Editing Imperial German Navy (section)

===Air power===
Naval trials of balloons began in 1891, but the results were unsatisfactory and none were purchased by the navy. In 1895 Count [[Ferdinand von Zeppelin]] attempted to interest both the army and navy in his new [[rigid airship]]s, but without success. The Zeppelin rigids were considered too slow and there were concerns with their reliability operating over water. In 1909 the navy rejected proposals for aircraft to be launched from ships, and again in 1910 declined Zeppelin's airships. Finally in 1911, trials with aircraft began and in 1912 Tirpitz agreed to purchase the first airship for naval reconnaissance at a cost of 850,000 marks.

The machine had insufficient range ({{cvt|1440|km}}) to operate over Britain, but had machine guns for use against aircraft and experimental {{cvt|80|kg|lb}} bombs. The following year ten more were ordered and a new naval air division was created at [[Johannisthal Air Field|Johannisthal]], near Berlin. However, in September 1913 [[Zeppelin LZ 14|L 1]] was [[Helgoland Island Air Disaster|destroyed in a storm]], while the following month [[Zeppelin LZ 18|L 2]] was lost in a [[Johannisthal Air Disaster|gas explosion]]. Orders for the undelivered machines were cancelled, leaving the navy with one machine, the [[List of Zeppelins#LZ 24|L 3]].

In 1910 Prince Heinrich had learned to fly and supported the cause of naval aviation. In 1911 experiments took place with Albatros seaplanes and in 1912 Tirpitz authorized 200,000 marks for [[seaplane]] trials. The Curtiss seaplane was adopted. By 1913 there were four aeroplanes, now including a British Sopwith, and long-term plans to create six naval air stations by 1918. By 1914, the ''Marine-Fliegerabteilung'', the naval counterpart to the well-established [[Luftstreitkräfte|''Fliegertruppe'']] land-based aviation units of the [[German Army (German Empire)|Army]], comprised twelve seaplanes and one landplane and disposed of a budget of 8.5&nbsp;million marks. Trials in 1914 using seaplanes operating with the fleet were less than impressive; out of four taking part one crashed, one was unable to take off and only one succeeded in all tasks. The most successful aircraft had been the British design, and indeed experiments in Britain had been proceeding with the support of Winston Churchill, and included converting ferries and liners into [[seaplane carrier]]s.