Order of Double Dragon (and other awards) of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz

Second Class First Grade set.

In the collection of International Maritime Museum in Hamburg.

 

Alfred Peter Friedrich von Tirpitz (19 March 1849 – 6 March 1930) was a German grand admiral, Secretary of State of the German Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the German Imperial Navy from 1897 until 1916. Prussia never had a major navy, nor did the other German states before the German Empire was formed in 1871. Tirpitz took the modest Imperial Navy and, starting in the 1890s, turned it into a world-class force that could threaten Britain's Royal Navy. However, during World War I, his High Seas Fleet proved unable to end Britain's command of the sea and its chokehold on Germany's economy. The one great engagement at sea, the Battle of Jutland, ended in a narrow German tactical victory but a strategic failure. As the High Seas Fleet's limitations became increasingly apparent during the war, Tirpitz became an outspoken advocate for unrestricted submarine warfare, a policy which would ultimately bring Germany into conflict with the United States. By the beginning of 1916, he was dismissed from office and never regained power.​

Admiral owned an impressive collection of awards and decorations.

German orders and decorations

Prussia
Knight of the Royal Crown Order, 2nd Class, 3 September 1892; with Star
Knight of the Red Eagle, 2nd Class with Oak Leaves, 18 January 1897; with Star, 27 January 1899; Grand Cross with Crown and Swords on Ring
Commander's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, with Star, 13 September 1901; Grand Commander's Cross with Swords
Knight of the Black Eagle, with Collar in Diamonds
Service Award Cross
Pour le Mérite (military), 10 August 1915
Iron Cross, 1st Class

Brunswick: Grand Cross of the Order of Henry the Lion, 1902

Baden
Grand Cross of the Zähringer Lion, with Oak Leaves, 1899; with Golden Collar, 1901
Knight of the House Order of Fidelity

Bavaria: Grand Cross of the Military Merit Order

Bremen: Hanseatic Cross

Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg Saxe-Meiningen Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order

Hesse and by Rhine:
Grand Cross of the Merit Order of Philip the Magnanimous, with Crown, 18 September 1903

Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe Lippe: Cross of Honour of the House Order of Lippe

Mecklenburg-Schwerin: Grand Cross of the Griffon

Oldenburg: Grand Cross of the Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig, with Golden Crown

Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: Grand Cross of the White Falcon

Saxony
Grand Cross of the Albert Order, 1899
Knight of the Rue Crown

Württemberg
Grand Cross of the Friedrich Order, 1898
Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown

Foreign orders and decorations

Austria-Hungary
Grand Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph, 1895
Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Leopold, 1900
Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen, 1911

Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold

Kingdom of Bulgaria: Grand Cross of St. Alexander

Denmark: Grand Cross of the Dannebrog, 31 December 1906

France: Commander of the Legion of Honour

Greece Kingdom of Greece: Grand Cross of the Redeemer

Kingdom of Italy
Grand Cross of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
Grand Officer of the Crown of Italy

Empire of Japan: Grand Cordon of the Rising Sun, with Paulownia Flowers

Norway: Grand Cross of St. Olav, 15 December 1906

Ottoman Empire: Order of Osmanieh, 1st Class

Qing dynasty: Order of the Double Dragon, Class II Grade I

Kingdom of Romania: Grand Cross of the Star of Romania

Russian Empire
Knight of St. Alexander Nevsky, in Diamonds, August 1902 – during the visit of the German Emperor to the Russian fleet maneuvers in Reval.
Knight of the White Eagle

Spain
Grand Cross of Naval Merit, with White Decoration, 1902
Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III, 2 November 1905
Grand Cross of Military Merit

Sweden
Commander of the Sword, 2nd Class, 1890
Commander Grand Cross of the Order of Vasa, 1908

United Kingdom: Honorary Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 1 July 1904 – during the visit of King Edward VII to Kiel.