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. 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. During WWI, under the successive control of Admirals
Hugo von Pohl,
Gustav Bachmann and
Henning von Holtzendorff, the Admiralty Staff closely directed German efforts at submarine commerce raiding, pushing strongly and repeatedly for
unrestricted submarine warfare. The decisions made by the Admiralty Staff in the conduct of the campaign, which was a major factor leading to the
American entry into World War I, has been strongly criticized by postwar German authors. The Admiralty Staff would eventually be reorganized under
Reinhard Scheer with the creation of a
single supreme naval command in August 1918, shortly before the end of the war. == Chiefs of the Admiralty Staff ==