Schulz, Otto Wilhelm Karl, born, 12-03-1900, in Darmstadt, 
Germany, joined the Imperial Navy on 04-04-1916, as a war volunteer with the prospect of becoming a naval officer. After completing his basic training, he began his onboard training on 01-06-1916, on the large cruiser SMS Freya. 
On 04-08-1916, Otto was transferred to the battleship SMS “Thüringen.” 
After his appointment as ensign on 13-01-1917, he was transferred to the battleship SMS “Thüringen” in March 1917. Between August and November 1917, he attended the naval school in Mürwik 
and then completed the FT course. In February 1918, he returned to the battleship SMS “Oldenburg.” 
Based on the officers’ assessment, Otto was deemed suitable for officer status on 18-04-1918. With RDA, the Research Data Alliance, dated 19-06-1918, he was appointed lieutenant. From early December 1918 to early 1919, he served with the XII Naval Artillery Division. Until 17-02-1919, he was assigned to the commander of the Baltic Sea and North Sea naval stations. From 17-02-1919, to 26-05-1920, he served with the II Naval Brigade, probably refered to the German Marinebrigade Ehrhardt, 
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Here Schulz served in the officer assault company, then as a heavy machine gun commander, and then as an aide-de-camp to a brigade adjutant. He was then transferred to the Imperial Navy and served as a platoon leader in the 3rd Infantry Company of the 1st Ship Division of the North Sea until 24-05-1921. He was assigned to the cruiser “Arcona” 
until 22-09-1923, became a lieutenant at sea on 01-04-1922, and served here as a radio officer until 01-04-1923, and additionally as a watch officer from 01-10-1920. Until September 1923, he served as a watch officer and division officer. He left the Arcona on 21-09-1925, to take up a position as naval intelligence officer in List on Sylt, where he also served as adjutant at the Cuxhaven command. From early February 1925 to mid-March 1925, he attended a refresher course for radio officers at the Naval Intelligence School in Flensburg-Mürwik. He joined the service as an assistant in the Torpedo and Mine Inspection Department. At that time, he lived at Scharhorststraße 10 in Kiel. On 04-06-1927, he married Edith Gertrud Josephine, born Krahnstöver, who was nine years his junior and the daughter of merchant Rudolf Heinrich Ernst Krahnstöver, who had died on 23-09-1923, in Stettin. From the end of September 1927, he was in the Navy’s experimental command in Kiel and at the same time commander of the direction-finding boat “P III.”
The survey boat’s task was to survey flat coasts and mudflats and to record river mouths, shipping lanes, and silting. From 30-09-1927, to 25-09-1929, he served as first radio officer and watch officer on the battleship “Elsass.” 
On 24-10-1928, his eldest daughter, Lisel Edith Margarete Schulz, was born in Kiel. On 01-02-1929, he was promoted to lieutenant commander in this position and had attended a refresher course for radio officers in November/December 1927. In 1929, his second eldest daughter was born in Kiel. In 1930, his third daughter was also born in Kiel.
Schulz remained on the battleship “Schleswig-Holstein” as watch officer until 24-09-1931. He joined the defense department of the Reich Ministry of Defense as a consultant and remained there until 29-09-1933. In 1933, his fourth daughter was born, this time in Berlin-Charlottenburg. He was then promoted to lieutenant commander on 01-04-1935, and assigned to the Naval Academy for training as an assistant commander until 24-09-1935. In 1935, his only son was also born in Wilhelmshaven. From September 1935 to 29-09-1937, he served as navigation officer on the cruiser “Leipzig.” 
On 30-09-1937, Otto became third admiral staff officer at the North Sea Naval Station and was promoted to frigate captain on 01-10-1938. In 1941, another daughter was born in Bad Wildungen. From 01-09-1939, to 28-02-1940, he was head of the defense office at the North Sea Naval Station, where he was also an Asto at the same time and then only an Asto until mid-March 1943. On 01-04-1940, he was promoted to Captain in this position. From 01-04-1943, he was commander of the Crimean Sea Defense, which was disbanded with the fall of Sevastopol on 12-05-1944. On 01-03-1944, he was promoted to Rear Admiral. From 13-05-1944, to the end of June 1944, he was placed at the disposal of the Commander-in-Chief of the Black Sea and granted leave. He was awarded the Knight’s Cross 
on 17-05-1944, for the evacuation of Crimea. He then served as head of the Intelligence Analysis Department (3/Skl) until the end of the war. On 10-02-1945, his youngest child, his second son Rudolf Heinrich Ernst Schulz, was born in Bad Wildungen. However, he died of diphtheria and heart failure on 26-02-1945, also in Bad Wildungen. After the war, Otto was initially held as a prisoner of war, first by the British and then, until mid-June 1947, by the Americans, as head of the Mürwik department. 
Death and burial ground of Schulz, Otto Wilhelm Karl.
After his release from captivity in 1947, Schulz was exactly 47 years old and was able to live on his generous rear admiral’s pension for another 27 years. Otto passed away on 28-03-1974, at the age of 74, in Bad Wildungen and is buried in Bad Wildungen, district of Reinhardshausen, In the small municipal cemetery An der Nitter, K 30, located at the bottom right of the entrance.
The grave photo’s came from my German friend Wolfgang Linke, an enthousiast WW 2 grave searcher.
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