page_title: Franz von Hipper
section_title: World War I
hierarchical_section_title: Franz von Hipper / Naval career / World War I
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Vizeadmiral Hipper mit Stab 1916. Vizeadmiral Hipper, der Befehlshaber der Aufklärungsschiffe in der Skagerrakschlacht, mit seinem Stab. Von links nach rechts: Kapt.-Ltnt. Friedrich Brutzer, Korvettenkpt. Erich Raeder, Marine-General-Oberarzt Hagenah, Vizeadmiral Hipper, Kapt-Ltnt. G.Hansen, Kaptn.-Ltnt. Oskar von der Luhe. 12163-16 Abgebildete Personen: Hipper, Franz von: Admiral, Chef der Hochseestreitkräfte, kaiserliche Marine, Deutschland (GND 118774492) Raeder, Erich: Großadmiral, Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine, Deutschland (GND 118743511) Brutzer, Friedrich: Kapitänleutnant, kaiserliche Marine, Deutschland Hagenah, Adolf: Marine-Generaloberarzt, kaiserliche Marine, Deutschland Hansen, Gottfried: Admiral, Chef der Marinestation der Ostsee, Deutschland (GND 116455659) Luhe, Oskar von der: Kapitänleutnant, kaiserliche Marine, Deutschland Information added by Wikimedia users. English: German Vice Admiral Hipper commander of the scouting force during the battle of Jutland and his staff.
context_page_description: Franz Ritter von Hipper was an admiral in the German Imperial Navy. 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.
context_section_description: After World War I broke out in 1914 Hipper led his battlecruisers on several raids against the English coastal towns. The first such raid occurred on 2 November 1914. Hipper's force included the battlecruisers Moltke, Von der Tann, and Seydlitz, his flagship, and the large armored cruiser Blücher, along with four light cruisers. The flotilla arrived off Great Yarmouth at daybreak the following morning and bombarded the port, while the light cruiser Stralsund laid a minefield. The British submarine HMS D5 responded to the bombardment, but struck one of the mines laid by Stralsund and sank. Shortly thereafter, Hipper ordered his ships to turn back to German waters. On the way, a heavy fog covered the Heligoland Bight, so the ships were ordered to halt until visibility improved and they could safely navigate the defensive minefields. The armored cruiser Yorck made a navigational error that led her into one of the German minefields. She  struck two mines and quickly sank; only 127 men out of the crew of 629 were rescued.
  A second operation followed on 15–16 December 1914; it targeted the towns of Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby. By this time Hipper's squadron had been augmented by the new battlecruiser Derfflinger. Twelve hours after Hipper left the Jade, the High Seas Fleet, consisting of 14 dreadnoughts and 8 pre-dreadnoughts and a screening force of 2 armored cruisers, 7 light cruisers, and 54 torpedo boats, departed to provide distant cover for the bombardment force. The Royal Navy had the capability to intercept and decode the German naval code, as a result of the capture of the light cruiser Magdeburg at the outbreak of the war. On 14 December, the British intercepted messages relating to the plan to bombard Scarborough. Vice Admiral Beatty's four battlecruisers, supported by six dreadnoughts and several cruisers and smaller vessels, were to ambush Hipper's battlecruisers.
  The evening of the 15th, the main German fleet encountered the six British battleships; Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl, convinced he was faced by the entire British fleet, turned in retreat. Hipper was unaware of his superior's decision, and so pressed on with the bombardment. The three towns were shelled briefly before Hipper turned back to the planned rendezvous point. By this time, Beatty's battlecruisers were in position to block Hipper's chosen egress route, while other forces were en route to complete the encirclement. Errors in signaling aboard the British ships and bad weather, however, allowed Hipper to escape the trap without incident. As a result of the civilian casualties inflicted in these raids, the British propaganda effort vilified Hipper as a "baby killer."
caption: Admiral Hipper (center) with his staff in 1916. Second from left: Erich Raeder, the future Großadmiral during World War II.
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