Paul Wenneker

Paul Werner Wenneker (27 February 1890 – 17 October 1979) was a German admiral and diplomat. Born in Kiel, Wenneker died in Bergstedt, Hamburg.

Paul Wennecker
Born	(1890-02-27)February 27, 1890 Kiel, Germany
Died	October 17, 1979(1979-10-17) (aged 89) Bergstedt, Germany
Allegiance	German Empire Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Imperial German Navy  Kriegsmarine
Years of service	1909-1945
Rank	Admiral
Commands held	German torpedo boat T 109 German minesweeper M 2 German minesweeper M 30 German minesweeper M 132 German pocket battleship Deutschland

Having joined the Kaiserliche Marine in 1909, Wenneker twice served as German Naval Attaché to Japan, first from 1935 to 1937 and again from 1940 to 1945.[1]^: 235 In-between these terms, from 1937 to 1940, he was commanding officer of the German pocket battleship Deutschland.

As Naval Attaché, Wenneker urged that the submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy be used to attack Allied supply ships, as Germany's U-boats were doing in the Atlantic. The Japanese rejected his advice.

Battleship Yamato underway on sea trials. Wenneker was unaware he visited the most powerful battleship of all time for a very long time.

In 1943, Wenneker was allowed to tour the Japanese "super battleship" Yamato, the largest battleship ever built, interested in temporarily trading the ship with the German battleship Tirpitz. He was allowed to board the ship for an hour long tour, exploring parts of the main deck and traversing through the Pagoda mast. He was told that Yamato was a 45,000 ton battleship armed with nine 40 cm (15.7 inch) naval guns. He very much enjoyed his tour, amazed by the floating goliath.[2] However, what was not told was that Yamato actually displaced 72,808 tons, and was armed with nine 46 cm (18.11 inch) naval guns, the largest naval guns ever made, making Yamato the most powerful battleship ever made, far outclassing the Tirpitz in surface action capabilities, who herself was only armed with eight 38 cm (14.96 inch) naval guns.