Harald Gelhaus
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 35)
| Successes 19 ships sunk for a total of 100,373 GRT 1 ship damaged for a total of 10,068 GRT |
| Born | 24 Jul 1915 | Göttingen | |
| Died | 2 Dec 1997 | (82) |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
| U-143 | 31 Mar 1941 | 30 Apr 1941 | 1 patrol (25 days, * did not finish patrol) |
| U-107 | 1 Dec 1941 | 6 Jun 1943 | 7 patrols (348 days) |
Personal information
Harald Gelhaus began his naval career in April 1935. He served on the light cruiser Karlsruhe and on the battleship Gneisenau. In October 1939 he transferred to the U-boat force. His first three patrols were as I WO on U-103 under Korvkpt. Schütze.
He left the boat in March 1941 and took command of the Type IIB boat U-143. After four patrols he became the commander of U-107, the already famous boat of Korvkpt. Hessler. On the next six patrols he sank 19 ships for a total of little more than 100,00 tons. In June 1943 he became a staff member of the OKM, the High Command of the German Navy.
Beginning in February 1944, he was a training officer in the 22nd and 27th flotillas. The final months of the war he spent in staff positions, the last one being in Naval High Command North. After the war he spent three months in Allied captivity.
Patrol info for Harald Gelhaus
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-143 | 19 Apr 1941 | Kiel | 13 May 1941 | Bergen | Patrol 1, | 25 days | |
| 2. | U-143 | 13 May 1941 | Bergen | 18 May 1941 | Kiel | 6 days | ||
| 3. | U-143 | 9 Jun 1941 | Kiel | 29 Jun 1941 | Bergen | Patrol 2, | 21 days | |
| 4. | U-143 | 6 Jul 1941 | Bergen | 14 Jul 1941 | Bergen | Patrol 3, | 9 days | |
| 5. | U-143 | 17 Jul 1941 | Bergen | 21 Jul 1941 | Kiel | 5 days | ||
| 6. | U-143 | 17 Aug 1941 | Kiel | 12 Sep 1941 | Kiel | Patrol 4, | 27 days | |
| 7. | U-107 | 10 Dec 1941 | Lorient | 26 Dec 1941 | Lorient | Patrol 5, | 17 days | |
| 8. | U-107 | 7 Jan 1942 | Lorient | 7 Mar 1942 | Lorient | Patrol 6, | 60 days | |
| 9. | U-107 | 21 Apr 1942 | Lorient | 11 Jul 1942 | Lorient | Patrol 7, | 82 days | |
| 10. | U-107 | 25 Jul 1942 | Lorient | 29 Jul 1942 | Lorient | Patrol 8, | 5 days | |
| 11. | U-107 | 15 Aug 1942 | Lorient | 18 Nov 1942 | Lorient | Patrol 9, | 96 days | |
| 12. | U-107 | 30 Jan 1943 | Lorient | 25 Mar 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 10, | 55 days | |
| 13. | U-107 | 24 Apr 1943 | Lorient | 26 May 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 11, | 33 days | |
| 11 patrols, 430 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Harald Gelhaus
| Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Aug 1941 | U-143 |  | Inger | 1,409 |  | nw | |
| 31 Jan 1942 | U-107 | | San Arcadio | 7,419 |  | br | |
| 6 Feb 1942 | U-107 | Major Wheeler | 3,431 |  | am | ||
| 21 Feb 1942 | U-107 | | Egda (d.) | 10,068 | | nw | ON-65 |
| 29 May 1942 | U-107 | Western Head | 2,599 | | br | ||
| 1 Jun 1942 | U-107 | | Bushranger | 4,536 |  | pa | |
| 7 Jun 1942 | U-107 | Castilla | 3,910 |  | ho | ||
| 8 Jun 1942 | U-107 | | Suwied | 3,249 | | am | |
| 10 Jun 1942 | U-107 | | Merrimack | 2,606 | | am | |
| 19 Jun 1942 | U-107 | Cheerio | 35 | | am | ||
| 26 Jun 1942 | U-107 | | Jagersfontein | 10,083 |  | nl | |
| 3 Sep 1942 | U-107 | | Hollinside | 4,172 | | br | |
| 3 Sep 1942 | U-107 | | Penrose | 4,393 | | br | |
| 7 Oct 1942 | U-107 | | Andalucia Star | 14,943 | | br | |
| 22 Feb 1943 | U-107 | | Roxburgh Castle | 7,801 | | br | |
| 13 Mar 1943 | U-107 | | Clan Alpine | 5,442 | | br | OS-44 |
| 13 Mar 1943 | U-107 | Marcella | 4,592 | | br | OS-44 | |
| 13 Mar 1943 | U-107 | | Oporto | 2,352 | | br | OS-44 |
| 13 Mar 1943 | U-107 | | Sembilangan | 4,990 | | nl | OS-44 |
| 1 May 1943 | U-107 | Port Victor | 12,411 | | br | ||
| 110,441 | |||||||
19 ships sunk (100,373 tons) and 1 ship damaged (10,068 tons). Legend | |||||||
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.