Vice Admiral Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière (March 18, 1886 – February 24, 1941), born in Posen, was a German U-boat commander during World War I. With 194 ships and sunk, he is the most successful submarine ace ever. Нis victories came in the Mediterranean, almost always using his 8.8-cm deck gun. He fired only four torpedoes, missing once.

Arnauld de la Perière remained in the German Navy after the war ended. During World War II, he was recalled to active duty as a vice admiral, but was killed in a plane crash near Paris in 1941 while taking part in secret negotiations with the Vichy French government.

First World War

Arnauld de la Perière entered the Kaiserliche Marine in 1903. After having served on the battleships , and , he served as torpedo officer on the light cruiser from 1911 to 1913.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Arnauld de la Perière served as an adjutant to admiral Hugo von Pohl in Berlin. Upon the mobilization, he was transferred to an active post where he served in the Marine-Luftschiff-Abteilung. In 1915, Arnauld de la Perière transferred to the U-boats. After a course in Pola, he was given command of the U-35 in November 1915. He made 14 voyages with the U-35 during which he sank 189 merchant vessels and two gunboats for a total of . Transferred to the U-139 in May 1918, he sank a further five ships with a combined tonnage of . His record number of sunken ships and tonnage are both unsurpassed since then. For his service, he was awarded the Iron Cross, second and first class and the Pour le Mérite in 1916.

Interbellum

After the end of the war, Arnauld de la Perière stayed in a vastly-reduced German navy. During the 1920s, he served as navigation officer onboard the old pre-dreadnoughts and . From 1928 to 1930, he commanded the light cruiser . Promoted to captain in 1931, he was put on the retired list. He then taught at the Turkish naval academy from 1932 to 1938.

Second World War

At the start of World War II Arnauld de la Perière was again called up for active duty. Until March 1940, he served as naval commandant in Danzig until he was sent to the Low Countries as naval commandant for Belgium and the Netherlands. Promoted to rear admiral, Arnauld de la Perière was made naval commandant in Brittany and later for the entire western French seacoast. He was promoted to vice admiral on February 1, 1941. Transferred to take up command as Admiral South, he was killed when his plane crashed on take off near Le Bourget Airport. He is buried in the Berliner Invalidenfriedhof.

External links

• The U-Boat ACE of ACES by William H. Langenberg, Sea Classics, May 2004 on findarticles.com
• Raiders of the Deep, by Lowell Thomas (Doubleday, Doran & Co., Garden City, NY, 1929).