Robert Gysae
Korvettenkapitän (Crew 31)
| Successes 24 ships sunk for a total of 136.266 GRT 1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 10.549 GRT 1 ship damaged for a total of 2.588 GRT |
| Born | 14 Jan, 1911 | Berlin-Charlottenburg |
| Died | 26 Apr, 1989 |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-98 | 12 Oct, 1940 | - | 23 Mar, 1942 | 6 patrols (194 days) |
| U-177 | 24 Mar, 1942 | - | 16 Oct, 1943 | 2 patrols (312 days) |
Personal information
Robert Gysae began his naval career in April 1931. After some years on torpedo boats (Albatros, Leopard and T-107) Kapitänleutnant Robert Gysae transferred to the U-boat arm in April 1940. Six months later in October of 1940 he commissioned the U-98, and in March 1941 set out on his first patrol with that boat. What is amazing is that Robert Gysae started his career as a U-boat commander without serving any time as IWO or "Kommandantenschüler" on any other boats. Very few men were shown such trust by BdU.
 Kptlt. Gysae, well shaved |
 Korvkpt. Gysae, with a proud beard after patrol |
After six patrols with U-98, he took over the larger U-177. On two long-range patrols into the Indian Ocean Gysae sank 14 ships for a total of 87,388 tons. During the second patrol he received the Oak Leaves. In October 1943 he left the boat and in January 1944 he became the commander of the 25th U-boat flotilla (training flotilla). In the last month of the war (April 1945) he was the commander of the Marinepanzerjagd-Regiment 1 (Navy tank-hunter regiment).
 Flotillenadmiral Robert Gysae |
After the war's end he spent some weeks in captivity before going on to serve for more than two years in the German minesweeping service (Deutscher Minenräumdienst).
During the postwar period he joined the Bundesmarine (post-war German Navy). There he served for four years as Navy attache in the USA and then spent three years as Flottillenadmiral and Commander of the Marinedivision Nordsee before retiring in March 1970.
Patrol info
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | |||||
| 1. | U-98 | 12 Mar, 1941 | Kiel | 14 Apr, 1941 | Lorient | Patrol, | 34 days |
| 2. | U-98 | 1 May, 1941 | Lorient | 29 May, 1941 | St. Nazaire | Patrol, | 29 days |
| 3. | U-98 | 23 Jun, 1941 | St. Nazaire | 23 Jul, 1941 | St. Nazaire | Patrol, | 31 days |
| 4. | U-98 | 31 Aug, 1941 | St. Nazaire | 26 Sep, 1941 | St. Nazaire | Patrol, | 27 days |
| 5. | U-98 | 29 Oct, 1941 | St. Nazaire | 29 Nov, 1941 | St. Nazaire | Patrol, | 32 days |
| 6. | U-98 | 18 Jan, 1942 | St. Nazaire | 27 Feb, 1942 | St. Nazaire | Patrol, | 41 days |
| 7. | U-177 | 17 Sep, 1942 | Kiel | 22 Jan, 1943 | Bordeaux | Patrol, | 128 days |
| 8. | U-177 | 1 Apr, 1943 | Bordeaux | 1 Oct, 1943 | Bordeaux | Patrol, | 184 days |
| 8 patrols, 506 days at sea | |||||||
Ships hit by Robert Gysae
| Date | Boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | Fate * | |
| 27 Mar, 1941 | U-98 | Koranton | 6.695 |  | br | SC-25 | |
| 4 Apr, 1941 | U-98 | Helle | 2.467 |  | nw | SC-26 | |
| 4 Apr, 1941 | U-98 | Welcombe | 5.122 | | br | SC-26 | |
| 9 Apr, 1941 | U-98 | Prins Willem II | 1.304 |  | nl | HX-117 | |
| 13 May, 1941 | U-98 | HMS Salopian (F 94) | 10.549 | | br | SC-30 | |
| 20 May, 1941 | U-98 | Rothermere | 5.356 | | br | HX-126 | |
| 21 May, 1941 | U-98 | Marconi | 7.402 | | br | OB-322 | |
| 9 Jul, 1941 | U-98 | Designer | 5.945 | | br | OB-341 | |
| 9 Jul, 1941 | U-98 | Inverness | 4.897 | | br | OB-341 | |
| 16 Sep, 1941 | U-98 | Jedmoor | 4.392 | | br | SC-42 | |
| 15 Feb, 1942 | U-98 | Biela | 5.298 | | br | ON-62 | |
| 2 Nov, 1942 | U-177 | Aegeus | 4.538 |  | gr | ||
| 9 Nov, 1942 | U-177 | Cerion | 2.588 | | br | damaged | |
| 19 Nov, 1942 | U-177 | Scottish Chief | 7.006 | | br | ||
| 20 Nov, 1942 | U-177 | Pierce Butler | 7.191 |  | am | ||
| 28 Nov, 1942 | U-177 | Nova Scotia | 6.796 | | br | ||
| 30 Nov, 1942 | U-177 | Llandaff Castle | 10.799 | | br | ||
| 7 Dec, 1942 | U-177 | Saronikos | 3.548 | | gr | ||
| 12 Dec, 1942 | U-177 | Empire Gull | 6.408 | | br | ||
| 14 Dec, 1942 | U-177 | Sawahloento | 3.085 | | nl | ||
| 28 May, 1943 | U-177 | Agwimonte | 6.679 | | am | CD-20 | |
| 28 May, 1943 | U-177 | Storaas | 7.886 | | nw | CD-20 | |
| 6 Jul, 1943 | U-177 | Jasper Park | 7.129 |  | ca | ||
| 10 Jul, 1943 | U-177 | Alice F. Palmer | 7.176 | | am | ||
| 29 Jul, 1943 | U-177 | Cornish City | 4.952 | | br | DN-53 | |
| 5 Aug, 1943 | U-177 | Efthalia Mari | 4.195 | | gr | ||
| 149.403 | |||||||
* 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.
