Hugo von Cotzhausen

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Hugo Freiherr von Cotzhausen (born May 14, 1863 in Cologne ; † November 18, 1947 in Dremmen ) was a German rear admiral and naval attaché .

Life

origin

Hugo von Cotzhausen was the eldest son of the manor owner Oskar Freiherr von Cotzhausen (1832-1917) and his wife Maria, née Knorr (1837-1909). His mother was the older sister of Admiral Eduard von Knorr (1840–1920). He had six other siblings.

Military career

On April 22, 1879, Cotzhausen joined the Imperial Navy as a midshipman and was trained on the sailing frigate SMS Niobe and at the naval school. He found a supporter of his career in his uncle, who later became Admiral Eduard von Knorr. In November 1882, Cotzhausen was appointed as a supplementary officer to lieutenant at sea . In April 1883 he received the patent for his rank and then served as a company officer in the 1st Sailor Division.

In April 1889, Cotzhausen was given command of the torpedo boat S 31 . After a shorter time as the commander of the torpedo boat S 32 , he worked as an officer on the ships Baden , Kronprinz and Friedrich der Große in 1891/92 . After his promotion to lieutenant captain in April 1893, he attended the Naval Academy again until April 1894. He then became a navigation and battery officer on the Gneisenau and the Sachsen . From October 1896 to September 1898 he taught at the Naval School in Kiel, where the later Grand Admiral Erich Raeder was one of his students. He also took on duties as an inspection and cadet officer. For a while he was a member of the board of directors of the Naval Academy. After a year-long post on the Bavaria , from September 1898 to September 1899, Cotzhausen was promoted to Korvettenkapitän in April 1900 and first assigned to the chief of the naval station of the Baltic Sea and later to the inspector of the naval inspection. From October 1899 to March 1901 he led a company in the I. Shipyard Division. He then held the command of the Aviso Hunt until August , and then in August and September 1901 the command of the Aviso Wacht .

During a maneuver in the Baltic Sea in the summer of 1901, during which the watch was supposed to break through a formation of armored ships running in line, the watch sank after a collision with the ironclad Sachsen . The reason was the misunderstanding of a flag signal and a misjudgment of the speeds of the two ships. At least Cotzhausen succeeded in hitting the Saxons ramming spur shortly before the collision in the stable midship area of ​​the guard so that his crew could still evacuate. A court martial before which Cotzhausen was indicted in October 1901 under Section 142 of the Naval Criminal Code (sinking of a ship of His Majesty through negligence in the performance of his duties) acquitted him of responsibility for the sinking of the watch and declared that it was due to a failure of the helm be. In November 1901, an appeals court followed suit. from 1902 to 1903 he was used as the commandant of the training ship Olga .

From the beginning of 1903, Cotzhausen was available to the head of the North Sea Marine City and during this time he was preparing for his first assignment abroad. From June 29, 1903 he stayed in London and was made familiar with his new duties by the incumbent naval attaché Carl von Coerper (1854–1942). In September 1903 he was employed as a naval attaché at the German Embassy in London , at which time Paul Metternich (1853–1934) was charge of the German embassy . As a military attaché, Friedrich Graf von Schulenburg (1865-1939) was his direct partner for military matters and reports. On January 27, 1904, Cotzhausen was promoted to frigate captain. However, due to the dissatisfaction of Admiral Tirpitz with the reports that had taken place and the displeasure that his mood aroused Wilhelm II on the occasion of the imperial visit to London in 1904 , he was recalled in September 1904. The official reason given was a diplomatic faux pas that he had committed with it.

Due to the short-term nature of the recall of Cotzhausen, his predecessor was once again entrusted by Coerper with the post of London attaché in order to keep the damage in London small. From October 1904, Cotzhausen was given command of the great cruiser Friedrich Carl , which he held until September 1906. During this time he was promoted to sea captain in March 1905 . In April 1905, when Friedrich Carl accompanied Kaiser Wilhelm II on his Mediterranean voyage, the Friedrich Carl collided with the British liner HMS Prince George in the port of Gibraltar , in which the stern of the Prince George was damaged. Another accident occurred in July 1905 in a Swedish port. From September 1906 to January 1907, Cotzhausen was again made available to the chief of the Baltic Sea naval station. Then he was a teacher at the Naval Academy in Kiel until September 1909. On September 6, 1909, Cotzhausen was put up for disposition while being promoted to rear admiral . After a dispute with Kaiser Wilhelm II, Cotzhausen left the Navy in early 1910 and settled in Blankensee.

After the death of his father in July 1917, he received the title of baron and took over the management of the Wedau family estate in the Heinsberg district .

Hugo von Cotzhausen died on November 18, 1947 in Dremmen near Aachen. He was buried in Linnich near Aachen.

family

Cotzhausen married Elsa Freiin Banér in May 1895, whom he met in the summer of 1888 on the occasion of a trip with Kaiser Friedrich III. met in Stockholm . The daughters Elsa and Sigrid emerged from the marriage.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Erich Raeder: My life. 1956, p. 25.
  2. ^ German society for shipping and naval history: ship and time. 1973, p. 64.
  3. ^ Wilhelm Widenmann: Marine Attaché at the Imperial German Embassy in London. 1907-1912. 1952, pp. 60, 121.
personal data
SURNAME Cotzhausen, Hugo von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cotzhausen, Hugo Gustav Eugen Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German rear admiral, naval attaché and landowner
DATE OF BIRTH May 14, 1863
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH November 18, 1947
Place of death Dremming