Otto Ernst Lindemann (28 March 1894 – 27 May 1941) was a German Kapitän zur See (naval captain). He was the only commander of the battleship Bismarck during its eight months of service in World War II.
Lindemann joined the German Imperial Navy (German: Kaiserliche Marine) in 1913, and after his basic military training, served on a number of warships during World War I as a wireless telegraphy officer. On board SMS Bayern, he participated in Operation Albion in 1917. After World War I, he served in various staff and naval gunnery training positions. One year after the outbreak of World War II, he was appointed commander of the battleship Bismarck, at the time the largest warship in commission anywhere in the world and the pride of the Kriegsmarine (Nazi Germany's navy).
In May 1941, Lindemann commanded Bismarck during Operation Rheinübung. Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen formed a task force under the command of Admiral Günther Lütjens on board Bismarck. Orders were to break out of their base in German-occupied Poland and attack British merchant shipping lanes in the Atlantic Ocean. The task force's first major engagement was the Battle of the Denmark Strait, which resulted in the sinking of HMS Hood. Less than a week later, on 27 May, Lindemann and most of his crew died in Bismarck's last battle.
He was posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes), at the time the second highest award in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany, the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross having been instituted on 3 June 1940. The medal was presented to his widow, Hildegard, on 6 January 1942.
Otto Ernst Lindemann was born on 28 March 1894 in Altenkirchen in the Westerwald, Rhine Province. He was the first of three children of Dr. jur. Georg Heinrich Ernst Lindemann and Maria Lindemann, née Lieber. Known as Ernst, Georg Lindemann was a probationary judge (Gerichtsassessor) and later president of the Prussian Central Land Credit Company, a Prussian credit bank.
Otto Ernst Lindemann was baptised into the Protestant Church on 26 April 1894. The family moved to the Charlottenburg quarter of Berlin, where they lived at 6 Carmer Street, in 1895. His younger brother—Kurt—was born in 1896, followed by a second brother, Hans-Wolfgang, in 1900. The family relocated again in 1903, this time to their own house in the Dahlem quarter of Berlin, near the Grunewald forest.
In 1910, when Lindemann was 16, his uncle Kapitän zur See Friedrich Tiesmeyer was in command of the light cruiser SMS Mainz (October 1909 – January 1910) of the Imperial Navy, at that time holding the rank of Fregattenkapitän (commander). At a family reunion in Hamelin, Lindemann talked with his uncle and heard of his seafaring adventures in the Far East. These conversations attracted Lindemann to a naval career.
Lindemann graduated from the Bismarck-Gymnasium (secondary school) in Berlin-Wilmersdorf with his Abitur (diploma) late in 1912 with an average-to-good overall rating. For the next six months, he attended the Royal Polytechnic Institution in Richmond, London.
Ernst Lindemann met Charlotte Weil (née Fritsche), a Berlin singer, in the spring of 1920. The couple married on 1 February 1921, and they had a daughter, Helga Maria, born on 26 February 1924. Lindemann's job as a naval officer demanded that he be away from his family for long periods of time. This proved to be too demanding on the marriage, and they were divorced in 1932. Lindemann was engaged again on 20 July 1933 to his youngest brother's sister-in-law, Hildegard Burchard. Hildegard was 14 years younger than Lindemann. They married on 27 October 1934 in the St. Annen Church in Berlin–Dahlem. The ceremony was performed by Martin Niemöller, a founder of the Confessing Church, later imprisoned as an anti-Nazi. They had a daughter, Heidi Maria, born on 6 July 1939.
On 26 March 1913, Lindemann traveled with his parents to Flensburg for his medical examination at the Naval Academy at Mürwik. The strong financial background of his parents made him a suitable applicant for the Imperial Navy, as the costs associated with a naval education in 1909 were 800–1,000 Marks per year for eight years. By comparison, a metal worker earned 1,366 Marks annually and a teacher 3,294 Marks. Only 5 percent of the German population at the time earned more than 3,000 Marks annually. However, the doctor certified him as fit only for limited duties (bedingt tauglich), as pneumonia in childhood had left him unfit for service in U-boats. After a second examination, he was accepted on probation, and Lindemann became one of the 290 young men of "Crew 1913" (the incoming class of 1913). He was officially enlisted in the Imperial Navy as a Seekadett (sea cadet) on 1 April 1913.
In early May 1913, the cadets of Crew 1913 were sent to the training ships SMS Hansa, SMS Hertha, SMS Victoria Louise and SMS Vineta. Lindemann was assigned to Hertha with 71 of his comrades. At that time, Hertha was under the command of Captain Heinrich Rohardt, a friend of his uncle Friedrich. Arriving on board on 9 May, they were divided into watches consisting of roughly 18 men each. Hertha left Mürwik and stayed in Kiel until the end of the month. On 29 May 1913, Hertha headed for Swinemünde, where she stayed until 15 June. The next stop, via Sassnitz and Visby, was Stockholm, Sweden, arriving on 24 June. The ship remained in Stockholm until 1 July, before leaving for Bergen in Norway. After a few days, the voyage continued to the Lönne Fjord. Here, Lindemann met his commander-in-chief—Kaiser Wilhelm II—for the first time. Hertha then returned to Germany, arriving in Wilhelmshaven on 8 August 1913.
One week later, Hertha began a seven-month training cruise (15 August 1913 – 12 March 1914). The voyage took Lindemann to Dartmouth in England, Vilagarcía de Arousa in Spain, Faial Island in the Azores and as far as Halifax in Nova Scotia. The return trip then went via Vera Cruz in Mexico, Havana in Cuba, Port-au-Prince in Haiti, Kingston in Jamaica, Port of Spain in Trinidad and then to the Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Spanish mainland, arriving back in Germany in the middle of March 1914, first in Brunsbüttel and two days later in Kiel. Lindemann was promoted to Fähnrich zur See (Ensign) on 3 April 1914.
With the German declaration of war in August 1914, all further training at the naval academy was terminated and the normal compulsory officer examination was skipped. The entire Crew 1913 was assigned to various units in the Imperial Navy. Lindemann was assigned to SMS Lothringen, a battleship which belonged to the 2nd Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet under the command of Vizeadmiral (vice admiral) Reinhard Scheer, taking on the position of 3rd wireless telegraphy officer. Lothringen was mostly tasked with patrolling the North Sea, sailing back and forth between Altenbruch (now part of Cuxhaven) and Brunsbüttel without engaging in combat. Lindemann left Lothringen on 1 June 1915 to attend the wireless telegraphy school at Mürwik. He successfully completed the course and returned from it in July 1915. He then took over the position of 2nd wireless telegraphy officer, a position that fellow officers joked suited his abnormally large ears. He was promoted to Leutnant zur See (Second Lieutenant) on 18 September 1915.
On 19 March 1916, Lindemann was transferred to the newly commissioned battleship SMS Bayern (under the command of Captain Max Hahn), with the same rank of 2nd wireless telegraphy officer. Bayern, with her eight 38 cm (15 in) guns, was the most powerful ship of the fleet. Her crew had been largely assigned from Lothringen, which continued to serve as a training ship. Aboard Bayern, now under the command of Captain Rohardt, Lindemann participated in Operation Albion in September–October 1917. Operation Albion's objective was the invasion and occupation of the Estonian islands of Saaremaa (Ösel), Hiiumaa (Dagö) and Muhu (Moon), then part of the Russian Republic. At 05:07 on 12 October 1917, Bayern struck a mine while moving into her bombardment position to secure the landing beaches at Pamerort. Seven sailors were killed. Despite mine damage, Bayern engaged the coast defense battery at Cape Toffri on the southern tip of Hiiumaa. Bayern was released from her duties at 14:00 that day. Preliminary repairs were made on 13 October in Tagga Bay before she returned to Kiel on 1 November 1917.