Germany
Franz von Hipper
1863–1932 Commander, I Scouting Group, 1913–1918; Commander, High Seas Fleet, 1918
Born in Weilheim in Bavaria, the son of an iron dealer who died when he was three, Franz Hipper joined the Imperial German Navy as a cadet in 1881 and became a torpedo specialist. He took command of the I Scouting Group, the German battlecruiser force, in October 1913. His raids on English coastal towns in 1914 drew condemnation in the British press, and at Dogger Bank in January 1915 his armored cruiser Blücher was lost. At Jutland on 31 May 1916 his ships sank three British battlecruisers, although his flagship Lützow was lost, and he received the Pour le Mérite. In August 1918 he succeeded Reinhard Scheer as commander of the High Seas Fleet. He retired on 13 December 1918 and died on 25 May 1932.