Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Rear Admiral Karl Rudolf Brommy (changed his name to reflect the English pronunciation of his original name, Bromme) (September 10, 1804 January 9, 1860) was a German naval officer who helped establish the first unified German fleet, the Reichsflotte, during the First Schleswig War which broke out just before the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states. During his youth, he had served in the Chilean, Brazilian, and Greek Navies under the command of Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald. A skilled sea commander, Brommy also made significant contributions to German naval education and shore infrastructure. Born Karl Rudolf Bromme in Anger near Leipzig, he was the fifth child of Johann Simon Bromme and his wife, Louise; he was orphaned while still a child. In 1818, the youth received permission from his guardian to become a sailor; he studied at the navigational school in Hamburg and made his first sea voyage on the brig Heinrich. Eventually, he served on various United States sailing vessels. During this time, the young man altered the spelling of his name to Brommy, to match the English pronunciation. In 1820, during a stay on the western coast of South America, Brommy enlisted as a midshipman in the Chilean Navy, at the time when it was led by British nobleman Lord Thomas Cochrane, the former Royal Navy officer who had achieved distinction in the Napoleonic Wars. Cochrane undertook the education of young Brommy, so that the youth was soon fit to take on his first command: the 18-gun brigantine Maypo. Brommy took part in several actions in Chile's War of Independence against the Spanish including the capture of Valdivia. When Brazil became an independent empire in 1822, Cochrane left Chile in order to develop a Brazilian fleet. Bro. More:
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