German Empire (1913–18) Weimar Republic (1918–33) Nazi Germany (1933–41)
Service/branch
Imperial German Navy Reichsmarine Kriegsmarine
Years of service
1913–41
Rank
Kapitän zur See (Captain)
Unit
SMS Hertha SMS Lothringen SMS Bayern SMS Hannover SMS Elsass SMS Schleswig-Holstein SMS Hessen Heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer
Commands held
1st Artillery Company, Friedrichsort Ship Construction Dept, OKM Naval Gunnery School Bismarck
Battles/wars
World War I
Operation Albion
Scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow
Spanish Civil War
World War II
Atlantic War
Operation Rheinübung
Battle of the Denmark Strait
Last battle of the battleship Bismarck †
Awards
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (posthumously)
Relations
Ernst Heinrich Lindemann (grandfather) Georg Lindemann (cousin)
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 highest award in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany. The medal was presented to his widow, Hildegard, on 6 January 1942.
Otto ErnstLindemann (28 March 1894 – 27 May 1941) was a German Kapitän zur See (naval captain). He was the only commander of the battleship Bismarck...
Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive. His cousin ErnstLindemann was the captain of the battleship Bismarck. In 1936, Lindemann was promoted to Generalmajor and given...
skater Laura Lindemann, German olympic triathlete ErnstLindemann (1894–1941), captain of the German battleship Bismarck Ernst Heinrich Lindemann (1833–1900)...
Kapitän zur See ErnstLindemann was the commander of the battleship Bismarck. Lindemann was the son of the Theologian Heinrich Lindemann (1805–1861) who...
Jens (2010). Kapitän zur See ErnstLindemann: Der Bismarck-Kommandant – Eine Biographie [Captain at Sea ErnstLindemann: The Bismarck-Commander – A Biography]...
for sea trials, which were conducted in the Baltic. Kapitän zur See ErnstLindemann took command of the ship at the time of commissioning. On 15 September...
receiving a response, until the captain of Bismarck, Kapitän zur See ErnstLindemann, impatiently responded: "Ich lasse mir doch nicht mein Schiff unter...
(Rhine Exercise) was for Bismarck, under the command of Kapitän zur See ErnstLindemann, and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, under the command of Kapitän zur...
German weapons to Nationalist forces. During the deployment to Spain, ErnstLindemann served as the ship's first gunnery officer. After Deutschland was attacked...
Jens (2010). Kapitän zur See ErnstLindemann: Der Bismarck-Kommandant—Eine Biographie [Captain at Sea ErnstLindemann: The Bismarck Commander—A Biography]...
withdrew. The Germans ceased fire as the range widened, though Captain ErnstLindemann, Bismarck's commander, strongly advocated chasing Prince of Wales and...
Federal Administrative Court Claus Koch (born 1953), jazz musician ErnstLindemann (1894–1941), an officer of the Imperial Navy and later the Navy commander...
Bismarck, under the command of Brinkmann's Crew 1913 classmate Captain ErnstLindemann, to break into the Atlantic and attack Allied shipping. Grand Admiral...
Kapitän zur See on 1 February 1940. On 1 August 1940 Hennecke succeeded ErnstLindemann as commander of the artillery ship school in Kiel-Wik. After his move...
1893 – Spyros Skouras, Greek-American businessman (d. 1971) 1894 – ErnstLindemann, German captain (d. 1941) 1895 – Christian Herter, American politician...
officers served aboard the ship as cadets, including Karl Dönitz and ErnstLindemann. At the outbreak of World War I, Hertha was mobilized into V Scouting...
anchor at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The captain of the Bismarck, ErnstLindemann, had almost dodged the Royal Navy until he was undone by British reconnaissance...
Jewish owner, Paul Lindemann. The Lindemann Haus, built in 1928/29 by architect Bruno Paul, was acquired in 1935 by Kerrl when Lindemann was forced to sell...
Global Information
German Empire (1913–18)
Weimar Republic (1918–33)
Nazi Germany (1933–41)
Imperial German Navy
Reichsmarine
Kriegsmarine