Korvettenkapitän Johann Krueger -application

[∬:Rolf Blauvelt]

Username: jokay
Character Name: Korvettenkapitän Johann Dietrich Krueger
Rank: Korvettenkapitän
What Army Will You Serve Beneath? : Nazi/German Army
Nationality: German
Character History:

Johann was born in the year 1911, in Memel, then part of Germany. He grew up, listening to the stories of his grandfather, who was part of Germany's merchant marine, when he was young, and of the other sailers and marines who would pass through on their way to the Danish Straits and the North Sea and beyond. Unfortunately, when Johann was three, his father was drafted into the Kaiserliche Marine, on the outbreak of war in 1914.

After the war, in 1918, when Memel was taken away from Germany, Johann's family moved to Bremerhaven, Germany, where Johann had stories from many former Kaiserliche Marine sailors, including his father, who was a Kapitan at war's end, who was lucky enough to be sent home, before the High Seas Fleet was sent to Scapa Flow.

Hearing these war stories, and later, reading about the scuttling of the High Seas Fleet, in responce to the impending division of the fleet between the Allies, caused Johann to have a new passion for the sea, and quickly learned all of the necessary seamanship skills from his father, grandfather, and sailors in Bremerhaven.

In 1929, at the age of 19, Johan and his family thought that his training was complete, and joined the Reichsmarine, the pitiful navy left to Germany after the Great War. Even so, Johann worked hard, and graduated first in his class, mostly due to his training before joining, and his charisma and skill.

In 1928, Johann was contacted by high members of the Reichsmarine, about a secret project, concerning a new type of ship, that was supposed to fall within the Treaty guidelines, and set out to design. Later, he found out it was basically a small version of the battleship, and gave Germany a powerful ship, without being punished for having large ships. For his work, Johann was promoted to Oberleutnant zur See , and sent for advanced skipper training. After taking many classes, he came out a Kapitäleutnant, and remained that way for a few years, since there was nothing else for him to do.

Then, on March 14th, 1939, Johann was promoted again, to Korvettenkapitän, and sent to be skipper on the Heavy Cruiser, Blücher, after a mysterious accident happened to the first choice for skipper. There, he met then Fregattenkapitän Fredrich von Luger, and started a great friendship with him, keeping in contact with him after Johann returned to Bremerhaven after the war.

Writing Sample:

The rain was pouring down, the wind causing it to fall almost vertically, and to make matters worse, it was cold, really cold. So cold, that the rain froze on anything it touched, including yound Johann. Today was his final test, to prove to his family that he was ready to join the Reichsmarine, and someday make it great again. The test seemed simple enough, drive a sail boat through a few islands, and land safely at port. Of course, Johann had the luck of having to do this on a day with the worse possible conditions for a sailboat, and where one wrong move would send the small boat crashing into the rocks surrounding the islands.

So, Johann set out, his father and grandfather watching him, not waving, just watching. Johann didn't look back, and started sailing toward the islands. The rain was soft, the wind fair, and blowing in the perfect direction too. But, by the time the first island was reached, Johann was struggling to keep boat upright, and was busy hacking ice off of everything, controlling the sail and the wheel, all at the same time.

Through sheer luck alone, Johann made it through the first islands, but he couldn't rest yet. There were still 8 more islands and island chains to make it past, and the weather was just getting worse, if that was possible. Still, through all the wind and rain, Johann made it through the first 7 islands with little room to spare. But Johann wasn't worried about those. The challenge was the last group of islands.

There was a reason why they had been named the widow maker chain, they were dangerous. On a good day, only about 80% of ships made it past the islands, and today was not a good day. Johann quietly prayed, and hoped that all his training would help him. Strangely, while Johann was praying, a thick fog descended on the area, which made him curse some very obscene things. But, he got over his frustration in a second, and payed attention to the task ahead.

Unsurprisingly, rocks were springing out of the fog left and right, giving Johann about a second to avoid a collision. A few times, about 12, the sides of the boat scraped the rocks, causing considerable loss of paint, but fortunately, nothing serious happened, and Johann breathed a sigh of relief when it was all over. Comparatively, the rest of the test was a breeze, no pun intended, and Johann made it to the harbor with a huge smile on his face, despite the still freezing wind and rain. And there to greet him were his father and grandfather, who were applauding Johann as he tied up the boat to the harbor. Lots of congratulations were passed around, and they all got fairly drunk that night, off of Stroh 80 and schnapps. The next day, with his family's blessing, Johann left to join the Reichsmarine, with a plan to make it better than the British Royal Navy.

Approved/Denied?: Approved
Staff Notes:

Very good application, welcome to the board, KorvettenKaptain!

~Furey