Anton Haus Anton Haus ( June 13 , 1851 – February 8 , 1917 ) was an Austrian naval officer . Despite his German surname , he was born to a Slovenian - speaking family in Tolmein ( now Tolmin , Slovenia ) . Haus was fleet commander of the Austro - Hungarian Navy in World War I and was the Navy ' s Grand Admiral from 1916 until his death . Biography . Haus entered the Navy in 1869 . He distinguished himself as an instructor at the Imperial and Royal Naval Academy in Fiume ( now Rijeka ) ; a product of his academic study was " Oceanography and Maritime Meteorology " ( 1891 ) . Returning to a seagoing command , Haus was commander of a corvette during the multinational intervention in the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900 / 01 . After the suppression of the insurrection Haus remained in Peking ( now Beijing ) until 1902 . Promoted to " Vizeadmiral " in 1907 , Haus was Austro - Hungarian envoy to the second Hague Peace Conference from May to October of that year . Appointed " Flotteninspekteur " ( Fleet Inspector ) in 1912 , Haus succeeded Rudolf Montecuccoli as " Marinekommandant " ( Navy Commander ) and " Chef der Marinesektion " ( Chief of the Naval Section of the War Ministry ) on 24 February 1913 . Perhaps unaware of the gravity of the situation , Haus was notably absent during the July Crisis of 1914 . At the crucial crown council of 7 July 1914 , where drastic action against Serbia was decided upon , Karl Kailer von Kaltenfels stood in for his chief . Upon the outbreak of war , Haus was named " Flottenkommandant " ( Fleet Commander ) . When Italy entered the war , Haus sent the battle fleet to bombard Ancona and other Italian Adriatic ports on the night of 23 / 24 May 1915 , but for the most part he left the active fighting to the light forces — fast cruisers , destroyers and submarines . A shrewd naval strategist , Haus recognized that the real value of his battle fleet lay in maintaining its existence as a fleet in being to counter the threat of the Allied powers . His strategy received severe German criticism , but he was strongly supported by his own high command , including the " Marineinspekteur " , Erzherzog Karl Stephan ( Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria ) . Like his German counterpart , Alfred von Tirpitz , Haus favored unrestricted submarine warfare . In 1916 Haus became the only active - duty Austro - Hungarian naval officer ( aside from members of the Imperial house ) to be promoted to " Grossadmiral " ( Grand Admiral ) . ( His immediate successor , Maximilian Njegovan , was named a " Grossadmiral " in 1918 , but on the retired list . ) Haus died of pneumonia in Pola ( now Pula ) on 2 February 1917 and was buried at the naval military cemetery ( " k . u . k . Marinefriedhof " ) . Emperor Karl I attended the funeral and later conferred upon him the posthumous honour of Commander of the Military Order of Maria Theresa . With Pula under Italian sovereignty postwar , Haus ' s remains were transferred to Vienna in 1925 . Haus was succeeded as " Marinekommandant " and " Flottenkommandant " by Maximilian Njegovan and as " Chef der Marinesektion " by Karl Kailer von Kagenfels ; Njegovan was appointed to the latter post in April 1917 . The fleet that Haus had so scrupulously maintained as a ' fleet in being ' was parcelled out among the victorious powers after 1918 .