Taking a position as the fortress commander at Swinemünde on 29 September 1934, Canaris seemed to be near the end of his career as he settled into a sort of "provincial exile" with his family. Then in short order, Canaris caught wind of the dispute in the Reichswehr Ministry over the impending successor to the "Abwehr" chief Captain Conrad Patzig, who was forced to resign. Patzig recommended Canaris as his replacement due to his outstanding service record and because he considered him best suited for the position due to his previous experience in intelligence operations. His aspirations were quickly being realized and in his zeal for his new job, Canaris paid "little heed" to the warnings from Patzig about the "fiendish" machinations of the NSDAP's party and police organs. These admonitions principally concerned Reinhard Heydrich, head of the SS intelligence service known as the "Sicherheitsdienst" (SD), since he was not well-disposed towards the "Abwehr", believing that Germany's defeat during the First World War was attributable to military intelligence failures by the organization; moreover, Heydrich had aspirations to oversee all aspects of political intelligence-gathering for Germany.