The Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden was established on December 25, 1833 as a joint award of the duchies of Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and Saxe-Meiningen.

As with most orders, one had to be an officer to receive the Saxe-Ernestine House Order. Despite the small size of the three duchies, awards of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order were not that uncommon, with over 3,400 officers receiving the honor during World War I.

An officer’s rank at the time of the award determined which grade of the house order he received. Kapitänleutnante — among U-boat commanders that would be Franz, Meier, Rohrbeck, Viebeg, and Wassner — received the Knights Cross 1st Class of the order while Oberleutnante and Leutnante — Gerke, Günther, Kükenthal, Lange, and Ulrich — were awarded the Knights Cross 2nd Class. The prewar award to Karl Bartenback was also of the Knights Cross 2nd Class.

Paul König also received the Knights Cross 1st Class but without swords for his service in commanding the merchant U-boat Deutschland.

Reuß was awarded the Großkreuz of the order in 1911 as he was a prince.

Photo source: Wikipedia Commons.