German navy opened competition for new navigation device according to the Dutch newspaper De Tijd dated 16 May 1895

An item reported that the German department of navy opened a competition to obtain a device which made it able to see independent from the exact location of the compass  ship on another location on board in which direction the compass rose was pointing and so be able to steer the wanted course without seeing the compass. Answers were to be sent before 1 April 1896 to the nautical department of the navy department at Berlin, Germany. For the best answer was a price of 3.000 mark available. However if the navy thought it could be used on board and used it actually no further compensation was to be expected.