Holtzendorff recognized Scheer as a problem solver

As a junior lieutenant aboard Bismarck, Scheer came under the eye of Henning von Holtzendorff, an important thinker in the developing German navy. Scheer's handling of difficult duties, including a landing party sent against a pro-British Indigenous leader in Cameroon, built his reputation for decisive problem solving. Holtzendorff became the first great patron to see more than the satisfactory cadet reports. He read British behavior more perceptively than Scheer, who persistently struggled to understand the Royal Navy's calculated aggression.