Original Item: One Only. Otto Weddingen joined the Imperial German Navy in 1901, having grown up in Herford, Westphalia, and was given the command of one of Germany’s very first U-boats, U-9, (Submarines) in 1910. Upon the outbreak of WW1 on September 22nd, U-9 with Otto Weddingen in command encountered three British Cruisers in the North Sea, and sank all three with the use of torpedoes. These were H.M.S ABOUKIR, H.M.S. HOGUE and H.M.S. CRESSY. In all 62 Officers and 1397 Seaman were lost in this tragedy.
Otto Weddingen was heaped with honors by Kaiser Wilhelm and even more after he sank H.M.S. HAWKE soon afterwards. On March 18th, 1915 in command of another new U-Boat U-29 Weddingen was rammed by the British War Ship H.M.S. DREADNOUGHT, which completely severed the craft in two with the loss of its entire compliment including Weddingen.
During the interwar period, a German Army Barracks was built in Weddingen’s home town of Herford and named for him and displayed two very large anchors at it’s entrance in his honor. The barracks were occupied by PANZER ABWEHR-ABTEILUNG 6 throughout WW2 and then by the British ROYAL CORP OF SIGNALS during the post war occupation. These barracks are scheduled to be returned to the City of Herford in 2020 when the last British Troops are slated for removal from Germany.
The Plaque measures 8″ across and is circular…
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