Hans von Koester  Hans Ludwig Raimund von Koester (29 April 1844 – 21 February 1928) was a German naval officer who served in the Prussian Navy and later in the Imperial German Navy. He retired as a Grand Admiral. Born Hans Ludwig Raimund Koester in 1844 in Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, he entered the Prussian Navy as a "Kadettenanwärter" (Cadet candidate) on 21 June 1859. He had an active seagoing career in the service, which became the North German Federal Navy in 1866, and then the Imperial German Navy in 1871. His first command was the naval brig "Undine" which he took on a 15-month voyage to North, Central, and South America in 1874–75. Promoted to "Korvettenkapitän" (Lieutenant-Commander) in 1875, he was later assigned to various training ships, the latest of which was the "Kreuzerfregatte" (cruiser-frigate) "Prinz Adalbert", which he took on a world cruise from 1878 to 1880. Koester was promoted to "Kapitän zur See" in 1881. Appointed commander of the "Segelfregatte" (sail frigate) in 1883, Koester next took command of the "Panzerkorvette" (armored corvette - later battleship) in 1884. In 1887 he was named commander of the "Panzerfregatte" (armored frigate - later armored cruiser) , long the largest ship in the fleet. From 1884 to 1887 he served 2.5 years as chief of staff of the German Imperial Admiralty ("Kaiserliche Admiralität"), then headed by "Admiral und General der Infanterie" Leo von Caprivi. In 1887 he became another 2.5 years as director of the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Dockyard) at Kiel. Then, until 1903 he occupied the post as commander of the Baltic Sea Naval Station in Kiel. In this capacity he strongly encouraged development of Kiel as a naval harbor and garrison town. When Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz presented his plan for a great battle fleet in June 1897, Koester objected on the grounds that there simply were not the personnel to cover such an expansion of the navy, and that the resources would be much better spent elsewhere.