Otto Weddigen

Otto Eduard Weddigen
Otto Eduard Weddigen
Born	15 September 1882 Herford
Died	18 March 1915 Pentland Firth
Allegiance	German Empire
Service/branch	Imperial German Navy
Years of service	1901 - 1915
Rank	Kapitänleutnant
Commands held	U-9, 1 August 1914 – 11 January 1915 U-29, 16 February 1915 - 18 March 1915
Battles/wars	U-boat Campaign (World War I)
Awards	Pour le Mérite Iron Cross First & Second Class

Otto Eduard Weddigen (15 September 1882 – 18 March 1915) was a German U-boat commander during World War I.

Biography and career

He was born in Herford and started his military career in the Kaiserliche Marine in 1901. In 1910 he was given command of one of the first German submarines, U-9.

On 22 September 1914, while patrolling in the region of the southern North Sea known to the British as the "Broad Fourteens", U-9 intercepted the three warships of the Seventh Cruiser Squadron. Weddigen fired off all six of his torpedoes, reloaded while submerged, and in less than an hour sank the three British armoured cruisers HMS Aboukir, HMS Hogue and HMS Cressy. Sixty two officers and 1,397 men were killed, only 837 survived.

Birthplace of Otto Weddigen

"Victories of U-9" - a contemporary German postcard showing the photo of Weddigen against the background of the sinking "Aboukir" and "Hogue".

Memorial. The inscription reads "Birthplace of Kapitänleutnant Otto Weddigen, our sea hero of 1914".

Otto Weddigen was awarded the Iron Cross and, after sinking HMS Hawke and some merchant ships, Prussia's highest military order, the Pour le Mérite. He became one of only six non-Bavarians to receive the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph, Bavaria's highest military honor. He also received the highest military honors of the other two kingdoms of the German Empire, the Knight's Cross of Saxony's Military Order of St. Henry and the Knight's Cross of Württemberg's Military Merit Order.

Weddigen died while commanding the submarine U-29. On 18 March 1915 U-29 was rammed by the British battleship HMS Dreadnought in the Pentland Firth. U-29 had broken the surface immediately ahead of Dreadnought after firing a torpedo at HMS Neptune and Dreadnought cut the submarine in two after a short chase. There were no survivors from the submarine.