I Bet You did not Know | 43

Mavi Boncuk | I Bet You did not Know that during the Great War (WWI) during the Mediterranean U-boat Campaign, most of the German (and all of the Austro-Hungarian) U-boats operated out of the Adriatic, with their main bases at Cattaro and Pula. Another German U-boat base was located at Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire.

This naval campaign was characterised by the ability of the Central Powers to raid with near impunity during the first years of the war, causing substantial shipping losses, until the introduction of the convoy system allowed the Allies to drastically cut their losses from 1917 on forwards.

Source Ahoy - Mac's Web Log |Naval, Maritime, Australian History and more
by Mackenzie J Gregory

Early in WW1, Kptlt. Otto Hersing in his SM U-21, ordered the firing of the very first torpedo to be sent on its way in a time of war. In 1915, U-21, arrived in the Dardenelles area, to assist in the defense of the Turkish straits. On the 25th. of May, Otto Hersing sank the British battleship HMS Triumph, and but two days later had further spectacular success, when he despatched her sister battleship HMS Majestic, the third British warship to carry that name, to the bottom.

He now sailed his boat into Constantinople on the 5t. of June, to be rewarded with the top award of the Pour le Merite, unlike some of his contempories, Otto lived to enjoy his Medal. The crew of U-21 were all decorated with the Iron Cross First Class. In 1915 in Germany, a Medal was manufactured by R Ball, to mark Otto Hersing's success in U-21.

At the end of 1915, Kptlt Lothar von Arnauld de la Periera assumed command of SM U-35. In his later career he served in the Turkish Navy in the thirties, rejoined the German Navy when WW2 came in 1939. He died in an aircraft accident close to Paris in 1941.