Franz Ritter von Hipper was an admiral in the German Imperial Navy. Franz von Hipper joined the German Navy in 1881 as an officer cadet. He commanded several torpedo boat units and served as watch officer aboard several warships, as well as Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht SMY Hohenzollern. Hipper commanded several cruisers in the reconnaissance forces before being appointed commander of the I Scouting Group in October 1913.
SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm
Admiral Hipper (center) with his staff in 1916. Second from left: Erich Raeder, the future Großadmiral during World War II.
The sinking Blücher rolls over on her side
Seydlitz; heavily damaged during the battle of Jutland and attempting to limp home
The Imperial German Navy or the Kaiserliche Marine was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy, which was mainly for coast defence. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded the navy. The key leader was Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, who greatly expanded the size and quality of the navy, while adopting the sea power theories of American strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan. The result was a naval arms race with Britain, as the German navy grew to become one of the greatest maritime forces in the world, second only to the Royal Navy.
Major elements of the High Seas Fleet in the early 1910s
Proclamation of Wilhelm I as Emperor of Germany at Versailles, France in 1871
Wilhelm II in German Admiral's uniform in 1913
Alfred von Tirpitz