Captain?s Log Of Kptlt. Otto Hersing Essay, Research Paper
Captain?s RecoveryCaptain?s Log is about a Captain commanding a German submarine in World War I. He commands one of the most important and renowned naval vessels in the German fleet. Receiving a medal for two years in the sea, he became famous and hated by the allies. I received this amount as a combination of a Social Studies and English project. I had to write about something in World War I so I chose a naval vessel in the German Imperial Navy.
The way I came up with this topic was that I liked naval vessels so I knew it would include a ship. Then because I knew a lot about the U-boats and since this was a few months after I saw the movie U-571, it came up in my mind numerous amounts of time as I was writing it thus I came up with the idea of using a U-boat. I soon did some research and found the submarine with the most experience and most honored of the Imperial Navy.
The most difficult part in the writing of this was the format I was going to use and including enough historic events without compromising the fiction of it. Another dilemma I had in the construction of this writing assignment was adding emotions, which my writing has little of. When I revised this assignment, I added more emotions and the impact of the war on the crew. The day before the first version of the assignment was due, I spent a lot of time adding critical details about the vessels journeys, but skipped out on the most important facts of all, Kptlt. Otto Hersing. I was making this more of a Social Studies project by including the historic events, but skipping out on the important story of the captain who is the core of the journal.
This writing assignment was fairly fun for a school project. The reason for that was that there were few given parameters. Usually in English projects, you are not allowed to express yourself and test yourself to your limits because of the numerous amounts of rules. I think my finest log was the September 5th, 1914. I conclude with a quote from General George Patton (1885-1945), ?The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his.? The SM U-21 destroyed vessels to save the lives of their fellow comrades.
Captain?s Log of Kptlt. Otto HersingCaptain?s Log September 1st 1914I have been told by High Command to write a Captain Log on a daily or weekly basis. Today is my first entry and I believe it will expand considerably. To start, I am a German born Kptlt. (captain) Otto Hersing, commander of the SM U-21. This vessel was launched from its shipyard on February 8, 1913 and was commissioned into the Imperial Navy on October 22, 1913. This vessel has a maximum diving depth of about 50 meters and has a maximum speed of 15.4 knots. It?s equipped with 6 torpedoes as well as a huge assortment of other artillery. At this moment we have a full crew of 31 men.
Captain?s Log September 5th 1914I believe I have shed the first blood using submarines within this war. Though High Command believes this will be a swift and honorable war, I think otherwise. The recent enemies we have encountered show that it will be a bloody and deadly war.
Today was a beautiful sunlit day with the sun shining beautifully over the ocean. The water was as clear as a low depth lake. It was so clear that you could easily see 10 meters in depth. At about 3 pm, my second in command was on bridge duty. At the time I was eating my lunch in the captains pantry. It was a very shaky ride because we were in a very low depth. My coffee was moving all around the table so I had to put my hands around the table so that it wouldn?t spill on the floor and the rest of my lunch. Lately I have been spending a lot of time creating battle strategies to destroy enemy naval vessels. As I almost finished creating a strategy that I think will insure the lives of this crew and this vessel, my second in command called upon me. At around 3 PM in the afternoon, my second in command was on bridge duty and was doing a normal scan of the waters with the periscope.
He noticed a British vessel called HMS Pathfinder. At the moment, we were at about 10 meters below surface and in a very vulnerable position. We believe that they noticed us because they turned around in our direction. My second in command immediately called upon me and I answered him speedily. I rushed to the bridge and told the helmsman to submerge. It was a British light cruiser and it seems it was equipped with cannons and machine guns and probably depth charges. When we reached 50 meters, we fired one torpedo and destroyed the vessel. We soon surfaced and saw about 100 people. We believe there was a crew of about 600+ people thus this would seem that the British just had a very heavy loss of life. My men are in great spirits because of our victory. I have spoken to many of them and they feel as if they are immortal. High Command commends us of our victory and gave us our next mission, to refuel in the Adriatic Austrian port of Pola.
Captain?s Log April 25th, 1915Today I have reached the Adriatic Austrian port of Pola in order to refuel. I am expecting orders from High Command on a new mission. My men have been given permission to go on leave for the next few days and are in great excitement.
Captain?s Log April 29th, 1915I have just received orders from High Command to help in the Naval Defense of Turkey. It will be about a month trip to Turkey and I expect to be there in less than a month because of my ingenious engineers and mechanics. I am still amazed, at a meager two years of ago; it has been through so much.
Captain?s Log May 25th, 1915Today at around 9 AM I have destroyed and sank the battleship HMS Triumph. It was dark and fairly cloudy. We could barely see them in the dark clouds surrounding the area. We were oxygenating the vessel in order for the diesel engines to function. After about an hour of being surfaced, a man noticed a Battleship approaching at a faster rate than us. They were gaining speed on us so he went inside the submarine and closed the hatch. I was in the bridge at the time and told the helmsman to dive. As we dived, I told him to turn around and head away from the Battleship from the side. We soon fired a torpedo but it missed. From the torpedo, they tracked down our location and went over us. They launched depth charges, which seriously damaged the vessel. We had to do an emergency surface because our diesel engines were out. We soon started our electrical engines and headed towards the HMS Triumph. They shelled us but luckily most of their bullets missed. We fired a torpedo and it was a direct hit. It was a glorious moment for my crew and I. The spirit at the moment was excellent and we felt like we could destroy a hundred of their battleships. The diesel engine was severely damaged but luckily our ingenious mechanics quickly repaired it within a day. We were lucky because we didn?t encounter any vessels while we were on the surface.
Captain?s Log May 27th, 1915I have sunk but another vessel today. It was a small patrol vessel and very easily destroyed. They were very lightly armored and had but only a machine gun. The machine gun could?ve destroyed us if we were surfaced but we were at about a 20-meter depth at the time. On our first try, we hit the vessel and destroyed it.
Captain?s Log June 5th, 1915We have reached Constantinople harbor to assist U-51. I have just been told that I will soon be receiving the Pour le m?rite, which is one of the highest levels of awards given to a commanding officer. My crew is rewarding me for my medal and feel thrilled for being under command by the great Ktplt. Otto Hersing.