Otto Hersing

Otto Hersing
Nickname(s)Zerstörer von Schlachtschiffen (Destroyer of battleships)
Retter der Dardanellen (Saviour of the Dardanelles)
Born(1885-11-30)30 November 1885
Mülhausen, Alsace, German Empire
Died5 July 1960(1960-07-05) (aged 74)
Angelmodde near Münster, Germany
Buried
Angelmodde
Allegiance German Empire
 Austria-Hungary
 Weimar Republic
Branch Imperial German Navy
 Austro-Hungarian Navy
 Reichsmarine
Years of service1903–1918, 1919–24
RankKorvettenkapitän
CommandsU-21
Battles / warsWorld War I
AwardsPour le Mérite
Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class
Albert Order (Saxony)
Iron Crescent (Ottoman Empire)

Otto Hersing (30 November 1885 – 1 July 1960) was a German naval officer who served as U-boat commander in the Kaiserliche Marine and the k.u.k. Kriegsmarine during World War I.

In September 1914, while in command of the German U-21 submarine, he became famous for the first sinking of an enemy ship by a self-propelled locomotive torpedo.