Franz von Hipper
| Franz Ritter von Hipper | |
|---|---|
Admiral Franz Ritter von Hipper
|
|
| Born |
13 September 1863 Weilheim in Oberbayern, Bavaria |
| Died | 25 May 1932 (aged 68) Othmarschen, Germany |
| Allegiance |
 German Empire
|
| Service/branch |
 Kaiserliche Marine
|
| Years of service | 1881–1918 |
| Rank | Admiral |
| Commands held | Commander-in-Chief of the High Seas Fleet |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | see below |
| Franz von Hipper | |
|---|---|
| Commander of High Seas Fleet | |
|
In office August 1918 – November, 1918 |
|
| Preceded by | Reinhard Scheer |
| Succeeded by | position abolished |
Franz Ritter von Hipper (13 September 1863 – 25 May 1932) was an admiral in the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine). Franz von Hipper joined the German Navy in 1881 as an officer cadet. He commanded several torpedo boat units and served as watch officer aboard several warships, as well as Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht SMY Hohenzollern. Hipper commanded several cruisers in the reconnaissance forces before being appointed commander of the I Scouting Group in October 1913. He held this position until 1918, when he succeeded Admiral Reinhard Scheer as commander of the High Seas Fleet.
He is most famous for commanding the German battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group during World War I, particularly at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916. During the war, Hipper led the German battlecruisers on several raids of the English coast, for which he was vilified in the English press as a "baby killer." His squadron clashed with the British battlecruiser squadron at the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915, where the armored cruiser Blücher was lost. At the Battle of Jutland, Hipper's flagship Lützow was sunk, though his ships succeeded in sinking three British battlecruisers.
After the end of the war in 1918, Franz von Hipper retired from the Imperial Navy with a full pension. He initially lived under an alias and moved frequently to avoid radical revolutionaries during the German Revolution of 1918–1919. After the revolution settled, he moved to Altona outside Hamburg. Unlike his superior, Reinhard Scheer, he never published a memoir of his service during the war. Hipper died on 25 May 1932. The Kriegsmarine commemorated Hipper with the launching of the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper in 1938.
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