Born into a middle class family in 1872, Captian Travis William Harrison Ochs was to become one of the greatest hero's of the entire german navy. He was sent into the Kaiser-marine when he turned 13. He was a hard working seaman and he quickly rose up the ranks. By 1889 he had risen petty officer on board the new battleship Kiaser die Grosse and after the Chinese wars in 1890 to 1891 he had risen to 1st class. During the next few years he would jump around the home fleet sailing on virtually every warship in the 1st fleet. By 1905 he had made friends with nearly all of the famous German naval staff. He knew Tirpiz, Scheer, von Spee and Hipper quite well and this soon paid off when he was assigned Captain of the bran new Armored Cruiser Blucher. She was named after the famous German general who won the Battle of Waterloo. (A little known fact most people believe it was the british who defeated Napoleon, no most historians now place the victory with the Germans and not the British) She was the last armored cruiser built anywhere in the world. She was brisling with 12 8 inch guns and had a top speed of near 26 knots. Unfortunately she was helplessly outdated by the coming of war because of the new Battlecruisers of Britain and Germany. During the battle of Dogger Bank these weaknesses were shown too clear, with the pursuing British warships have a 1/2 knot faster speed, larger guns, and heavier armor KMS Blucher had no chance of escape. Never the less Captian Ochs told everyman to prepare for the fight of their lives. Knowing he could not outrun his British enemies, Captian Ochs ordered Blucher to turn in and fight although being out numbered 6 to 1. The German gunnery was superb, out shooting british nearly 4 to 1 in hits. Blucher managed to destroy 2 out of 6 British Battlecruisers before succumbing to the withering 12 inch and 13.5 inch heavy shells. Blucher went down in history as one of the most brave and daring warships ever in the German Navy. Captain Ochs was picked up by a British destroyer and spent the remaining years of the war, clean and well feed in a British war prison.