In 1849, Werner became an officer in the German (Imperial Fleet), which had been organised the year before. In 1852, he transferred to the (Prussian Navy), The accepted only ten applicants to the officer corps that year. Werner was the only officer in the first group who was directly commissioned as a lieutenant; the other nine became
officer cadets. He was promoted to the rank of (captain lieutenant) in 1856. While commanding the vessel , He fought with distinction at the
Battle of Jasmund, under the command of
Eduard von Jachmann; Werner's ship, , was badly damaged during the engagement and her crew suffered 13 casualties. The Danes successfully blocked the Prussian attempt to break through the Danish blockade, however, and forced them to return to
Swinemünde. Werner and the rest of the fleet stationed there remained in port for the rest of the war. At the outbreak of the
Austro-Prussian War, in the summer of 1866, He was given command of a small squadron in the North Sea consisting of the
ironclad warship and a flotilla of small steam gunboats. He used the force to launch several troop landings against the
Kingdom of Hanover, an ally of Austria. He led most of the landings himself; his activities forced the surrender of several Hanoverian coastal batteries and several cities, including
Emden and
Stade. On 15 June, he and his squadron assisted 13,500 men commanded by General
Edwin von Manteuffel in their crossing of the
Elbe River and assault of the city of
Hanover. After the Austro-Prussian War, Werner was given command of the dock facilities in
Danzig, a position he held until 1873. In 1870, the
Franco-Prussian War broke out, during which he was given command of the new ironclad . The two other broadside ironclads, and , suffered from chronic engine problems which prevented Admiral Jachmann from using the force offensively. Nevertheless, Werner sortied from Wilhelmshaven several times to trade shots with the blockading French fleet. Directly after the war with France, Werner pledged his support to General
Albrecht von Stosch, who had been proposed as the new commander of the German fleet. In the fall of 1872, Werner commanded a training cruise to South America; his squadron consisted of , , , and . While on the cruise, Werner received orders to return most of the squadron to Europe to participate in an international intervention in Spain. Only remained in the Americas.
Intervention in Spain In early 1873, the
First Spanish Republic was beset with the
Cantonal Revolution. Werner commanded the ironclad (his
flagship), , and the
gunboat on a naval intervention mission. The ships joined a British squadron that had been patrolling the southern Spanish coast. Admiral Werner, the senior commander in the group, was given command of the Anglo-German force. A rebel faction of the
Spanish Navy had seized four of the country's seven ironclads. Werner's squadron blockaded two rebel ironclads in the
port of Cartagena after they had bombarded a coastal town. While steaming off
Alicante, encountered the rebel armed steamer
Vigilante, seized the vessel, and returned it to the Spanish national government. Werner ordered and the British ironclad to attack two of the rebel ships— and —without authorization from London or Berlin. The rebel vessels had attempted to extort the port of
Almería. In the brief engagement, the Anglo-German force overwhelmed the rebels and seized both ships, which were subsequently turned over to the Spanish government. A captured rebel leader was briefly held on board . Bismarck also prohibited the Imperial Navy from conducting "
gunboat diplomacy" in the future.
Alfred von Tirpitz, later the architect of the German
High Seas Fleet, characterized Stosch's policies as more befitting an infantry regiment than an armoured warship, which was a "complicated microcosm of technology." Stosch fought back against his critics, and targeted Werner in particular, who Stosch felt was primarily responsible for allowing the investigation to become a forum for officers opposed to himself. In addition to revenge for the handling of the investigation, Stosch sought to force Werner from the navy to remove one of only two officers senior in rank to Batsch, his protégé. Despite his popularity, particularly with Kaiser Wilhelm I and his son, Werner was unable to resist Stosch's efforts to force his ouster. On 15 October 1878, he requested retirement. In 1898, the navy nominated him to be promoted to (vice admiral). ==Later life==