Helmuth Ringelmann

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 31)


Successes
7 ships sunk, total tonnage 37,884 GRT
2 warships sunk, total tonnage 744 tons

Born  21 Apr 1912 Munich
Died  28 Dec 1941(29)Mediterranean


Kptlt. Helmuth Ringelmann

Ranks

1 Apr 1931 Offiziersanwärter
14 Oct 1931 Seekadett
1 Jan 1933 Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1935 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1935 Leutnant zur See
1 Jan 1937 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Oct 1939 Kapitänleutnant
  Korvettenkapitän (posthumous)

Decorations

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-75 19 Dec 1940 28 Dec 1941  (+)  5 patrols (141 days) 

Helmuth Ringelmann joined the Reichsmarine in 1931. He trained with the 24th (Training) Flotilla from Sept to Oct 1940, and in Nov began U-boat construction familiarization (Baubelehrung) of his new boat at Bremen.

Kptlt. Helmut Ringelmann commissioned U-75 on 19 Dec 1940 . He took her on three patrols in the North Atlantic, sinking six ships, including the passenger ship City of Nagur and the large tanker Inversuir.

The Mediterranean
On 27 Sept 1941 U-75 left St Nazaire, France for her 4th patrol. On 3 Oct she successfully passed through the heavily guarded Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean (Busch and Röll, 1997). During this patrol Ringelmann sank two small British landing craft off Tobruk.

U-75 entered her new base at Salamis, Greece on 2 Nov after 37 days at sea.

U-75's 5th patrol was to be her last. Seven days out from Salamis on 28 Dec 1941, after sinking her last victim, U-75 was herself sunk the same day by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Kipling in the Mediterranean off Mersa Matruh. 14 of her crew died and 30 survived. (Niestlé, 1998). Kptlt. Ringelmann was not among the survivors.

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Niestle, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.

Patrol info for Helmuth Ringelmann

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-75 10 Apr 1941  Kiel  12 May 1941  St. Nazaire  Patrol 1,33 days
2. U-75 29 May 1941  St. Nazaire  3 Jul 1941  St. Nazaire  Patrol 2,36 days
3. U-75 29 Jul 1941  St. Nazaire  25 Aug 1941  St. Nazaire  Patrol 3,28 days
4. U-75 27 Sep 1941  St. Nazaire  2 Nov 1941  Salamis  Patrol 4,37 days
5. U-75 22 Dec 1941  Salamis  28 Dec 1941  Sunk  Patrol 5,7 days
5 patrols, 141 days at sea

Ships hit by Helmuth Ringelmann

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
29 Apr 1941U-75 City of Nagpur10,146br
3 Jun 1941U-75 Eibergen4,801nlOB-327
3 Jun 1941U-75 Inversuir9,456brOB-327
25 Jun 1941U-75 Schie1,967nlOB-336
5 Aug 1941U-75 Cape Rodney4,512brSL-81
5 Aug 1941U-75 Harlingen5,415brSL-81
12 Oct 1941U-75 HMS TLC-2 (A 2)372br
12 Oct 1941U-75 HMS TLC-7 (A 7)372br
28 Dec 1941U-75 Volo1,587brME-8
 38,628

9 ships sunk (38,628 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.


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.

Media links


U-Boat Attack Logs

Daniel Morgan and Bruce Taylor


amazon.co.uk
(£ 38.25)


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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