The Men - The Commander listing

Gerd Kelbling

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)

Successes
9 ships sunk for a total of 38.290 GRT
3 warships sunk for a total of 2.902 tons
1 ship damaged for a total of 4.853 GRT
1 warship damaged for a total of 1.625 tons
1 ship a total loss for a total of 8.426 GRT
1 warship a total loss for a total of 1.625 tons

Born	12 Jun, 1915	Salzbrunn, Silesia
Died	Aug, 2005

Gerd Kelbling

Ranks

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-593

23 Oct, 1941

13 Dec, 1943

16 patrols (338 days)

Personal information

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 in December 1943 after a 32-hour hunt by two Allied destroyers. 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.

Patrol info

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

Ships hit by Gerd Kelbling

Date	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
14 May, 1942	U-593	Stavros	4.853		gr		damaged
25 May, 1942	U-593	Persephone	8.426		pa		total loss
5 Aug, 1942	U-593	Spar	3.616		nl	SC-94
12 Nov, 1942	U-593	Browning	5.332		br	KMS-2

18 Mar, 1943	U-593	Dafila	1.940		br
18 Mar, 1943	U-593	Kaying	2.626		br
27 Mar, 1943	U-593	City of Guildford	5.157		br	XT-7
11 Apr, 1943	U-593	Runo	1.858		br
22 Jun, 1943	U-593	USS LST-333	1.625		am	Elastic	total loss
22 Jun, 1943	U-593	USS LST-387	1.625		am	Elastic	damaged
5 Jul, 1943	U-593	Devis	6.054		br	KMS-18B
21 Sep, 1943	U-593	William W. Gerhard	7.176		am	NSS-3
25 Sep, 1943	U-593	USS Skill (AM 115)	815		am
3 Nov, 1943	U-593	Mont Viso	4.531		fr	KMS-30
12 Dec, 1943	U-593	HMS Holcombe (L 56)	1.087		br	KMS-34
12 Dec, 1943	U-593	HMS Tynedale (L 96)	1.000		br	KMS-34
			57.721
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk.