Career
He headed the Imperial Navy News Office (Nachrichtenbureau des Reichsmarineamts) and served as the Chief of the German Naval General Staff (Admiralstab) 12 March 1911 - 31 March 1913, and was present at the famous War Council of 8 December 1912. He worked with leaders of the German Empire such as Kaiser Wilhelm II, and admirals Alfred von Tirpitz, Georg Alexander von Müller, Gustav von Senden-Bibran, and Friedrich von Hollmann to build a strong German navy. He saw it as a means to secure Germany"s position on the world stage.
Also, he saw a great national navy as a unifying force for an empire still divided into various kingdoms.
At the Navy News Office he worked with and attempted to direct pressure groups such as the Pan-German League and the Colonial Society (Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft), and the Navy League (Germany) (Flottenverein). At the Kaiser"s request in January 1913, he was involved in efforts to plan a coordinated wartime use of the Italian and Austrian fleets in the Mediterranean to prevent French troop movements from North Africa.