Imperial German Navy order of battle (1914)

[1] Under the Kaiser were a number of organisational bodies responsible for various aspects of the navy's administration and operation, each of which was directly responsible to the Kaiser: The departmental heads within the Imperial Naval Administration were:[1] The navy had a number of establishments to train its personnel, both generally and in specific technical areas.

A small force was stationed at Kiel for use in the Baltic, which could be quickly reinforced by North Sea-based units via the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal.

[4] A number of small units were formed whose primary purpose was coastal and harbour defence of the various naval bases in and around Wilhelmshaven.

Grand Admiral Prince Heinrich of Prussia, the brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II, was the commander-in-chief of the Baltic Fleet,[note 2] with Rear-Admiral Robert Mischke in operational command of units at sea.

[6] In addition to the main body of the Imperial German Navy stationed in home waters, Germany also maintained a number of overseas deployments of ships.