Ciliax, Otto.

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Ciliax, Otto, born, 30-10-1891 in Neudietendorf, at the time part of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Otto joined the military service of the Imperial German Navy on 01-04-1910 as a Seekadett of “Crew 1910” (the incoming class of 1910). Ciliac started his first naval infantry training course with the sea cadet detachment on SMS Victoria Louise on 07-04-1910.[Tr 1] Onboard training on Victory Louise began on 13 May before he was transferred to the Naval Academy Mürwik on 01-04-1911 for the main cadet and officer course. Afterwards, starting on 01-10-1912 Otto served on the battleship SMS Hannover and was promoted to Leutnant zur See (acting sub-lieutenant/ensign)  on 27-09-1913.

Ciliax was still serving on Hannover when World War I broke out on 28-07-1914. Ciliac was a watch officer on SM U-52 when it sank the cruiser HMS Nottingham on 19-08-1916. After completing submarine commander’s training, he was given SM UB-96 in June 1918 and SM UC-27 in September that year.

On 23-08-2004, Nottingham met SAS Mendi, a Valour-class frigate of the South African Navy at the site where the troopship SS Mendi was sunk during the First World War. The crew laid wreaths in remembrance to those who died in service for their country.

Ciliac remained with the Reichsmarine after the German collapse of 1918, serving as torpedo boat commander and staff officer, heading the operations department (Operationsabteilung) (operation department) of the Naval High Command (Oberkommando der Marine) in 1936. In 1936 Ciliac was given command of the German cruiser famous Admiral Scheer (22-09-1936 – 30-10-1938) and served as the Commander of the Sea-Force  from 22 March 1938 to 26 June 1938 during the Spanish Civil War. He commanded the German battleship Scharnhorst   when war broke out in September 1939. The famous German cruiser loaded refugees and left Swinemünde; she successfully navigated the minefields on the way to Kiel, arriving on 18 March. Her stern turret had its guns replaced at the Deutsche Werke shipyard by early April. During the repair process, most of the ship’s crew went ashore. On the night of 09-04-1945, a general RAF bombing raid by over 300 aircraft struck the harbor in Kiel.  Admiral Scheer was hit by bombs and capsized. She was partially broken up for scrap after the end of the war, though part of the hull was left in place and buried with rubble from the attack when the inner harbors were filled in post-war. The number of casualties from her loss is unknown.

In June 1941 Ciliac became Type Commander, Battleships (Befehlshaber der Schlachtschiffe). In this position he commanded Operation Cerberus, better known as “the Channel Dash”, when German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, under command of Vizeadmiral Helmuth Brinkmann (12-03-1895 – 26-09-1983),  a number of other smaller vessels were transferred from Brest to their respective home bases in Germany for planned deployment to Norwegian waters in February 1942. Ciliax flew his flag on the SS Scharnhorst.  Although the success of the operation was seen as an embarrassment to the British because the ships were able to pass through the English Channel almost undetected (though both Scharnhorst and Gneisenau struck a minefield en route), the transfer from Brest to Germany eliminated the threat they had posed to Allied shipping in the Atlantic. In February 1942, during operations in Norway, Vice-Admiral Otto Ciliax commanded a flotilla of warships that included the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, which served as his flagship during the voyage. From March 1943 until April 1945 Ciliax was Commander-in-Chief of German naval forces in Norway (Marinekommando Norwegen).

Admiral Otto Ciliax (second from right) during inspection of German naval troops in northern Norway looking at 150 mm gun.

Death and burial ground of Ciliac Otto.

Otto Ciliac survived the war and died 12-12-1964 (aged 73) in Lübeck-Travemünde, West Germany and is buried at the Cemetery of Lübeck-Travemünde, West Germany.

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