The Plankton-Expedition and the Copepod Studies of Friedrich and Maria Dahl

Abstract

As a consequence of the Versailles Treaty the German Navy was not permitted to send her vessels to foreign ports. In 1919, a member of the German Admiralty, Captain Nippe, proposed that a German Naval vessel be outfitted and sent out on a major oceanographic expedition. In this way a German naval ship would be allowed to visit and “show the flag” in foreign ports, bringing a touch of home to Germans living abroad. Calling upon the proud tradition set by earlier German research expeditions, the plan found favor with the chief of the Admiralty. An unfinished Class C gunboat named Meteor (Fig. 1a) was selected for this purpose. With a displacement of 1300 tons, a length of 75 m and a keel depth of 4 m she was considered ideal for the task. The name had been inherited from an earlier gunboat which had distinguished itself in 1870 by defeating the French ship Bouvet.