Robert Noss Posted April 6, 2006 Posted April 6, 2006 Hello to all,I got this very nice portrait of Kapit?n Karl Strauch, commander of the KdF Ship "Sierra Cordoba" in 1936.Details of his decorations:I would like to have some more information about this person.What was his career before the 1930ties ?What did he do in the 2nd WW ?As always, my sincere thanks to all who help me with their knowledge.Kind regardsRobert
Guest Rick Research Posted April 6, 2006 Posted April 6, 2006 Strauch was never a member of the Marine-Offiziere-Verband, so I cannot track his merchant marine career. He was born 18 August 1885, and served as a reserve officer in the imperial navy from 1 April 1908 to 10 December 1918:Leutnant zur See der Reserve 25.8.12 C Oberlutnant zur See der Reserve 27.1.16 B and aD in that rank.The February 1918 Navy Rank List shows him with both Iron Crosses and the HamburgHanseatic Cross.Wartime service 1914-18 =on SMS "L?beck" to January 1915SMS "Prinz Adalbert" to March 1915SMS "Bremen" to September 1915Group leader (Grupenf?hrer) and Commandant of Vorposten Flotille Ost (Outpost Flotilla "East") to April 1916Commander of the 2nd and then 1st (no specific dates) Merchant Shipping Protection Half Flotilla (Handelsschutzhalbflotille) to February 1918Expedition to Finland as 1st Officer of the steamer "Buenos Aires" to April 1918 (that is probably a Cross of Liberty 3rd Class he is wearing with the 1918 War of Independence Medal).The Hamburg-South America Steamship Society steamer "Buenos Aires" of 6,097 BRT was launched in 1912 and lost after being torpedoed at 57?05'N/11?35'E off the Norwegian coast on 1 May 1940and lastly, Watch Officer on SMS "Moltke" to war's end.The Norddeutscher Lloyd (Bremen) steamer "Sierra Cordoba" (11,492 BRT) was launched in 1924. Ordered delivered to Britain as war reparations, it sank off the coast of Norway in a storm 18 January 1948.North German Lloyd might have something in their corporate archives on Strauch. Rick
Robert Noss Posted April 7, 2006 Author Posted April 7, 2006 Rick, thank You.That is already a lot of information.Kind regardsRobert
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