Max Looff


Max Looff was a naval officer of the Imperial German Navy, who reached the rank of Vizeadmiral and later a military writer. Looff commanded the cruiser during the Battle of Rufiji Delta before it was sunk by two Royal Navy monitors, and on 11 July 1915.

Early career

Looff was born on May 2, 1874 in Strasbourg. He entered the Imperial German Navy on April 10, 1891 and was assigned to the , where he attended basic training. He was subsequently transferred to the Naval Academy in Kiel, where he finished his training on April 11, 1892 and was promoted to the rank Seekadett on the same date.

World War I

Looff was appointed in command of Königsberg on 1 April 1914 and remained in command until the ship was scuttled in the Rufiji Delta in July 1915 after protracted artillery exchanges with British monitors. He later joined Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck in his guerilla campaign, and after the Battle of Mahiwa, was put in command of the German wounded and surrendered to the British when instructed to do so.

Later life

Max Looff was recalled to the Kriegsmarine service with the rank of Vizeadmiral on 24 May 1939, but remained in the reserve status for the duration of the War. Looff continued in his work and published the book about the combats in German East Africa, "Tufani" in 1941.
After the end of World War II, Looff remained in the Soviet occupation zone of the Berlin and thus his published work had been placed on the list of forbidden literature by the Communist regime.
Vizeadmiral Max Looff died on 20 September 1954 in Berlin, East Germany aged 80 years.

Military decorations