Alfred von Tirpitz (c. 1900) Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz (1849-1930) was the chief architect of the massive build-up of German naval armaments that took place before the First World War. He argued that a naval fleet was the key to Germany’s becoming a great power. During the war, Tirpitz pushed for extensive use of submarine warfare. He resigned in 1916 because the German government refused to make unrestricted use of the German U-Boat (submarine).