The Men - The Commander listing

Alfred Eick

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 37a)

Successes
8 ships sunk for a total of 56.972 GRT
1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 249 GRT
1 ship damaged for a total of 3.702 GRT
1 ship a total loss for a total of 9.970 GRT

Born

9 Mar, 1916

Essen

Kptlt. Alfred Eick

Ranks

3 Apr, 1937	Offiziersanwärter
1 Apr, 1938	Fähnrich zur See
1 Jul, 1939	Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Aug, 1939	Leutnant zur See
1 Sep, 1941	Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr, 1944	Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

12 Jan, 1940	Iron Cross 2nd Class
1 Aug, 1943	Iron Cross 1st Class
16 Mar, 1944	German Cross in Gold
31 Mar, 1944	Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-510

22 May, 1943

8 May, 1945

4 patrols (354 days)

Personal information

Alfred Eick began his naval career in April 1937. Later he served for more than a year on the destroyer Hermann Beitzen, and he undertook 16 patrols in the first year of the war. In November 1940 he transferred to the U-boat force, where he accompanied U-176 on her first two patrols.

In May 1943 he became commander of U-510. After a successful patrol in Brazilian waters, U-510 left Lorient on her second patrol assigned as one of the Monsun boats. Eick operated for a few months in the Indian Ocean before heading back in January 1945 with a load of important goods (tin, quinine, etc.) on board. After being supplied with oil southeast of Madagascar by Krvkpt. Oesten's U-861 (who was short of fuel herself), U-510 ran out of fuel in the North Atlantic, but managed to reach the U-boat base at St. Nazaire in France at the end of April 1945 (at that time the base was still in German hands).

Alfred Eick was in French captivity from May 1945 to July 1947. He then studied business management at the University of Hamburg and worked later as a tax adviser.

Patrol info

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-510	3 Jun, 1943	Lorient	29 Aug, 1943	Lorient	Patrol,	88 days
2.	U-510	3 Nov, 1943	Lorient	5 Apr, 1944	Penang	Patrol,	155 days
3.	U-510	12 Apr, 1944	Penang	13 Apr, 1944	Singapur		2 days
4.	U-510	26 Jun, 1944	Singapur	7 Jul, 1944	Kobe		12 days
5.	U-510	7 Oct, 1944	Kobe	19 Oct, 1944	Batavia		13 days
6.	U-510	26 Nov, 1944	Batavia	3 Dec, 1944	Batavia	Patrol,	8 days
7.	U-510	11 Jan, 1945	Batavia	23 Apr, 1945	St. Nazaire	Patrol,	103 days
					4 patrols, 354 days at sea

Ships hit by Alfred Eick

Date	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
8 Jul, 1943	U-510	B.P. Newton	10.324		nw	TJ-1
8 Jul, 1943	U-510	Eldena	6.900		am	TJ-1
8 Jul, 1943	U-510	Everagra	3.702		le	TJ-1	damaged
10 Jul, 1943	U-510	Scandinavia	1.641		sw

22 Feb, 1944	U-510	E.G. Seubert	9.181		am	PA-69
22 Feb, 1944	U-510	Erling Brøvig	9.970		nw	PA-69	total loss
22 Feb, 1944	U-510	San Alvaro	7.385		br	PA-69
7 Mar, 1944	U-510	Tarifa	7.229		nw
19 Mar, 1944	U-510	John A. Poor	7.176		am
27 Mar, 1944	U-510	HMS Maaløy (J 136)	249		br

23 Feb, 1945	U-510	Point Pleasant Park	7.136		ca
			70.893
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk.