Ernst Cordes
Kapitänleutnant
| Successes 3 ships sunk for a total of 20,113 GRT |
| Born | 26 Jun 1913 | Hagen-Haspe | |
| Died | 7 Apr 1945 | (31) | English Channel |
|
|
Ranks
Decorations
|
U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
| U-560 | 25 Aug 1941 | 15 Jul 1942 | No war patrols |
| U-763 | 13 Mar 1943 | 31 Oct 1944 | 3 patrols (101 days) |
| U-1195 | 1 Nov 1944 | 7 Apr 1945 (+) | 1 patrol (42 days) |
Personal information
Ernst Cordes joined the Kriegsmarine in 1934 and underwent training on the Gorch Fock, Schleswig-Holstein and the destroyer Theodor Riedel. From May 1940 to Apri 1941 he served as Second Watch Officer on the famous U-123 and then moved to another famous boat, U-103, until June 1941.
Ernst Cordes, possibly someone elevated from the enlisted ranks to officer status during the war, did not belong to Crew 34. He may have been belatedly attached to the Crew for mere administrative purposes by the Navy’s personnel office, but he did not share the common training experience of the Crew’s regular members.
He left U-103 for U-boat commander training at the 24th Flotilla which he finished in August 1941 when he took command of the training boat U-560, until July 1942. He then served as a liason officer for the flight chief of the Atlantic (Fliegerführer Atlantik).
In February 1942 he was given his first combat U-boat command when he took command of the U-763, first stationed at Danzig with the 8th Training flotilla and then with the 3rd Flotilla at La Rochelle, France. He took the boat on 3 combat patrols, 98 days.
On 7 March 1942 Ernst Cordes married Irmgard Fikentscher and on 25 April 1944 they had a son, Gerhard.
Cordes was then assigned to command the U-1195 in November 1944, first at Kiel for training and then from January 1945 at Bergen, Norway as part of the 11th Flotilla.
He left Bergen for his first and last patrol on heading for the English Channel. He sank 2 ships on this patrol, which was rare at this time, but was caught and sunk just after having sunk the large troopship Cuba. There were 18 survivors from the boat, but 32 men died including Cordes. Cordes was 31 years old.
Patrol info for Ernst Cordes
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-763 | 14 Dec 1943 | Kiel | 7 Feb 1944 | La Pallice | Patrol 1, | 56 days | |
| 2. | U-763 | 19 Mar 1944 | La Pallice | 27 Mar 1944 | La Pallice | Patrol 2, | 9 days | |
| 3. | U-763 | 10 Jun 1944 | La Pallice | 15 Jul 1944 | Brest | Patrol 3, | 36 days | |
| 4. | U-1195 | 4 Feb 1945 | Kiel | 8 Feb 1945 | Horten | 5 days | ||
| 5. | U-1195 | 13 Feb 1945 | Horten | 14 Feb 1945 | Kristiansand | 2 days | ||
| 6. | U-1195 | 16 Feb 1945 | Kristiansand | 22 Feb 1945 | Bergen | 7 days | ||
| 7. | U-1195 | 25 Feb 1945 | Bergen | 7 Apr 1945 | Sunk | Patrol 4, | 42 days | |
| 4 patrols, 143 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Ernst Cordes
| Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Jul 1944 | U-763 | Ringen | 1,499 |  | nw | ETC-26 | |
| 21 Mar 1945 | U-1195 | John R. Park | 7,194 |  | am | TBC-102 | |
| 6 Apr 1945 | U-1195 |  | Cuba | 11,420 |  | br | VWP-16 |
| 20,113 | |||||||
3 ships sunk (20,113 tons). Legend | |||||||
About ranks and decorations
Special thanks to Fernando Almeida for data on ranks and decorations.