, and died 26 September 1920 in Kiel

Kiel

Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

, 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

Marinestation der Nordsee

The Marinestation der Nordsee of the German Imperial Navy Kaiserliche Marine at Wilhelmshaven, Germany came out of the efforts of the navy of the North German Confederation. The land was obtained for the Confederation from the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg by Prince Adalbert of Prussia through the...

) at Wilhelmshaven

Wilhelmshaven

Wilhelmshaven is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea.-History:...

.

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)

SMS Bayern (1878)

SMS Bayern was one of four armored frigates of the German Imperial Navy. Her sisterships were , , and . Named for Bavaria, Bayern was built by the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel from 1874 to 1881. The ship was commissioned into the Imperial Navy in August 1881...

 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 Moltke (1877)

SMS Moltke was a German three-masted, full-rigged frigate of the Kaiserliche Marine. Construction of the ship began in 1875; on 18 October 1877 SMS Moltke was launched and commissioned on 16 April 1878. She had an unplated iron hull and a steam engine...

, SMS Stosch, and SMS Gneisenau (1879)

SMS Gneisenau (1879)

SMS Gneisenau was a three-masted, full-rigged sail frigate of the German Kaiserliche Marine [Imperial Navy] with an unplated iron hull and a steam engine. The ship was named after the Prussian field marshal August von Gneisenau....

.

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

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, suggesting instead an attack on Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 which would pull the American ships away from their Atlantic coastal bases.

As a member of the Kaiserlicher Yacht Club

Kaiserlicher Yacht Club

Kaiserlicher Yacht-Club, "Imperial Yacht Club", was one of the forerunners of the Kiel Yacht Club. Known also as "Küz" from its acronym KYC, it was a prestigious yacht club located in the harbor city of Kiel, Germany. German Emperor Wilhelm II, his younger brother Prince Heinrich of Prussia and...

 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

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 and the North-Baltic Sea Canal (Kiel Canal

Kiel Canal

The Kiel Canal , known as the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal until 1948, is a long canal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.The canal links the North Sea at Brunsbüttel to the Baltic Sea at Kiel-Holtenau. An average of is saved by using the Kiel Canal instead of going around the Jutland Peninsula....

) from enemy raids from the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

. 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

Prince Heinrich of Prussia

Prince Henry of Prussia was a younger brother of German Emperor William II and a Prince 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

Franz von Hipper

Franz Ritter von Hipper was an admiral in the German Imperial Navy . Franz von Hipper joined the German Navy in 1881 as an officer cadet. He commanded several torpedo boat units and served as watch officer aboard several warships, as well as Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht Hohenzollern...

 as navigator aboard his flagship the SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm

SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm

SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm"SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff", or "His Majesty's Ship" in German. was one of the first ocean-going battleshipsAt the time she was laid down, the German navy referred to the ship as an "armored ship" , instead of "battleship" , see Gröner, p13. of the German...

.

In 1900, he objected, along with his counterpart Hans von Koester

Hans von Koester

Hans Ludwig Raimund von Koester was a German naval officer who served in the Prussian Navy and later in the Imperial German Navy. He retired as a Grand Admiral....

, commander of the Second Division (Baltic Sea Naval Station) in Kiel

Kiel

Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

, to the poor preparation and staffing of the German Imperial Admiralty Staff

German Imperial Admiralty Staff

The German Imperial Admiralty Staff was a military institution established in 1899 under the direct authority and command of the German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II for managing the German Imperial Navy...

 under Otto von Diederichs

Otto von Diederichs

Ernst Otto von Diederichs was an Admiral of the German Imperial Navy, serving in the predecessor Prussian Navy and the Navy of the North German Confederation.-Education, war and peace:Diederichs entered the Prussian...

. 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

German Imperial Naval Academy 1872-1918

The German Imperial Naval Academy at Kiel, Germany, was from 1872 until the end of the First World War the higher education institution of the German Imperial Navy, Kaiserliche Marine, where naval officers were prepared for problems in higher levels of command...

 (Marineacademie) to Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

.

He supported the activities of the German Navy League

Navy League (Germany)

The Navy League or Fleet Association in Imperial Germany was an interest group formed on April 30 1898 on initiative of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz through the German Imperial Naval Office which he headed to support the expansion of the Imperial Navy ...

 (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

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 he came to oppose the "soft" policy of Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg

Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg

Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg was a German politician and statesman who served as Chancellor of the German Empire from 1909 to 1917.-Origins:...

 toward Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and came to support a resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare

Unrestricted submarine warfare

Unrestricted submarine warfare is a type of naval warfare in which submarines sink merchantmen without warning, as opposed to attacks per prize rules...

 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

Bremerhaven

Bremerhaven is a city at the seaport of the free city-state of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms an enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham...

 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

Saint Barbara

Saint Barbara, , Feast Day December 4, known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an early Christian saint and martyr....

, the patroness of artillerymen. He died there 26 September 1920, having seen his beloved fleet destroyed at Scapa Flow

Scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow

The scuttling of the German fleet took place at the Royal Navy's base at Scapa Flow, in Scotland, after the end of the First World War. The High Seas Fleet had been interned there under the terms of the Armistice whilst negotiations took place over the fate of the ships...

.