Erich Köhler (naval officer)
Erich Köhler (born September 6, 1873 in Göttingen , † November 4, 1914 off the West Indies ) was a German naval officer , most recently in command of the small cruiser SMS Karlsruhe in the First World War .
Life
On July 26, 1914, Köhler had taken over command of the Karlsruhe from frigate captain Fritz Lüdecke , who was returning to SMS Dresden .
During the First World War, Köhler was killed in the spontaneous combustion of the Karlsruhe - probably an oil explosion - in the Atlantic Ocean near Barbados at the age of 41 and sank with his ship. Posthumously Köhler received the honorary citizenship of Karlsruhe on March 26, 1915 (on the same day as the Hindenburg, which had just become popular across the empire ) .
Erich Köhler left behind his wife and daughter Gerda. In the Weimar Republic , Köhler's widow “ baptized ” the light cruiser Karlsruhe of the Reichsmarine on August 20, 1927 - the third German warship to be named Karlsruhe - in the presence of Mayor Julius Finter (1872–1941), who gave the baptismal address.
The Bundeswehr ruled today about Köhler:
- "The type of warfare chosen by the commander of the frigate captain Erich Köhler was, then as now, exemplary for naval warfare."
literature
- Pages 13 , 20, 21 (Köhler on the painting “Seehelden”, 1916) and 23 (full-page photograph in uniform) in: “Karlsruhe one city - five ships: from the imperial small cruiser Karlsruhe (I) to the frigate F 212 Karlsruhe (V ) of the German Navy " , picture chronicle by Klaus Lehmann, Norderstedt ( Books on Demand ) 2005 ISBN 3-8334-2299-8 and ISBN 9783833422997
- See also literature on SMS Karlsruhe in the Stadtwiki Karlsruhe
Web links
Illustrations:
- Photography (portrait) on the private website deutsche-Schutzgebiete.de
- small photograph (almost full-length) on Karlsruhe-maritim.de
- Köhler (second from right) on the painting “Seehelden” (1916) together with other prominent naval officers of the Imperial Navy ( Vice Admiral Graf Spee , Franz von Hipper and the officers Thierichsen, Lüdecke, Thierfelder, von Berckheim, Hellmuth von Mücke , Otto Weddigen and Karl von Müller ), here in color (in the book - see above - only shown in black and white, but larger there)
Individual evidence
- ↑ page 202 of the cited literature . Pictured there in 1966 together with frigate captain Knaup and Karlsruhe's mayor Günther Klotz while looking at the golden book of the city of Karlsruhe
- ↑ page 37 of the cited literature . - See also Karlsruhe (Schiff, 1927)
- ^ German Navy : Press release tragedy 95 years ago: Marines commemorate the "SMS Karlsruhe" in the western Atlantic on March 25, 2009
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Koehler, Erich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German naval officer and honorary citizen of the city of Karlsruhe |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 6, 1873 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Goettingen |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 4, 1914 |
| Place of death | Atlantic Ocean near Barbados |