Editing Peter Strasser (section)

==First World War==
Following the outbreak of [[World War I]] in August 1914, Navy airships were initially confined to anti-submarine, anti-mine and scouting missions. They served in the [[Battle of Heligoland (1914)|Battle of Heligoland Bight]].

However, on 19&ndash;20 January 1915, L3 and L4 participated in the first bombing raids over [[England]], attacking [[Great Yarmouth]], [[Sheringham]] and [[King's Lynn]]. Over the next 3 years, bombing campaigns would be launched primarily against Britain, but also on [[Paris]] and other cities and ports. Strasser would participate in the England raids at least once a month.<ref name=Lehmann5/> He decided to test the newly developed [[spy basket]] himself, and almost fell out when it became entangled with the [[Zeppelin]]'s aerial.<ref name=Lehmann5/> Initially, bombing was limited to military targets but with great lobbying support of ''Konteradmiral'' [[Paul Behncke]],<ref name=Castle/> the Kaiser approved attacks against civilian targets. Official British estimates list 498 civilians and 58 soldiers killed by air attack in Britain between 1915 and 1918. 1,913 injuries are recorded. The Imperial Navy dropped 360,000&nbsp;kg of bombs, the majority on the British Isles. 307,315&nbsp;kg were directed at enemy vessels, ports and towns; 58,000&nbsp;kg were dropped over Italy, the Baltic and the Mediterranean. German army airships carried 160,000&nbsp;kg of bombs to their designated targets: 44,000&nbsp;kg hit Belgium and France, 36,000&nbsp;kg England, and 80,000&nbsp;kg Russia and south eastern Europe. However, questions remain over whether airships (and more importantly, their irreplaceable crews) would have been better used as a purely naval weapon.

''Vizeadmiral'' [[Reinhard Scheer]] became Strasser's superior in January 1916, and tried unsuccessfully to tame Strasser's aggressive pursuit of independence.<ref name=Castle/> On 28 November,{{citation needed|date=May 2011}} 1916, Strasser was appointed by imperial decree as "Leader of Airships" (''Führer der Luftschiffe''; ''F.d.L.'').{{clarify|date=May 2011|reason=Was it a rank or a post? Most sources claim he was still Fregattenkapitan.}}