Otto Ulli Signal?

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José M. Rico
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Otto Ulli Signal?

Post by José M. Rico »

Hello all,

I am currently revising the whole war diary of the Bismarck, correcting typos, improving the translation, etc, and perhaps someone can help me with this. Any idea what kind of signal was "Otto Ulli" ?? I believe it has something to do with air operations but can't say for sure.
Here are a couple of excerpts from Bismarck's War Diary.
1830 Uhr - 1909 Uhr / 1830-1909 hours-
Gibraltar wiederholte vormittage 3 Otto Ullis für Hans.
Gibraltar repeated this forenoon 3 Otto Ullis [signals] to Hans [Force H].

2121 Uhr / 2121 hours-
Q J 2 gab mehrere Otto Ullis Op.Funksprüche, zuletzt 1856 Uhr, Peilung Brest 276 Grad."
QJ2 [Ark Royal] transmitted several Otto Ullis operational radio messages, the last at 1856 hours, bearing from Brest 276º.”
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wadinga
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Re: Otto Ulli Signal?

Post by wadinga »

Hello Jose,

Not sure about Otto Ullis, maybe just "undecipherable message" or a name for a code B-Dienst couldn't break.

BTW Cleethorpes is not a ship but a powerful RN naval radio transmission site called New Waltham Wireless Station on the east coast of UK. Cleethorpes is the nearest town to it just south of the Humber estuary.


Thank you for providing this excellent website.

All the best

wadinga
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José M. Rico
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Re: Otto Ulli Signal?

Post by José M. Rico »

B-Dienst certainly knew what "Otto Ulli" stood for. It is one of several code words used by the Germans during Rheinübung.
wadinga wrote: Mon Sep 03, 2018 1:08 am BTW Cleethorpes is not a ship but a powerful RN naval radio transmission site called New Waltham Wireless Station on the east coast of UK. Cleethorpes is the nearest town to it just south of the Humber estuary.
I knew it had to be a radio station in Britain. Thanks for confirming that! :ok:
I will correct that on the next KTB revision.
northcape
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Re: Otto Ulli Signal?

Post by northcape »

"Otto" stands for "O" in the german morse code. "Ulli" is a short version of the name "Ullrich", which stands for "U" in the morse code. So it maybe refers to the abbreviation "OU" - and for whatever "OU" stands for, would be the next question :)
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Herr Nilsson
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Re: Otto Ulli Signal?

Post by Herr Nilsson »

OU and P, O, D etc. as well seem to be a message-attribute or possibly part of the header.
OU.jpg
OU.jpg (64.59 KiB) Viewed 4422 times
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Marc

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Herr Nilsson
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Re: Otto Ulli Signal?

Post by Herr Nilsson »

Apparently OU was a "dringender Operationsfunkspruch" (urgent operational message?)
OU2.jpg
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Marc

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José M. Rico
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Re: Otto Ulli Signal?

Post by José M. Rico »

Thanks for that Marc,
But since most "Otto Ulli" signals have something to do with the Ark Royal, couldn't be a coded signal for launching aircraft?
Check this:

Image
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Herr Nilsson
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Re: Otto Ulli Signal?

Post by Herr Nilsson »

Jose,

I don't think so for several reasons:

1.) O="clearance for take off of shipborne airplane" and U="no clearance for take off". OU= "clearence no clearence" makes no sense.
2.) There are two OU's from Dorsetshire in regard of sinking Bismarck.
3.) The Germans erroneously believed S.O. Force H to be Ark Royal and C.I.C. Home Fleet to be S.O. Force H. So the OU's were not sent by Ark Royal but Somerville on Renown.
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Marc

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Re: Otto Ulli Signal?

Post by José M. Rico »

OK, I see.
So, I guess OU refers to the type of message, like SSD (Sehr, Sehr, Dringend = Very Very Urgent).
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Herr Nilsson
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Re: Otto Ulli Signal?

Post by Herr Nilsson »

I think so, but "OU" seems to me the British version of the German "KR" and not "SSD".
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Marc

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Re: Otto Ulli Signal?

Post by José M. Rico »

... with the difference between "KR" and "SSD" being the level of priority, right?
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Re: Otto Ulli Signal?

Post by Herr Nilsson »

It's not about priority but sender and receiver:

"FRR" are messages from and to the Führer

"KR" are urgent operational and tactical messages of the higher commands and messages about the enemy to higher commands

"SSD" are urgent tactical messages for forces in action

"S" are urgent messages for forces not in action
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Marc

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Re: Otto Ulli Signal?

Post by José M. Rico »

OK, thank you Marc! :ok: :ok:
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