Hans Zenker

Hans Zenker (10 August 1870 in Bielitz – 18 August 1932 in Göttingen) was a German admiral.

Biography Born in Bielitz (now Bielsko-Biała, Poland), he entered the Imperial German Navy on 13 April 1889. After serving as captain of several torpedo boats, he commanded in turn the light cruisers in 1911 and in 1912–13. As captain of the battlecruiser in 1916–17, Zenker saw action in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916.

Zenker joined the Admiralty Staff in 1917. He was appointed to the North Sea area command in 1918, holding this post when the German war effort collapsed in November 1918.

After the war, he was an officer of the Reichsmarine, serving as Inspekteur der Marineartillerie from 1920 to 1923 and the top post of Chef der Marineleitung (Chief of the Naval Command) from October 1, 1924, to September 30, 1928. His tenure as head of the Reichsmarine saw the beginning of the rebuilding of the German fleet with the construction of light cruisers and torpedo boats and the planning of ships, later built as the Deutschland, Admiral Scheer, and Admiral Graf Spee.

Family The last years of his life Zenker spent in Osterode am Harz. His son, Karl-Adolf Zenker (1907-1998), held the office equivalent to Chef der Marineleitung—Inspector of the Navy—in the West German Bundesmarine from 1961 to 1967.