Werner Ehrhardt (Admiral)

Werner Ehrhardt (born May 25, 1898 in Liebstedt ; † September 23, 1967 in Kiel ) was a German naval officer , most recently rear admiral and first commander of the command of naval training (KdoMarAusb) of the German Navy .

Life

Erhardt joined the Imperial Navy ( Crew VII / 1916 ) as a war volunteer and officer candidate on July 4, 1916 , first came to the Mürwik naval school and received his ship training on the large cruiser SMS Freya . From November 1, 1916, he was on duty on the large liner SMS Kronprinz , where he was promoted to ensign at sea on April 26, 1917 . With his ship, the III. Squadron, he participated in Operation Albion in September and October 1917 . On September 18, 1918 Ehrhardt was promoted to lieutenant at sea .

After the end of the First World War , he was transferred to the Reichsmarine and transferred to the small cruiser Medusa . He then came as an adjutant to the staff of the naval station of the Baltic Sea and stayed there on April 1, 1922 until September 24, 1923 while being promoted to lieutenant in the sea . In the following years Ehrhardt was used as a watch officer on various torpedo boats . Ehrhardt was appointed flag lieutenant on April 6, 1926 and was transferred to the staff of the Baltic Fleet. On September 27, 1928 he took over his first command with the torpedo boat Falke and in the same function from February 16, 1929 to September 26, 1930, the torpedo boat Greif . In the meantime he had been promoted to lieutenant captain on April 1, 1929 . On September 27, 1930 he came as a flag lieutenant to the fleet command and on September 22, 1931 took over as chief of a company in the 2nd Battalion of the Baltic Sea Ship Main Division. From September 29, 1933 to November 29, 1936, Korvettenkapitän (since April 1, 1935) Ehrhardt was transferred to the Baltic Sea naval station as an admiralty staff officer. Ehrhardt spent the next two years as a navigation officer on the ironclad Germany and took part in the Spanish Civil War with the ship .

From November 1, 1938, he moved to the personnel office of the High Command of the Navy , was promoted to frigate captain on January 1, 1939 , and after the beginning of World War II , was appointed head of department on November 25, 1939. As a sea captain (since April 1, 1940), he was made head of the personnel office on November 1, 1942. From January 31 to March 14, 1943, he was briefly placed on the disposition and then appointed commander of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen . After his replacement on January 4, 1944, he was appointed commander of the Schleswig Naval War School and promoted to rear admiral on August 1, 1944. After the German total surrender, he initially remained in office and ended up with the remnants of the Reich government in the special area of ​​Mürwik on May 25 1945 British prisoner of war , from which he was released on November 30, 1946.

On June 16, 1957 Ehrhardt joined the newly founded German Navy as a flotilla admiral and initially worked in the Federal Ministry of Defense . Ehrhardt was appointed first commander of the Naval Training Command (KdoMarAusb) in Kiel on July 1, 1957, while at the same time being promoted to Rear Admiral.

Ehrhardt was honored farewell from the German Navy on September 30, 1960 and retired. On October 15, 1960, he received the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his achievements .

Erhardt was married, his third son Dieter Ehrhardt (* 1927) also advanced to Rear Admiral in the German Navy.

literature

• Hans H. Hildebrand and Ernest Henriot: Germany's Admirals 1849–1945 Volume 1: A – G , Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1988, ISBN 3-7648-1499-3 , pp. 275–276

Web links

• Information on the command of naval training in the Federal Archives

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Karl H. Peter : Maritime Officer Candidate. Your education from 1848 until today. Mürwik 1969, pages 106 and 167 (Annex 12) (online at pkgodzik.de) (PDF; 2.6 MB)