Hugo Osterhaus graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Class of 1900. During World War I his father, Rear Admiral Hugo Osterhaus (USNA 1870) returned from retirement to serve as Director of Naval Districts, earning the Navy Cross in one of those rare cases where father and son EACH earned the Navy Cross in the same war. Hugo Osterhaus, as did his father, retired as a U.S. Navy Rear Admiral.