Between 1936 and 1938, he was an adviser and later head of the ship construction department at the Naval High Command, and at the same time a consultant to and later chief of the Naval Training Department. On 1 April 1938, he was promoted to the rank of "Kapitän zur See" (captain at sea). On 30 September 1939, one month after the outbreak of World War II, Lindemann succeeded Captain Heinrich Woldag as commander of the Naval Gunnery School in Wik in Kiel, after Woldag took command of the heavy cruiser . Under his command were three training departments, the gunnery training ship and "Hektor", numerous gunnery training boats, gun carriers, auxiliary vessels, and occasionally Hitler's state yacht, the aviso .