Friedrich von Hollmann

Who was Friedrich von Hollmann?

Friedrich von Hollmann was an Admiral of the German Imperial Navy and Secretary of the German Imperial Naval Office under Emperor Wilhelm II.

Hollmann was born in Berlin, Germany. He entered the Prussian Navy in 1857 and made his first trip as a cadet aboard the SMS Amazone, the SMS Gefion and the SMS Thetis. In 1859-1862 he took part in the expedition to the Far East along with Karl Eduard Heusner whom he would follow years later as Secretary of the German Imperial Naval Office.

In 1863 he was appointed to the Central Division of the Prussian Navy Department.

During the Second Schleswig War in 1864 he commanded the gunboat SMS Wolf, and then served as a Lieutenant aboard the cadet school ship SMS Niobe. From 1867 to 1869 he was assigned to the naval school in Kiel.

In Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71 Hollmann was a Kapitänleutnant, then served the expedition to North and South America aboard SMS Gazelle.

Between 1874 and 1881 in the Central Division of the Admiralty, he commanded the cadet ships SMS Undine and SMS Medusa from 1876 to 1878, and then captained the academy corvette SMS Elisabeth of the Arcona class on its global tour from 1881 to 1883, the year the Krakatoa volcano broke out. On May 20, 1883 the German ship was stationed in the Sunda Strait, observing the ongoing eruption.