Ludwig von Reuter (9 February 1869 – 18 December 1943) was a German admiral during World War I, who commanded the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet when it was interned at Scapa Flow at the end of the war. On 21 June 1919 he ordered the scuttling of the fleet to prevent the British from seizing the ships.
Reuter was born in Guben into a Prussian military family. His father, a colonel in the Prussian army, died during the Franco-Prussian War ...
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Ludwig von Reuter (9 February 1869 – 18 December 1943) was a German admiral during World War I, who commanded the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet when it was interned at Scapa Flow at the end of the war. On 21 June 1919 he ordered the scuttling of the fleet to prevent the British from seizing the ships.
Reuter was born in Guben into a Prussian military family. His father, a colonel in the Prussian army, died during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. In 1885, he became a cadet in the Imperial German Navy at the instigation of his mother.
A midshipman by the age of 17, he was promoted to sub-lieutenant in 1888. By 1910, he was a captain, commanding the heavy cruiser SMS Yorck.
Two months after the outbreak of World War I, he was made captain of the battlecruiser SMS Derfflinger, which he also commanded during the Battle of Dogger Bank. In September 1915, he became Commodore and commanding officer of the Second Scouting Group of five light cruisers (SMS Stuttgart, SMS Hamburg, SMS...
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