Wilhelm II, German Emperor after his consent had been gained that major changes to the high command could be effected. Wilhelm was in favour of the dismissal of Helmuth von Moltke the Younger in September 1914 and his replacement by Erich von Falkenhayn. In 1917, Hindenburg and Ludendorff decided that Bethman-Hollweg was no longer acceptable to them as Chancellor and called upon the Kaiser to appoint somebody else. When asked whom they would accept, Ludendorff recommended Georg Michaelis, a nonentity whom he barely knew. The Kaiser did not know Michaelis, but accepted the suggestion. Upon hearing in July 1917 that his cousin George V
SMS Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II" resumed the post starting on 24 February. The following month, on 5 March, her crew was reduced and she steamed to Wilhelmshaven, where she was converted into the headquarters ship for the commander of the High Seas Fleet, commencing on 26 April. The ship had its wireless equipment modernized for use by the commander when the fleet was in port. After the end of the war, "Kaiser Wilhelm II" continued in her role as headquarters ship for the fleet commander and his staff, along with the commander of the minesweeping operation in the North Sea. She was decommissioned