Building the Kaiser's Navy

Book excerpt: His considerable talents as a politician, shipbuilder, strategist, propagandist and manager were to a great degree responsible for the High Seas Fleet encountered by the Royal Navy at Jutland. Ironically, von Tirpitz never commanded the navy he built. Weir does not fail to delineate the shortcomings of his naval system, which was responsible for the fact that those in charge of the fleet's operations played little part in its creation. Von Tirpitz's system also resulted in a disregard of the significance of U-boat potential and a lack of geographic, strategic, and operational considerations. Nevertheless, his profound influence in the navy persisted through the Weimar Republic and into the Third Reich, in the policies of Admiral Erich Raeder, veteran of Jutland.