Waldemar Mehl
Korvettenkapitän (Crew 33)
| Successes 4 ships sunk for a total of 26.279 GRT 1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 545 GRT 2 warships sunk for a total of 2.286 tons 4 ships damaged for a total of 28.072 GRT 2 ships a total loss for a total of 13.341 GRT |
| Born | 7 Sep, 1914 | Grävenwiesbach, Usingen, Taunus |
| Died | 29 Mar, 1996 |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-62 | 5 Nov, 1941 | - | 19 Nov, 1941 | No war patrols |
| U-72 | 2 Dec, 1941 | - | 6 May, 1942 | No war patrols |
| U-371 | 25 May, 1942 | - | 4 Apr, 1944 | 12 patrols (227 days) |
Personal information
Kapitänleutnant Waldemar Mehl |
Waldemar Mehl joined the Navy in April 1933. Before the war he served on the light cruisers Köln and Nürnberg and on the line ship Schleswig-Holstein. Starting in December 1939 he served in several positions on shore before transferring in April 1941 to the U-boat force.
After the usual training he spent a few months as commander-in-training (Kommandantenschüler) on U-371 before taking over command of U-62 and U-72.
In May 1942 he became commander of U-371 which fought in the Mediterranean. He took the boat on 13 successful patrols during the next two years and sank, among other vessels, three British warships.
He left U-371 in April 1944 and became an officer in the FdU Mittelmeer staff, and also held two other staff positions. After the war he served for three months in a minesweeper unit.
Patrol info
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | |||||
| 1. | U-371 | 1 Jul, 1942 | Salamis | 7 Jul, 1942 | Pola | 7 days | |
| 2. | U-371 | 5 Sep, 1942 | Pola | 18 Sep, 1942 | Salamis | Patrol, | 14 days |
| 3. | U-371 | 12 Oct, 1942 | Salamis | 16 Oct, 1942 | Pola | 5 days | |
| 4. | U-371 | 1 Dec, 1942 | Pola | 4 Dec, 1942 | Messina | Patrol, | 4 days |
| 5. | U-371 | 7 Dec, 1942 | Messina | 10 Jan, 1943 | La Spezia | Patrol, | 35 days |
| 6. | U-371 | 14 Feb, 1943 | La Spezia | 3 Mar, 1943 | La Spezia | Patrol, | 18 days |
| 7. | U-371 | 7 Apr, 1943 | La Spezia | 11 May, 1943 | Toulon | Patrol, | 35 days |
| 8. | U-371 | 3 Jul, 1943 | Toulon | 12 Jul, 1943 | Toulon | Patrol, | 10 days |
| 9. | U-371 | 22 Jul, 1943 | Toulon | 11 Aug, 1943 | Toulon | Patrol, | 21 days |
| 10. | U-371 | 21 Aug, 1943 | Toulon | 3 Sep, 1943 | Toulon | Patrol, | 14 days |
| 11. | U-371 | 7 Oct, 1943 | Toulon | 28 Oct, 1943 | Toulon | Patrol, | 22 days |
| 12. | U-371 | 15 Nov, 1943 | Toulon | 23 Nov, 1943 | Toulon | Patrol, | 9 days |
| 13. | U-371 | 22 Jan, 1944 | Toulon | 13 Feb, 1944 | Toulon | Patrol, | 23 days |
| 14. | U-371 | 4 Mar, 1944 | Toulon | 25 Mar, 1944 | Toulon | Patrol, | 22 days |
| 12 patrols, 227 days at sea | |||||||
Ships hit by Waldemar Mehl
| Date | Boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | Fate * | |
| 7 Jan, 1943 | U-371 | HMS Jura (T 169) | 545 |  | br | MKS-5 | |
| 7 Jan, 1943 | U-371 | Ville de Strasbourg | 7.159 | | br | MKS-5 | damaged |
| 23 Feb, 1943 | U-371 | Fintra | 2.089 | | br | ||
| 28 Feb, 1943 | U-371 | Daniel Carroll | 7.176 |  | am | TE-16 | damaged |
| 27 Apr, 1943 | U-371 | Merope | 1.162 |  | nl | ||
| 10 Jul, 1943 | U-371 | Gulfprince | 6.561 | | am | ET-22A | damaged |
| 10 Jul, 1943 | U-371 | Matthew Maury | 7.176 | | am | ET-22A | damaged |
| 7 Aug, 1943 | U-371 | Contractor | 6.004 | | br | GTX-5 | |
| 11 Oct, 1943 | U-371 | HMS Hythe (J 194) | 656 | | br | ||
| 13 Oct, 1943 | U-371 | USS Bristol (DD 453) | 1.630 | | am | ||
| 15 Oct, 1943 | U-371 | James Russell Lowell | 7.176 | | am | GUS-18 | total loss |
| 17 Mar, 1944 | U-371 | Dempo | 17.024 | | nl | SNF-17 | |
| 17 Mar, 1944 | U-371 | Maiden Creek | 6.165 | | am | SNF-17 | total loss |
| 70.523 | |||||||
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk. | |||||||
Decorations and ranks information is in many cases not complete. If you can help on any of those missing that would be great.