Nikolaus zu Dohna-Schlodien
| Nikolaus zu Dohna-Schlodien | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
5 April 1879 Mallmitz, Province of Silesia, Imperial Germany |
| Died | 21 August 1956 (aged 77) Baierbach, West Germany |
| Allegiance |
 Imperial Germany
|
| Service/branch |
 Kaiserliche Marine
|
| Years of service | 1896-1919 |
| Rank | Fregattenkapitän |
| Commands held |
SMS Tsingtau Möwe |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards |
Pour le Mérite Military Order of Max Joseph Military Order of St. Henry Military Merit Order (Württemberg) Military Karl-Friedrich Merit Order |
Nikolaus Burggraf und Graf zu Dohna-Schlodien (5 April 1879 – 21 August 1956) was a German naval officer and author.
Nikolaus zu Dohna-Schlodien was born in Mallmitz (today Małomice, Poland) to Alfred zu Dohna-Schlodien (1849–1907) and Margarethe née von der Hagen (1845–1932).
Dohna-Schlodien joined the German Imperial Navy in 1896, became a Second Lieutenant in 1899 and First Lieutenant in 1902. Immediately after the Boxer Rebellion he served on SMS Tiger in East Asia in 1901/02 and became the Commander of the Kanonenboot Tsingtau in 1910-12. In 1913 he became the Navigation officer of Posen and was promoted to a Korvettenkapitän.
In 1915, after the outbreak of World War I, the banana freighter Pungo of the F. Laeisz line was reconstructed as a minelayer and armed merchantman, renamed Möwe, and placed under Dohna’s command. Through his success as commander of the Möwe, Dohna and his crew became popular war heroes like the crews of Wolf (commanded by Karl August Nerger) and Seeadler (commanded by Felix von Luckner). A motion picture was made in 1917 about Dohna's exploits, and he was appointed naval adjutant to the German emperor, Wilhelm II.
After World War I Dohna-Schlodien commanded a Freikorps in the Silesian Uprisings and retired from the Navy in 1919. He worked as a merchant in Hamburg and moved to Baierbach in the 1930s, where he died in 1956.
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