Hans Zenker

Hans Zenker ( born August 10, 1870 in Bielsko-Biala; † August 18, 1932 in Göttingen ) was a German naval officer, Admiral and last from 1924 to 1928 head of the Navy Department of the Navy.

Life

After entry into the Imperial Navy on 13 April 1889, he served in various departments and was a commander of several warships, including destroyers, the light cruiser SMS Lübeck (1911) and SMS Cologne (1912 /13) and the battlecruiser SMS Von der Tann (1916 / 17). With the latter ship he took part in the Battle of Jutland.

1917 Zenker division chief in the Naval Staff and commander of the security of the North Sea in 1918, a position which he retained until the end of the First World War. After working as an inspector of naval artillery was Zenker 1920-1923 Chief of the Naval Station of the North Sea and then commander of the naval forces.

On October 1, 1924 Zenker was the simultaneous promotion to Admiral Chief of Naval Command and assumed the leadership of the Imperial Navy. His tenure was marked by efforts to consolidate the Imperial Navy after the turmoil of the Revolution and the cuts that were imposed on the German Navy by the Versailles Treaty. During this time, the procurement of larger new ships, coupled with a broad policy debate on the necessity of ironclads began.

Apart from the official procurement programs, there was extensive secret armament plans of the Navy, in the context of Lohmann affair came to the public in 1927/28. She led on September 30, 1928 dismissal by Zenker's defense minister Wilhelm Groener.

His last years were spent in Zenker Osterode am Harz. His son Karl Adolf Zenker was 1961-1967 Inspector of the Navy.