Building the Kaiser's navy

by Gary E. Weir

During the nineteenth century the British navy ruled the world's oceans unopposed. By the end of the century, however, Germany in particular was ready to challenge England's hegemony on the seas by building a powerful navy of its own. The selection of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, commander of the German cruiser squadron of the Far East, to carry out the task, proved to be a fortuitous choice. By the time of World War I, the German High Seas Fleet was a formidable opponent for the Royal Navy. This book by Gary E. Weir is the first major historical analysis of the interaction between the imperial German Navy and the German armaments industry during the era of Alfred von Tirpitz. Weir makes clear the significant contribution of von Tirpitz to Germany's rise as a naval power. As head of the imperial Naval Office (the Reichsmarineamt, or RMA), von Tirpitz gained leverage over private shipbuilders and armament suppliers and at the same time kept the navy independent of government control. His