would only rarely decide a conflict and preferred having the best army in Europe rather than the worst fleet among the naval powers. Prussia nevertheless built up a small naval force of 13 makeshift warships (mixing of Galleys, Galiots and Gunboat) during the Seven Years' War. This embryonic fleet lost the battle of Frisches Haff in September 1759 to a Swedish naval force. The Prussians lost all ships and as a consequence the Swedes occupied Usedom and Wollin. However, the ships were replaced already in 1760, and the new flotilla served until the end of the war in 1763. Even so, the Prussian monarch wanted to take part in international maritime commerce and therefore founded several trading firms (with varying success). The Emden Company (officially, Royal Prussian Asiatic Company in Emden to Canton and China) operated four ships from 1751 to 1757. The Societé de Commerce maritime, founded in 1772, exists today as a foundation named the Preußische Seehandlung (roughly translated as Prussian Maritime Enterprise). The 19th century After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Prussia slowly began to build its own small fleet for coastal defense. Again, more value was placed on the development of a merchant fleet than on a navy. In this connection, the Prussian Maritime Enterprise played a significant role. Its ships were armed to protect against pirates and flew the Prussian war ensign. This protective fleet existed until around 1850. One of the first to work for the development of a Prussian Navy was Prince Adalbert of Prussia. He had made a number of journeys abroad and recognized the value of a fleet to support commercial interests and to protect one's own navigation. During the Revolutionary era of 1848–1852, at the behest of the Frankfurt National Assembly, the prince was given the responsibility of reestablishing an Imperial Fleet (Reichsflotte) -- a mission which the revolutionary parliament had undertaken in the face of the war with Denmark. The German Confederation possessed practically no fleet of its own, but relied upon the allied powers of Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Denmark. During the First War of Schleswig of 1848–1851, the failure of this strategy became clear because Great Britain and the Netherlands remained neutral and Denmark became the enemy. Within a few days, the Danish Navy halted all German maritime trade in the North and Baltic Seas. The navy of Austria, Prussia's ally, lay in the Mediterranean