Otto Schuhart (4 September 1909 – 10 March 1990) was a German submarine commander during World War II, who commanded the U-boat U-29 and was credited with the sinking of the aircraft carrier HMS Courageous on 17 September 1939, the first British warship sunk in the war by enemy action.

After World War II he worked in various civil jobs and in 1955 rejoined military service in the Bundesmarine of the Bundeswehr of the Federal Republic of Germany.

[Note 1] He underwent basic military training in the 2nd department of the standing ship division of the Baltic Sea in Stralsund (1 April 1929 – 30 June 1929).

[2] Emden at the time was under the command of Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, a U-boat commander during World War I. Schuhart sailed on Emden's third training cruise, which started on 13 January 1930 and took him and her crew to Madeira, Saint Thomas, New Orleans, Kingston/Jamaica, San Juan/Puerto Rico, Charlestown and back to Germany via Las Palmas and Santa Cruz.

[3] Karlsruhe's first training cruise left Kiel 24 May 1930 and took its crew through the Suez Canal via the Mediterranean Sea.

They then proceeded down Africa's east coast, around the Cape of Good Hope to the Angra Pequena and the Walvis Bay.

U-29 left Wilhelmshaven on 19 August 1939, 12 days before the German Invasion of Poland which marked the beginning of World War II.

Oberleutnant zur See Georg Lassen, who had joined U-29 four days earlier, was Schuhart's I. Wachoffizier (first officer) on all seven of his combat patrols.

The approach was largely uneventful and was made mostly submerged up to the Faroe Islands due to the numerous fishing boats in the North Sea.

[6] Immediately after the outbreak of World War II on 17 September 1939, Schuhart encountered the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous.

Two of the torpedoes struck the ship on her port side, and she capsized and sank in 15 minutes with the loss of 518 of her crew, including her captain.

[Tr 13] He was head of the vocational education department of the H. C. Stülcken Sohn shipbuilding company located in Hamburg from April 1951 until 30 November 1955.