Henning von Holtzendorff

Henning Rudolf Adolf Karl von Holtzendorff (9 January 1853 – 7 June 1919) was a German admiral during World War I, who became famous for his December 1916 memo about unrestricted submarine warfare against the United Kingdom. He was a recipient of Order of the Black Eagle and the Pour le Mérite with oak leaves and was one of just six Grand Admirals of the Imperial German Navy.

Biography Holtzendorff was born into a noble family in Berlin on 9 January 1853. He joined the navy in 1869, served in the Franco-Prussian War and afterwards as a staff officer in the West Africa Squadron. Promoted to captain in 1897; he was present during the Boxer Rebellion as commander of a cruiser in the East Asia Squadron. He served as chief of staff at the Baltic Sea Naval Station and was director of the Imperial Shipyard at Danzig, before becoming a Vice Admiral in 1904. Two years later he was appointed commander of the I Battle Squadron. By 1909 he commanded the High Seas Fleet, becoming a full Admiral in the next year. In 1913 he was forced into retirement due to his opposition to rapid German naval expansion in competition with the British Royal Navy. In the same year he became a member of the Prussian House of Lords. This policy succeeded in disturbing both the Royal and the Merchant Navy with Allied shipping losses over 6 million GRT in 1917. German submarines became less successful when convoys were introduced, the US joined the war, and Britain was not compelled to surrender.

He was the husband of Margarethe Zitelmann and adoptive father to her widowed sister-in-law's two daughters. Admiral Holtzendorff died in the Uckermark district on 7 June 1919.

Decorations and awards Order of the Black Eagle with Collar (Prussia, 19 September 1912) Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle with oak leaves and swords on rings (Prussia) Order of the Crown, 1st class (Prussia) Pour le Mérite (22 March 1917) with oak leaves (1 February 1918) Commander of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Star and Swords Iron Cross, 1st and 2nd class Service Award (Prussia) Commander Second Class of the Order of the Zähringer Lion (Baden) Military Merit Order, 1st class with Swords (Bavaria) Hanseatic Crosses of Bremen and Hamburg Grand Cross of the Order of the Griffon (Mecklenburg) Honorary Grand Cross of the House and Merit Order of Peter Frederick Louis (Oldenburg) Friedrich August Cross, 1st class (Oldenburg) Grand Cross of the House Order of the White Falcon (Weimar) Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown (Württemberg) Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold (Austria)