| Born | 14 Oct 1918 | Peine, Hannover | |
| Died | 26 Apr 1945 | (26) | Norwegian Sea |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
| U-1054 | 25 Mar 1944 | 16 Sep 1944 | No war patrols |
| U-637 | 1 Oct 1944 | 26 Apr 1945 (+) | 3 patrols (63 days, * died during this patrol) |
Personal information
Wolfgang Riekeberg joined the Kriegsmarine as part of crew 37a in April 1937. He served as gunnery officer on the merchant raider Stier from March to Dec 1942. Riekeberg then was assigned as gunnery officer on the propsed merchant raider Hansa but that ship never sailed and he joined the U-boat force in May 1943.
Riekeberg first went through regular U-boat training from May to Oct 1943 and then U-boat commander course at the 23rd flotilla (training) until Jan 1944. On 25 March 1944 he took command of his first U-boat, the U-1054.
On 1 Oct 1944 he took command of U-637, his second U-boat.
On 26 April 1945 Riekeberg died on his U-637 in skirmish with Norwegian motor torpedo boats, the boat suffered several dead but survived under the command of the Chief Engineer.
Sources
Busch, R & Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Patrol info for Wolfgang Riekeberg
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-637 | 13 Oct 1944 | Kiel | 16 Oct 1944 | Danzig | 4 days | ||
| 2. | U-637 | 25 Nov 1944 | Danzig | 13 Jan 1945 | Danzig | Patrol 1, | 50 days | |
| 3. | U-637 | 5 Apr 1945 | Kiel | 13 Apr 1945 | Stavanger | Patrol 2, | 9 days | |
| 4. | U-637 | 23 Apr 1945 | Stavanger | 28 Apr 1945 | Stavanger | Patrol 3, | 4 days | * |
| 3 patrols, 63 days at sea * Wolfgang Riekeberg died during this patrol on 26 Apr 1945 | ||||||||
Ships hit by Wolfgang Riekeberg
About ranks and decorations
Ranks shown in italics are our database inserts based on the rank dates of his crew comrades. The officers of each crew would normally have progressed through the lower ranks at the same rate.