Editing Peter Strasser (section)

==Early career==
Strasser was born in [[Hanover]], [[Germany]], on 1 April 1876. At the age of 15, he joined the German Imperial Navy (''[[Kaiserliche Marine]]''). After serving on board  SMS ''Stein'' and SMS ''Moltke'', he entered the Naval academy in Kiel. He quickly rose through the ranks and was promoted to [[Lieutenant]] in 1895. He served  on board SMS ''Mars'', SMS ''Blücher'', SMS ''Panther'', SMS ''Mecklenburg'' and SMS ''Westfalen'' from 1897 to 1902. He was an excellent gunnery officer and was placed in the [[German Imperial Naval Office]] (''[[Reichsmarine-Amt]]'') in charge of German shipboard and coastal artillery. In September 1913,<ref name=Castle/> he took command of the Naval Airship Division (''[[Marine-Luftschiff-Abteilung]]''{{r|Urban}}). Airships were as yet an unproven technology and ''Korvettenkapitän'' Strasser became the new naval airship chief after his predecessor, ''Korvettenkapitän'' [[Friedrich Metzing]],<ref name=Castle/> drowned in the crash of the very first naval airship, the [[List of Zeppelins#LZ14|L 1]]. Also the single remaining naval airship [[List of Zeppelins#LZ 18|L 2]] was soon lost in another fatal accident.<ref name=Lehmann5/> Strasser completed theoretical studies on airships and gained practical experience piloting the civilian airship [[List of Zeppelins#LZ 17|LZ 17 ''Sachsen'']]. Another airship, [[Zeppelin LZ13|LZ 13 ''Hansa'']] was chartered to train naval crews while new ships were being built. At the start of the war Navy had only one airship operational, the [[List of Zeppelins#LZ 24|LZ 24 (Navy designation L 3)]]. L 3, under Strasser's personal command, was the only one to participate in the Imperial Navy manoeuvres just before the war.