Helmut Möhlmann

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 33)


Successes
5 ships sunk, total tonnage 33,511 GRT
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 11,394 GRT
1 ship a total loss, total tonnage 9,788 GRT
1 auxiliary warship a total loss, total tonnage 3,870 GRT

Born  25 Jun 1913 Kiel
Died  12 Apr 1977(63)Prien am Chiemsee, Germany


Kapitänleutnant Helmut Möhlmann

Ranks

1 Apr 1933 Offiziersanwärter
23 Sep 1933 Seekadett
1 Jul 1934 Fähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1936 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1936 Leutnant zur See
1 Jun 1938 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1941 Kapitänleutnant
1 Apr 1945 Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

6 Jun 1939 Spanish Cross in Bronze without Swords
16 Nov 1939 Iron Cross 2nd Class
Apr, 1940 Destroyer War Badge
1 Dec 1941 Iron Cross 1st Class
1 Dec 1941 U-boat War Badge 1939
16 Apr 1943 Knights Cross
16 Sep 1944 U-boat Front Clasp

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-143 9 Dec 1940 19 Mar 1941   No war patrols 
U-52 20 Mar 1941 15 Apr 1941   No war patrols 
U-571 22 May 1941 31 May 1943   8 patrols (344 days) 


Helmut Möhlmann after patrol

Helmut Möhlmann began his naval career in April 1933. He served on the light cruiser Nürnberg and in the first months of the war made some patrols on the torpedo boat Luchs. In April 1940 he transferred to the U-boat force. For three months he commanded the school boat U-143 before commissioning the type VIIC U-boat U-571 in May 1941.

He took her on eight patrols, mostly in the North Atlantic, but also in the Arctic (Busch & Röll, 1997). The fourth patrol was particularly successful: in one week he sank two ships, each over 10,000 tons. He left the boat in May 1943 to attend a course at the Naval Academy at Berlin.

From September 1943 to December 1944 he served on the BdU org (Commander in Chief U-boats) staff. From December 1944 until the end of the war he commanded the 14th Flotilla at Narvik, Norway. After the surrender he spent more than four months in captivity.

After the war he joined the post-war German Navy, Bundesmarine, and later retired as Fregattenkapitän.

Special thanks to Mr. Fernando Almeida for details on date of death and post-war career.

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Helmut Möhlmann

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-571 18 Aug 1941  Trondheim  27 Aug 1941  Kirkenes  Patrol 1,10 days
2. U-571 28 Aug 1941  Kirkenes  5 Sep 1941  Kiel   9 days
3. U-571 18 Oct 1941  Kiel  19 Oct 1941  Arendal   2 days
4. U-571 22 Oct 1941  Arendal  26 Nov 1941  La Pallice  Patrol 2,36 days
5. U-571 21 Dec 1941  La Pallice  27 Jan 1942  La Pallice  Patrol 3,38 days
6. U-571 10 Mar 1942  La Pallice  7 May 1942  La Pallice  Patrol 4,59 days
7. U-571 11 Jun 1942  La Pallice  7 Aug 1942  La Pallice  Patrol 5,58 days
8. U-571 3 Oct 1942  La Pallice  14 Nov 1942  La Pallice  Patrol 6,43 days
9. U-571 22 Dec 1942  La Pallice  19 Feb 1943  La Pallice  Patrol 7,60 days
10. U-571 22 Mar 1943  La Pallice  23 Mar 1943  La Pallice  Patrol 8,2 days
11. U-571 25 Mar 1943  La Pallice  1 May 1943  La Pallice  Patrol 8,38 days
8 patrols, 344 days at sea

Ships hit by Helmut Möhlmann

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
26 Aug 1941U-571 Marija Uljanova (t.)3,870sj
 
29 Mar 1942U-571 Hertford10,923br
6 Apr 1942U-571 Koll10,044nw
14 Apr 1942U-571 Margaret3,352am
7 Jul 1942U-571 Umtata8,141br
8 Jul 1942U-571 J.A. Moffett, Jr. (t.)9,788am
9 Jul 1942U-571 Nicholas Cuneo1,051ho
15 Jul 1942U-571 Pennsylvania Sun (d.)11,394am
 58,563

7 ships sunk (47,169 tons) and 1 ship damaged (11,394 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.
(d.) means the ship was damaged.
(t.) means the ship was a total loss (included in ships & tonnage lost).


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.

Media links


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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