[3] After Naval School graduation at Kiel[4] and Atlantic training voyages on the Prussian sail frigate SMS Niobe, he was commissioned Unterleutnant zur See [Lieutenant JG] in 1867.

After that staff position, he requested and then was assigned to sea duty as executive officer of the corvette SMS Luise for a "two-year tour on the East Asian station beginning in October 1878".

[10] His career was saved after Kaiser Wilhelm II recalled Rear Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz from East Asia to Berlin, an action that created a vacancy in 1897 for Diederichs to fill.

With the initially-tenuous hold on the bay somewhat solidified by December 1897 by the arrival of additional ships of a second cruiser division, Diederichs continually had to deal with multiple small crises involving the movements of Chinese forces with often aggressive intentions.

The situation changed favorably on 26 January 1898, when the steamer Darmstadt disembarked the 1,200 Marines of 3rd Sea Battalion to garrison the East Asian station.

[15] Following the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in February of 1898, Diederichs led a fleet towards the Philippines in an attempt to seize the islands before American ships under Admiral George Dewey could arrive.

[16] Dewey requested that the United States send more ships to prevent Germany from seizing the Philippines, and Diederich's fleet eventually retreated.

On 14 April 1899, Diederichs handed command of the East Asia fleet at Qingdao to Rear Admiral Prince Heinrich of Prussia.

He discovered serious organizational discords with the Tirpitz administration that he could not overcome, he did not have Wilhelm II's ear, he had few influential peers and his operational authority over ships at foreign stations was "undermined".