The Men - The Commander listing

Ulrich Folkers

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)

Successes
17 ships sunk for a total of 82.873 GRT

Born	6 Mar, 1915	Kiel
Died	6 May, 1943	North Atlantic

Kptlt. Ulrich Folkers

Ranks

26 Sep, 1934	Seekadett
1 Jul, 1935	Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan, 1937	Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr, 1937	Leutnant zur See
1 Apr, 1939	Oberleutnant zur See
1 Nov, 1941	Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

15 Jan, 1940	Iron Cross 2nd Class
26 Mar, 1941	U-boat War Badge 1939
27 Mar, 1943	Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-37	3 May, 1941	-	15 Nov, 1941	No war patrols
U-125	15 Dec, 1941	-	6 May, 1943 (+)	5 patrols (339 days)

Personal information

Kptlt. Ulrich Folkers after patrol

Ulrich Folkers joined the navy in April 1934. He served on the light cruiser Emden and on the destroyer Bruno Heinemann. In April 1940 he was attached to the U-boat force and after training he became the first watch officer on U-37 under the command of Nico Clausen.

In November 1941 he took over U-125 from Güther Kuhnke and was one of the five boats which launched the U-boat war against the USA in January 1942 with Operation Paukenschlag. The BdU was not very happy about Folkers' performance on his first patrol (he only sank one ship), but his second and third patrols were very successful and for them Ulrich Folkers won the Knights Cross.

He was killed along with his whole crew when U-125 was sunk on 6 May, 1943 by British destroyers.

Patrol info

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-125	18 Dec, 1941	Lorient	23 Feb, 1942	Lorient	Patrol,	68 days
2.	U-125	4 Apr, 1942	Lorient	13 Jun, 1942	Lorient	Patrol,	71 days
3.	U-125	27 Jul, 1942	Lorient	6 Nov, 1942	Lorient	Patrol,	103 days
4.	U-125	9 Dec, 1942	Lorient	19 Feb, 1943	Lorient	Patrol,	73 days
5.	U-125	13 Apr, 1943	Lorient	6 May, 1943	Sunk	Patrol,	24 days
					5 patrols, 339 days at sea

Ships hit by Ulrich Folkers

Date	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
26 Jan, 1942	U-125	West Ivis	5.666		am
23 Apr, 1942	U-125	Lammot Du Pont	5.102		am
3 May, 1942	U-125	San Rafael	1.973		do
4 May, 1942	U-125	Tuscaloosa City	5.687		am
6 May, 1942	U-125	Empire Buffalo	6.404		br
6 May, 1942	U-125	Green Island	1.946		am
9 May, 1942	U-125	Calgarolite	11.941		ca
14 May, 1942	U-125	Comayagua	2.493		ho
18 May, 1942	U-125	Mercury Sun	8.893		am
18 May, 1942	U-125	William J. Salman	2.616		am
1 Sep, 1942	U-125	Ilorin	815		br
23 Sep, 1942	U-125	Bruyère	5.335		br
29 Sep, 1942	U-125	Baron Ogilvy	3.391		br
30 Sep, 1942	U-125	Empire Avocet	6.015		br
30 Sep, 1942	U-125	Kumsang	5.447		br
8 Oct, 1942	U-125	Glendene	4.412		br

4 May, 1943	U-125	Lorient	4.737		br	ONS-5
			82.873
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk.