Hugo Meurer

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Admiral Meurer reports to Admiral Beatty on HMS Queen Elizabeth about the handover negotiations for the deep sea fleet
Grave in the north cemetery in Kiel

Hugo Karl August Meurer (born May 28, 1869 in Sallach , Carinthia , † January 4, 1960 in Kiel ) was a German vice admiral . He was a younger cousin of Alexander Meurer .

Life

Meurer joined on 16 April 1886 as a cadet in the Imperial navy one was after completing his training in 1889 for sub-lieutenant and appointed in 1892 to lieutenant promoted. In mid-October 1893, he started the journey to Dar es Salaam on the steamer Kanzler and after his arrival in German East Africa boarded the gunboat SMS Möwe , which was used as a survey ship in East Africa and in the South Seas ( Bismarck Archipelago ). In June 1895 he started his journey home via Sydney to Germany and worked at the Kaiserliche Werft Kiel from mid-August 1895 to the end of September 1897 , most recently as adjutant to the chief shipyard director. This was followed by a job as a company officer in the I. Torpedo Department until the end of September 1899. During this time Meurer was several times in command of various torpedo boats and was promoted to lieutenant captain on April 10, 1899 .

From 1902 to 1904 he was admiral staff officer in the staff of the 1st Squadron and at the same time from September 1903 for one year with the staff of the active battle fleet. On October 1, 1904, he was transferred to the staff of the Baltic Sea Naval Station as First Admiral Staff Officer . There Meurer was promoted to corvette captain on January 27, 1905 . As such, he went on a trip to Dar es Salaam again on October 1, 1907, where he took over as commander of the small cruiser SMS Seeadler , with which he provided station service off East Africa .

In 1909 he became a frigate captain and, after initially being at the disposal of the station chief in Kiel, he was ordered to the section for mobilization matters in the Reichsmarineamt in Berlin; in autumn 1910 he was promoted to captain at sea and entrusted with the management of the mentioned section.

From October 1912 he was in command of the liner SMS Deutschland and took part in the Battle of the Skagerrak with it during the First World War. He then held the same position on the large liner SMS König in 1916/17 .

On October 14, 1917 Meurer was as Rear Admiral Second Admiral of the IV. Wing of the High Seas Fleet. At the same time he led the naval expedition for the liberation of Finland from February 21, 1918 to May 2, 1918 as head of the “Special Baltic Sea Association” . For his achievements, he was awarded the swords for the Order of the Crown, 2nd class on December 4, 1917, and the crown for the Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd class with oak leaves and swords, on May 31, 1918, and the Finnish Order of the Cross of Freedom, 1st class, at the beginning of May .

From July 30, 1918, Meurer was entrusted with the leadership of the IV. Squadron until he was finally appointed its boss on August 13, 1918. Meurer was regarded as an officer who also enjoyed a great reputation among the crews and on whom hopes were therefore placed in the admiral staff in view of the beginning revolutionary unrest in the fleet.

After the armistice was concluded on November 11, 1918, he was sent as the representative of the German fleet chief Admiral Hipper to the chief of the British Grand Fleet, Admiral Beatty , in order to clarify the procedure for the mandatory transfer of the German ocean-going fleet to British internment at Scapa Flow .

Last time was Meurer chief of the naval station of the Baltic Sea in Kiel and was on January 8, 1920, presentation of the character was added as Vice Admiral retired.

After his death, Meurer was given an honorary grave in the north cemetery in Kiel.

Awards

literature

  • Dermot Bradley (eds.), Hans H. Hildebrand, Ernest Henriot: Germany's Admirals 1849-1945. The military careers of naval, engineering, medical, weapons and administrative officers with admiral rank. Volume 2: HO. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1989, ISBN 3-7648-1499-3 , p. 473f.

Web links

Commons : Hugo Meurer  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Special Association Baltic Sea [1]
  2. ^ Reichsmarineamt (Ed.): Marineverordnungsblatt. No. 27 of December 15, 1917, p. 357.
  3. ^ Reichsmarineamt (Ed.): Marineverordnungsblatt. No. 14 of June 15, 1918, p. 175.
  4. ↑ Army newspaper "Jildirim". No. 47 of May 10, 1918
  5. ↑ Wilhelm Deist: The policy of the naval warfare and the rebellion of the fleet at the end of October 1918. in: Quarterly books for contemporary history. 14th year 1966, No. 4, p. 548
    The same: Military, State and Society. Studies on Prussian-German military history, Munich 1991, p. 192.
  6. ↑ World War I British and German Naval Messages (1918). Radio communications between Royal Navy Admiral Sir David Beatty and Vice Admiral Franz Ritter von Hipper, Commander-in-Chief German High Seas Fleet, and associated Armistice-related messages, November 11-24, 1918. (Online documentation of the Naval History and Heritage Command ) [2]
    Ludwig von Reuter: Scapa Flow. The grave of the German fleet. Leipzig 1921, pp. 16, 18ff. [3]
  7. ^ Image of the tombstone with a short biography
  8. ↑ a b c Marinekabinett (Ed.): Ranking list of the Imperial German Navy for the year 1918. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1918, p. 7.
  9. ↑ a b c d Marinekabinett (ed.): Ranking list of the Imperial German Navy for the year 1914. ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1914, p. 176.
personal data
SURNAME Meurer, Hugo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meurer, Hugo Karl August (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Vice Admiral
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH Sallach , Carinthia
DATE OF DEATH 4th January 1960
Place of death Kiel