| Born | 24 Sep 1908 | Gera, Thüringen |
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Ranks
Decorations |
U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
| U-3 | 30 Sep 1937 | Jul, 1938 | No war patrols |
| U-51 | 6 Aug 1938 | Aug, 1939 | No war patrols |
| U-53 | Aug, 1939 | 14 Jan 1940 | 2 patrols (74 days) |
Personal information
Ernst-Günter Heinicke joined the navy in 1927. He took command of the small boat U-3 in Sept 1937 and left that boat in July 1938 before moving on to the larger Type VIIB boat U-51 in August 1938. He commanded U-51 for a year, switching to the U-53 in August 1938 just before the war started.
Heinicke took the U-53 on 2 patrols, 72 days at sea, and sank 2 ships for 14.018 tons before leaving the U-boat force for the merchant raider Widder in January 1940. The served on the raider for 13 months, leaving the ship in February 1941. From there on he served in several staff and training positions, focusing largely on torpedoes.
Near the end of the war in March 1945 he was assigned as Baubelehrung commander of the new type XXI boat U 2561, but the boat was never commissioned and Heinicke thus never took command of the boat which was broken up on the stocks after the war.
Heinicke was detained by the Allies after the German surrender but freed on 6 October 1945.
Patrol info for Ernst-Günter Heinicke
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-53 | 29 Aug 1939 | Wilhelmshaven | 30 Sep 1939 | Kiel | Patrol 1, | 33 days | |
| 2. | U-53 | 21 Oct 1939 | Kiel | 30 Nov 1939 | Kiel | Patrol 2, | 41 days | |
| 2 patrols, 74 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Ernst-Günter Heinicke
| Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Sep 1939 | U-53 |  | Cheyenne | 8,825 |  | br | |
| 17 Sep 1939 | U-53 | | Kafiristan | 5,193 | | br | |
| 14,018 | |||||||
2 ships sunk (14,018 tons). Legend | |||||||