German Imperial Admiralty Staff
The command structure had a negative impact on German naval warfare in World War I, as a professional head of the Imperial Navy, similar to the First Sea Lord, was not established until August 1918.In time of war the Admiralty Staff was to assume overall command of the Imperial Navy, although in peacetime it acted only in an advisory capacity.It also suited Tirpitz, because it removed the influence of the admiralty staff from naval planning, but it left him the possibility, in wartime, to reorganise command around himself.The decisions made by the Admiralty Staff in the conduct of the campaign, which was a major factor leading to the American entry into World War I, has been strongly criticized by postwar German authors.[5] The Admiralty Staff would eventually be reorganized under Reinhard Scheer with the creation of a single supreme naval command in August 1918, shortly before the end of the war.