Kaiser.

This is coolbert:

Here from the excellent web site "The Imperial German Navy, 1869 - 1919":

"Historian Barbara W. Tuchman speculates that Wilhelm had deep-seated doubts about the ability of German seamen to outfight British crews."

And the speculation of Tuchman is a follows: [from "The Guns of August"]

"although ship for ship it approached a match with the British and in gunnery was superior, the Kaiser, who could hark back TO NO [my emphasis] Drakes or Nelsons, could never really believe that German ships and sailor could beat the British. He could not believe bear to think of his 'darlings' . . . his battleships, shattered by gunfire, smeared with blood or at last, wounded and rudderless, sink beneath the waves"

The German Navy, in those days prior to Imperial Germany, NORMALLY a non-entity, in the pre-Dreadnought and Dreadnought era, became the SECOND LARGEST NAVY IN THE WORLD PRIOR TO WORLD WAR ONE [WW1], Germany also possessisng the SECOND LARGEST MERCHANT MARINE!

A formidable force, well-equipped and well-trained, prepared to do combat with the British.

The German Navy, at the behest of the Kaiser, becoming a force to be reckoned with, posing a challenge that the British, undisputed rulers of the seas for over one hundred years, were not accustomed to.





Indeed, those various treaties and alliances as engaged in by the world powers and most decidedly so the English prior to 1914 were in large measure a response to the prodigious naval build-up of the German? Alliances and treaties, designed to prevent war but rather leading to a world war as a consequence.

Much has been made, however, of the hesitancy of the German to deploy, sortie forth from protected bases, and engage the English in a decisive naval battle.

The TOP SECRET orders for the German Navy in time of war prior to 1914 was THAT THERE WERE NO ORDERS!

"Despite his prewar [WW1] swagger . . . he [the Kaiser] turned out quite timid when the actual risk of losing his beautiful ships was near at hand. You would think he were speaking of exquisitely made models, not deadly warships crewed by thousands of men ready to die for him. The Kaiser's vacillating moods would make an interesting psychiatric study"

In can be suggested that the German Navy was indeed numerically inferior to the British with regard to capital ships, those capital ships of the English being also superior in firepower, British naval commanders having more experience and a strong tradition, etc.

However, to the aggressive commander [German in this case], whether it be on land on at sea, numbers and firepower alone are not always requisite for victory. The inspired and able leader and commander will FIND A WAY TO VICTORY, EVEN WHEN THE ODDS ON PAPER ARE AGAINST HIM!

The inactivity, the sluggishness, the inertia of the High Sea Fleet was due primarily to a lack of mental wherewithal, a hesitancy, a lack of confidence

"The moral is to the physical as three is to one" - - Napoleon.

coolbert.