The Men - U-boat Commanders

Gerd Kelbling

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)

Successes
9 ships sunk, total tonnage 38,290 GRT
3 warships sunk, total tonnage 2,902 tons
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 4,853 GRT
1 warship damaged, total tonnage 1,625 tons
1 ship a total loss, total tonnage 8,426 GRT
1 warship a total loss, total tonnage 1,625 tons

Born	12 Jun 1915		Salzbrunn, Silesia
Died	9 Jun 2005	(89)

Gerd Kelbling

Ranks

8 Apr 1934	Offiziersanwärter
1 Jul 1935	Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1937	Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1937	Leutnant zur See
1 Apr 1939	Oberleutnant zur See
1 Sep 1941	Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

31 May 1940	Iron Cross 2nd Class
29 Aug 1940	Iron Cross 1st Class
30 Mar 1942	U-boat War Badge 1939
19 Aug 1943	Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-593	23 Oct 1941	13 Dec 1943	16 patrols (338 days)

Kapitänleutnant Gerd Kelbling

Gerd Kelbling began his naval career in April 1934. He then served for a few years on several minesweepers. In January 1941 he transferred to the U-boat force. After the usual training he served on U-557 as a commander-in-training for one patrol.

In October 1941 he commissioned U-593 and went on patrol for the first time in March 1942. He operated with the U-boat on three patrols in the Atlantic before U-593 broke through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean in October 1942.

There he took the boat on 12 patrols with some success before she was sunk on 13 December 1943 after a 32-hour hunt by two Allied destroyers (Niestlé, 1998). The commander and the entire crew were taken prisoner. Kelbling was held in a Canadian POW camp for several years. In September 1947 Gerd Kelbling returned to Germany from POW camp.

Gerd Kelbling died on 9 June 2005 (Rust, 2009).

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.
Rust, E. (2009) E-mail correspondence. Author of Naval Officers under Hitler.

Patrol info for Gerd Kelbling

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-593	2 Mar 1942	Kiel	28 Mar 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 1,	27 days
2.	U-593	20 Apr 1942	St. Nazaire	18 Jun 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 2,	60 days
3.	U-593	22 Jul 1942	St. Nazaire	19 Aug 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 3,	29 days
4.	U-593	3 Oct 1942	St. Nazaire	15 Oct 1942	La Spezia	Patrol 4,	13 days
5.	U-593	2 Nov 1942	La Spezia	16 Nov 1942	La Spezia	Patrol 5,	15 days
6.	U-593	29 Nov 1942	La Spezia	31 Dec 1942	Pola	Patrol 6,	33 days
7.	U-593	6 Feb 1943	Pola	8 Mar 1943	Salamis	Patrol 7,	31 days
8.	U-593	13 Mar 1943	Salamis	21 Mar 1943	Salamis	Patrol 8,	9 days
9.	U-593	25 Mar 1943	Salamis	4 Apr 1943	Salamis	Patrol 9,	11 days
10.	U-593	8 Apr 1943	Salamis	23 Apr 1943	Salamis	Patrol 10,	16 days
11.	U-593	24 Apr 1943	Salamis	28 Apr 1943	Pola		5 days
12.	U-593	13 Jun 1943	Pola	11 Jul 1943	Toulon	Patrol 11,	29 days
13.	U-593	27 Jul 1943	Toulon	8 Aug 1943	Toulon	Patrol 12,	13 days
14.	U-593	15 Sep 1943	Toulon	5 Oct 1943	Toulon	Patrol 13,	21 days
15.	U-593	26 Oct 1943	Toulon	7 Nov 1943	Toulon	Patrol 14,	13 days
16.	U-593	25 Nov 1943	Toulon	29 Nov 1943	Toulon	Patrol 15,	5 days
17.	U-593	1 Dec 1943	Toulon	13 Dec 1943	Sunk	Patrol 16,	13 days
16 patrols, 338 days at sea

Ships hit by Gerd Kelbling

Date	U-boat	Commander	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
14 May 1942	U-593	Gerd Kelbling	Stavros (d.)	4,853	gr
25 May 1942	U-593	Gerd Kelbling	Persephone (t.)	8,426	pa
5 Aug 1942	U-593	Gerd Kelbling	Spar	3,616	nl	SC-94
12 Nov 1942	U-593	Gerd Kelbling	Browning	5,332	br	KMS-2

18 Mar 1943	U-593	Gerd Kelbling	Dafila	1,940	br
18 Mar 1943	U-593	Gerd Kelbling	Kaying	2,626	br
27 Mar 1943	U-593	Gerd Kelbling	City of Guildford	5,157	br	XT-7
11 Apr 1943	U-593	Gerd Kelbling	Runo	1,858	br
22 Jun 1943	U-593	Gerd Kelbling	USS LST-333 (t.)	1,625	am	Elastic
22 Jun 1943	U-593	Gerd Kelbling	USS LST-387 (d.)	1,625	am	Elastic
5 Jul 1943	U-593	Gerd Kelbling	Devis	6,054	br	KMS-18B
21 Sep 1943	U-593	Gerd Kelbling	William W. Gerhard	7,176	am	NSS-3
25 Sep 1943	U-593	Gerd Kelbling	USS Skill (AM 115)	815	am
3 Nov 1943	U-593	Gerd Kelbling	Mont Viso	4,531	fr	KMS-30
12 Dec 1943	U-593	Gerd Kelbling	HMS Tynedale (L 96)	1,000	br	KMS-34
12 Dec 1943	U-593	Gerd Kelbling	HMS Holcombe (L 56)	1,087	br	KMS-34
				57,721
14 ships sunk (51,243 tons) and 2 ships damaged (6,478 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.