Hugo von Pohl Hugo von Pohl ( 25 August 1855 – 23 February 1916 ) was a German admiral who served during the First World War . He joined the Navy in 1872 and served in various capacities , including with the new torpedo boat s in the 1880s , and in the " Reichsmarineamt " ( Imperial Navy Office ) in the 1890s . He eventually reached the rank of " Vizeadmiral " and held the position of Chief of the Admiralty Staff in 1913 . He commanded the German High Seas Fleet from February 1915 until January 1916 . As the commander of the surface fleet , he was exceedingly cautious , and did not engage the High Seas Fleet in any actions with the British Grand Fleet . Pohl was an outspoken advocate of unrestricted submarine warfare , and he put the policy into effect once he took command of the fleet on 4 February 1915 . Seriously ill from liver cancer by January 1916 , Pohl was replaced by Reinhard Scheer that month . Pohl died a month later . Biography . Early career . Hugo von Pohl was born in Breslau , Prussian Silesia , on 25 August 1855 . He entered the " Kaiserliche Marine " ( Imperial Navy ) as a cadet in April 1872 . At the age of 24 , Pohl was promoted and given command of the sailing corvette . In the 1880s , he served with then - " Korvettenkapitän " Alfred von Tirpitz in his so - called " Torpedo Gang " , which advocated a greater emphasis on torpedo boat s in the German fleet . Pohl took command of the spar torpedo vessel , an early , experimental torpedo boat , in 1882 . Two years later , in late September 1884 , he was involved in an experiment with new torpedo boat designs from Schichau , Thornycroft , AG Vulcan , and AG Weser ; Pohl commanded one of the Schichau boats . During the exercises , Pohl ' s boat collided with the boat commanded by August von Heeringen . The former ' s boat sprung a leak , while the latter ' s rudder was damaged , but both safely returned to port . By the 1890s , Pohl had been transferred to the " Reichsmarineamt " ( Imperial Navy Office ) , where he would again work with Tirpitz after the latter was appointed as the State Secretary of the Navy . In 1900 , Pohl was assigned to the fleet that was sent to China to help suppress the Boxer Rebellion . While in China , he commanded the protected cruiser , which bombarded the Taku Forts . In May of that year , Pohl was promoted to " Korvettenkapitän " . He was promoted to the rank of " Konteradmiral " in 1906 . Thereafter he served as the commander of the reconnaissance forces of the German fleet . Pohl was promoted again , to " Vizeadmiral " , in January 1913 . That year , he was elevated to the nobility and , in April , became the Chief of the Admiralty Staff , a position he would hold for two years . As Chief of the Admiralty Staff , Pohl was involved in the German deliberations during the July Crisis in the aftermath of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian terrorists the previous month . Pohl , Helmuth von Moltke , the Chief of the General Staff , and Theobald von Bethmann - Hollweg , the , met the Kaiser after the monarch returned from a cruise to Norway with the bulk of the High Seas Fleet . Pohl and the others were present at several meetings with the Kaiser , which ultimately produced the " blank check " Wilhelm II extended to Austria - Hungary ; this decision ultimately helped to push Europe into the First World War by the end of the month . First World War . At the outbreak of war , Pohl , along with Georg von Müller , the Chief of the Imperial Naval Cabinet , and Friedrich von Ingenohl , the commander of the High Seas Fleet , believed that since the war would be over quickly , the fleet should be preserved intact . Together , they agreed that the fleet should be restrained to provide local defense of the German coast , rather than seek a decisive battle against the numerically superior British Grand Fleet . Pohl argued that U - boat s should be used to attack British merchant shipping . He pushed for fewer restrictions on the conduct of the commerce war beginning in late 1914 ; he further advocated abandoning the cruiser rules that handicapped the German effort , in favor of unrestricted submarine warfare . He presented his first plans for an unlimited commerce war in November 1914 , but these were rejected by the Kaiser and Bethmann - Hollweg so as not to antagonize neutral nations , in particular the United States . After the Battle of Dogger Bank , Pohl replaced Ingenohl as commander of the High Seas Fleet ; throughout his tenure as its commander , Pohl adopted a very cautious strategy in order to preserve the strength of the fleet . Pohl was a controversial choice to replace Ingenohl , in large part owing to his caution with the employment of the surface fleet . Two days after taking command , on February 4 , 1915 , Pohl gave the order to use unrestricted submarine warfare against the Allies ; he had managed to convince Bethmann - Hollweg by falsely promising him that U - boat commanders could distinguish between enemy and neutral steamers , and thus avoid provoking the United States . The policy was short - lived , however , as on 7 May 1915 , the U - boat " U - 20 " torpedoed and sank the passenger liner RMS " Lusitania " , causing a diplomatic crisis with the United States . To avoid drawing America into the war , Germany reinstated restrictions on the U - boat fleet . Aboard his flagship , , Pohl conducted a series of short operations into the North Sea over the course of 1915 . None of these operations ventured outside of the southern end of the North Sea , and the fleet never encountered any British forces . Pohl became seriously ill from liver cancer on 8 January 1916 and was taken to a hospital ship . He was subsequently moved to Berlin for surgery . He was relieved of command due to his poor health on 23 January ; his replacement as fleet commander was Reinhard Scheer . Pohl died a month later , on 23 February . Shortly before his death , he was awarded the Order of the Red Eagle with oak leaves and swords for his command of the fleet . In 1920 , Pohl ' s widow Ella published some of his papers in an effort to defend his reputation from postwar criticisms .