The Men - The Commander listing

Freiherr Siegfried von Forstner

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 30)

Successes
14 ships sunk for a total of 70,434 GRT
1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 602 GRT
3 ships damaged for a total of 28,682 GRT

Born	19 Sep 1910		Hannover
Died	13 Oct 1943	(33)	North Atlantic

Korvkpt. Siegfried Freiherr von Forstner

Ranks

1 Jan 1932	Fähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1934	Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1934	Leutnant zur See
1 Jun 1936	Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1939	Kapitänleutnant
1 Apr 1943	Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

18 Feb 1942	Iron Cross 2nd Class
7 Aug 1942	Iron Cross 1st Class
9 Feb 1943	Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-59	11 Nov 1940	16 Apr 1941	No war patrols
U-402	21 May 1941	13 Oct 1943 (+)	8 patrols (349 days)

Personal information

In the wardroom of U-402, cruising at 100 feet, Siegfried Frhr. von Forstner celebrates the news of his Knights Cross decoration.

Siegfried Freiherr von Forstner began his naval career in April 1930. Later he served for more than two years on the light cruiser Nürnberg, including six patrols during the first year of the war. In April 1940 he transferred to the U-boat force. After the usual training he served on U-99 under Kptlt. Kretschmer for one patrol as Kommandantenschüler (Commander-in-training).

After a few months on the training boat U-59, in April 1941he commissioned U-402, a Type VIIC boat. He operated mostly against convoys in the North Atlantic and became one of the most successful commanders in 1943. U-402 was sunk on 13 October, 1943 by an aircraft from US escort carrier USS Card and was lost with all hands.

Patrol info for Siegfried von Forstner

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-402	26 Oct 1941	Kiel	9 Dec 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol 1,	45 days
2.	U-402	11 Jan 1942	St. Nazaire	11 Feb 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 2,	32 days
3.	U-402	26 Mar 1942	St. Nazaire	20 May 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 3,	56 days
4.	U-402	16 Jun 1942	St. Nazaire	5 Aug 1942	La Pallice	Patrol 4,	51 days
5.	U-402	4 Oct 1942	La Pallice	20 Nov 1942	La Pallice	Patrol 5,	48 days
6.	U-402	14 Jan 1943	La Pallice	23 Feb 1943	La Pallice	Patrol 6,	41 days
7.	U-402	21 Apr 1943	La Pallice	26 May 1943	La Pallice	Patrol 7,	36 days
8.	U-402	4 Sep 1943	La Pallice	13 Oct 1943	Sunk	Patrol 8,	40 days
8 patrols, 349 days at sea

Ships hit by Siegfried von Forstner

Date	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
16 Jan, 1942	U-402	Llangibby Castle	11,951		br	WS-15	damaged
13 Apr, 1942	U-402	Empire Progress	5,249		br	ON-80
30 Apr, 1942	U-402	Ashkhabad	5,284		sj
2 May, 1942	U-402	USS Cythera (PY 26)	602		am
2 Nov, 1942	U-402	Dalcroy	4,558		br	SC-107
2 Nov, 1942	U-402	Empire Antelope	4,945		br	SC-107
2 Nov, 1942	U-402	Empire Leopard	5,676		br	SC-107
2 Nov, 1942	U-402	Empire Sunrise	7,459		br	SC-107	damaged
2 Nov, 1942	U-402	Rinos	4,649		gr	SC-107

7 Feb, 1943	U-402	Afrika	8,597		br	SC-118
7 Feb, 1943	U-402	Daghild	9,272		nw	SC-118	damaged
7 Feb, 1943	U-402	Henry R. Mallory	6,063		am	SC-118
7 Feb, 1943	U-402	Kalliopi	4,965		gr	SC-118
7 Feb, 1943	U-402	Robert E. Hopkins	6,625		am	SC-118
7 Feb, 1943	U-402	Toward	1,571		br	SC-118
8 Feb, 1943	U-402	Newton Ash	4,625		br	SC-118
11 May, 1943	U-402	Antigone	4,545		br	SC-129
11 May, 1943	U-402	Grado	3,082		nw	SC-129
			99,718
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk.