German Imperial Admiralty Staff

After the German unification of 1871, a united Imperial Navy was established as successor of the Prussian Navy and the North German Federal Navy, from 1 January 1872 under the authority of the German Imperial Admiralty (Kaiserliche Admiralität) led by Minister of State Albrecht von Stosch. With the accession of Emperor Wilhelm II in 1888, the naval forces strongly gained in importance. Soon after, the command structure was reorganized with the establishment of the Imperial Naval Cabinet, the German Imperial Naval High Command (Kaiserliches Oberkommando der Marine) and the Naval Office, from 1897 under State Secretary Alfred von Tirpitz.

In the course of the Anglo-German naval arms race, the Reichstag parliament in 1898 passed a new Naval Law, according to which the High Command was, on 14 March 1899, replaced by the Admiralty Staff responsible for planning, officer training, and naval intelligence. In time of war the Admiralty Staff was to assume overall command of the Imperial Navy, although in peacetime it acted only in an advisory capacity. Direct control of the various elements of the fleet was subordinated to officers commanding those elements, accountable to the Kaiser.[1]

This reorganization suited Wilhelm II, who wanted to maintain direct control of his ships. A disadvantage was that it split apart the integrated military command structure, which before had balanced the importance of the navy within overall defense considerations. It also suited Tirpitz, because it removed the influence of the admiralty staff from naval planning, but it left him the possibility, in wartime, to reorganise command around himself. Wilhelm II, however, never agreed to relinquish direct control of his fleet.[2]

(Chefs des Admiralstabs der Kaiserlichen Marine)

No.	Portrait	Chief of the Admiralty Staff	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Bendemann, FelixAdmiral Felix von Bendemann (1848–1915)	14 Mar 1899	31 Dec 1899	292 days
2		Diederichs, OttoVice-Admiral Otto von Diederichs (1843–1918)	1 Jan 1900	19 Aug 1902	2 years, 230 days
3		Diederichs, OttoVice-Admiral Wilhelm Büchsel (1848–1920)	20 Aug 1902	28 Jan 1908	5 years, 161 days
3		Baudissin, FriedrichAdmiral Friedrich Graf von Baudissin (1852–1921)	29 Jan 1908	5 Sep 1909	1 year, 219 days
4		Fischel, MaxAdmiral Max von Fischel (1850–1929)	6 Sep 1909	11 Mar 1911	1 year, 187 days
5		Heeringen, AugustVice-Admiral August von Heeringen (1855–1927)	12 Mar 1911	31 Mar 1913	2 years, 19 days
6		Pohl, HugoAdmiral Hugo von Pohl (1855–1916)	1 Apr 1913	1 Feb 1915	1 year, 306 days
7		Bachmann, GustavAdmiral Gustav Bachmann (1860–1943)	2 Feb 1915	3 Sep 1915	213 days
7		Holtzendorff, HenningGrand Admiral Henning von Holtzendorff (1853–1919)	4 Sep 1915	10 Aug 1918	2 years, 340 days
8		Scheer, ReinhardAdmiral Reinhard Scheer (1863–1928)	11 Aug 1918	14 Nov 1918	95 days

• Holger H. Herwig (1980). 'Luxury Fleet', The Imperial German Navy 1888-1918. London: The Ashfield Press. ISBN 0-948660-03-1.