BERLIN, Sept. 30.—­Through the kindness of the German Admiralty I am able to tell exclusively the story of Capt.  Lieut.  Otto Weddigen, commander of the now world famous submarine U-9, whose feat in destroying three English cruisers has lifted the German Navy to a lofty place in sea history.

There is an inviolable rule in the German Army and Navy prohibiting officers from talking of their exploits, but because of the special nature of Weddigen’s exploit an exception was made, and through the good offices of Count von Oppersdorf The World was granted the right of first telling Weddigen’s remarkable story.

It must be borne in mind that Lieut.  Weddigen’s account has been officially announced and verified by German Navy Headquarters.  That will explain why certain details must be omitted, since they are of importance if further submarine excursions are undertaken against the British fleet.  Following is Weddigen’s tale, supplemented by the Admiralty Intelligence Department: 

By CAPT.  LIEUT.  OTTO WEDDIGEN. 
Commander of the German Submarine U-9.

I am 32 years old and have been in the navy for years.  For the last five years I have been attached to the submarine flotilla, and have been most interested in that branch of the navy.  At the outbreak of the war our undersea boats were rendezvoused at certain harbors in the North Sea, the names of which I am restrained from divulging.

Each of us felt and hoped that the Fatherland might be benefited by such individual efforts of ours as were possible at a time when our bigger sisters of the fleet were prohibited from activity.  So we awaited commands from the Admiralty, ready for any undertaking that promised to do for the imperial navy what our brothers of the army were so gloriously accomplishing.

It has already been told how I was married at the home of my brother in Wilhelmshaven to my boyhood sweetheart, Miss Prete of Hamburg, on Aug. 16.

Before that I had been steadily on duty with my boat, and I had to leave again the next day after my marriage.  But both my bride and I wanted the ceremony to take place at the appointed time, and it did, although within twenty-four hours thereafter I had to go away on a venture that gave a good chance of making my new wife a widow.  But she was as firm as I was that my first duty was to answer the call of our country, and she waved me away from the dock with good-luck wishes.

I set out from a North Sea port on one of the arms of the Kiel Canal and set my course in a southwesterly direction.  The name of the port I cannot state officially, but it has been guessed at; nor am I permitted to say definitely just when we started, but it was not many days before the morning of Sept. 22 when I fell in with my quarry.

When I started from home the fact was kept quiet and a heavy sea helped to keep the secret, but when the action began the sun was bright and the water smooth—­not the most favorable conditions for submarine work.