Selected Book
Bismarck
A Minute by Minute Account of the Final Hours of Germany's Greatest Battleship
Zetterling, Niklas
Allied Warships
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Otto Hersing
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 4/03)
| Successes 36 ships sunk for a total of 79,005 GRT 4 warships sunk for a total of 34,575 tons 2 ships damaged for a total of 8,918 GRT |
| Born: | 30 Nov 1885 | |
| Dead: | 5 Jul 1960 | Oldenburg |
  | Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U 21 | 1 Aug 1914 | - | 31 Aug 1918 |
Notes
Hersing was known amongst his collegues as the "Zerstörer der Schlachtschiffe" - destroyer of battleships. His first victim was HMS Pathfinder, a light cruiser of 2,940 tons which he torpedoed off St. Abb's Head on the east coast of Scotland on the 5th September 1914 with U21. In early 1915 he was ordered to the Mediterranean to give a hard time to British who had landed at Gallipoli.
The Battleship HMS Triumph, sunk by Otto Hershing on 25 May 1915
Hersing's first victim was the battleship HMS Triumph of 11,985 tons which he sank off Gaba Tepe on the 25th May, while the ship was bombarding the Turkish lines. Two days later he sank the HMS Majestic, another battleship conducting fire support off the Gallipoli peninsula.
The Battleship HMS Majestic, sunk by Otto Hershing on 27 May 1915
For these actions awaited him on his return to the fatherland the Pour le Mérite. On the 4th of July he sank the Carthage, a French auxiliary cruiser of 5,601 GRT near Cap Helles, Turkey. On the 8th February 1916, U21 sank the French cruiser Amiral Charner of 4,750 tons off the Syrian coast.
Hersing survived the war and seems to have started cultivating potato's in the countryside!