864 his parents moved to Flensburg then in 1867 to the naval town of Kiel. From 1869 to 1881 he attended the Kieler Gelehrtenschule, moving to the Abitur in 1881 and finally enrolling as a naval cadet on 12 April 1881.

His first postings were to

in November 1884 and posted to the officer-training course at the Marineschule.

A series of short postings to training ships followed, taking him to the West Indies and the Mediterranean as well as the North Atlantic. He then travelled to North and South America and the West Indies for 18 months on board SMS Ariadne. He was then sent on a longer posting to the Marinedetachement and the Artillerieprüfungskommission in Berlin. During this time he was temporarily in command of the torpedo boat V 6, travelling between Berlin and Potsdam on the rivers Elbe, Havel and Spree and remaining on standby to transport the Kaiser. In this position he fired a torpedo on the Havelsee in front of the imperial family and received his first decoration, the fourth class of the Order of the Crown, presented personally by the Crown Prince.

His Berlin posting was followed by a series of shorter postings to training ships in the Matrosendivision and in the Torpedoabteilung in Wilhelmshaven, as First Officer on the SMS Bremse, the fishery protection on the North Sea and as commander of torpedo boats at various training and active divisions. In April 1894 Eckermann was promoted to Kapitänleutnant and travelled to South America on the steamer München to join SMS Arcona as its navigation officer. This posting lasted eighteen months in South America and the Far East, during which he later moved to SMS Marie.

After returning home, Eckermann was made Kompanieführer in the III. Marine-Artillerie-Abteilung in

, holding that position until March 1914. From March to August 1914 he was inspector of the torpedo force at Kiel.

Shortly after the start of

first class.

Ranks

Sources

• (in German) Militärischer Personalbogen des Vizeadmiral Richard Eckermann (1862-1916)
• (in German) Tagebücher R. Eckermann im Familiennachlass
• (in German) Hildebrand, Hans H. / Henriot, Ernest - Deutschlands Admirale 1849–1945. Die militärischen Werdegänge der See-, Ingenieur-, Sanitäts-, Waffen- und Verwaltingsoffiziere im Admiralsrang. Band 3, Biblio-Verlag Osnabrück, 1988

External links

• (in German) Das Kaiserlich Deutsche Marineoffizierkorps 1914/18
• Commanders of the High Seas Fleet Battle Squadrons 1914-1918
• IMPERIAL GERMAN NAVY 1897-1918
• I Scouting Group