Hugo von Pohl
Admiral Hugo von Pohl (25 August, 1855 – 23 February, 1916) was a leading officer of the Imperial German Navy. From 1913 to 1915 he served as Chief of the Admiral Staff, and from 1915 to 1916 as Chief of the High Sea Fleet.
Career
Hugo Pohl was born in Breslau on 25 August, 1855,[1] in his own words, "the son of a simple paymaster."[2] He entered the Imperial German Navy on 18 April, 1872,[3] and on 15 February, 1876, was promoted to the rank of Leutnant zur See, and on 20 November, 1879, to the rank of Oberleutnant zur See.[1] From 1882 to 1885 he served in the Torpedo Arm of the Navy, and would later be associated with the "Torpedo Gang" of Alfred von Tirpitz.[4] In 1882 he commanded the torpedo boat Ulan under Tirpitz's command in the first pitched torpedo boat versus fleet exercise outside port.[5] On 15 November, 1887, he was promoted to the rank of Kapitänleutnant and served in the corvette Carola, then in the Militärisch Atbteilung (Military Department) of the Imperial Navy Office. He later served as First Officer of the armoured frigate Württemberg.[1]
On 16 July, 1894, he was promoted to the rank of Korvettenkapitän and appointed to head the Zentralabteilung (Central Department) of the Navy Office.[1]
He was promoted to the rank of Fregattenkapitän on 16 November, 1898. He then commanded the coast defence ship Ägir and the cruiser Hansa. He participated in the Boxer Rising, and on 7 May, 1900, was promoted to the rank of Kapitän zur See.[1]
On 7 July, 1906, he was promoted to the rank of Kontre-Admiral.[6] He served as command of the Scouting Ships.
When William Michaelis took command of the First Squadron in 1909, Pohl told him: "Do not believe that I will allow myself to be ruled by an Admiralstab officer; I have been in the fleet long enough to know what I have to do."[7]
On 1 April 1913 he was appointed head of the Admiralstab. He was raised to the Prussian nobility later that year and became Hugo von Pohl.[8]
High Sea Fleet Command
In February 1915, Von Pohl replaced Friedrich von Ingenohl as commander of the High Sea Fleet. During his tenure, he executed a number of rather timid excursions into the North Sea, never really running much risk of a serious fleet action. Instead of a high-stakes surface action, Pohl ordered commencement of unrestricted submarine warfare against the enemy. He was forced to retreat from this policy after the Lusitania was torpedoed and lost on 7 May 1915. Thus obliged to work only with his surface fleet, his risk-averse style became harder to defend.
When liver cancer made him seriously ill in January, 1916, he ceded his command to Reinhard Scheer.
See Also
Bibliography
- Rangliste der Kaiserlich Deutschen Marine für das jahr 1905. Berlin: Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn.
- Rangliste der Kaiserlich Deutschen Marine für das jahr 1907. Berlin: Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn.
- Degener, Hermann A. L. (1906). Wer ist's? Unser Zeitgenossen. Leipzig: H. A. Ludwig Degener.
- Herwig, Holger H. (1973). The German Naval Officer Corps: A Social and Political History, 1890-1918. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.
- Kelly, Patrick J. (2011). Tirpitz and the Imperial German Navy. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253355935 (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
- Pohl, Admiral Hugo von (1920). Aus Aufzeichnungen und Briefen während der Kriegszeit. Berlin: Karl Siegismund.
| Naval Appointments | ||
| Preceded by ? |
Captain of S.M.S. Hansa before 8 May, 1900 |
Succeeded by ? |
| Preceded by Friedrich von Ingenohl |
Commander-in-Chief, High Sea Fleet Feb, 1915 – Jan, 1916 |
Succeeded by Reinhard Scheer |
Footnotes
