The Men - The Commander listing

Eitel-Friedrich Kentrat

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 28)

Successes
7 ships sunk for a total of 42.433 GRT
1 warship sunk for a total of 925 tons
1 ship damaged for a total of 123 GRT
1 auxiliary warship damaged for a total of 11.402 GRT

Born	11 Sep, 1906	Stahlheim, Metz
Died	9 Jan, 1974	Bad Schwartau

Ranks

1 Jan, 1930	Fähnrich zur See
1 Oct, 1932	Leutnant zur See
1 Sep, 1934	Oberleutnant zur See
1 Jun, 1937	Kapitänleutnant
1 Jan, 1943	Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

13 Apr, 1941	Iron Cross 2nd Class
13 Apr, 1941	Iron Cross 1st Class
13 Apr, 1941	U-boat War Badge 1939
31 Dec, 1941	Knights Cross
20 Sep, 1944	U-boat Front Clasp

U-boat Commands

U-8	5 May, 1940	-	7 Jun, 1940	1 patrol (20 days)
U-74	31 Oct, 1940	-	23 Mar, 1942	7 patrols (170 days)
U-196	11 Sep, 1942	-	21 Sep, 1944	2 patrols (373 days)

Personal information

Kapitänleutnant Kentrat after patrol

Eitel-Friedrich Kentrat began his naval career in October 1925 as a seaman. In 1928 he began officer training and became an officer in 1932. He then served on the warships Hessen, Deutschland and Schlesien. In October 1939 he transferred to the U-boat force. During the winter of 1940 he made one patrol on U-25 before taking over U-8 in May 1940. Unfortunately he was injured after an accident on board and spent over three months in hospital.

In October 1940 he commissioned U-74. In the course of seven patrols he sank five ships, including the Canadian corvette HMCS Levis, and damaged the British auxiliary cruiser HMS Worcestershire (11,402 tons). Before Kptlt. Kentrat left U-74, he brought the boat through the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean.

He then served for six months on the staff of Admiral Friedeburg (2nd Admiral of U-boats) before commissioning the long-range U-boat U-196 in September 1942. The first patrol with U-196 became famous even though he sank only two ships of some 12,000 tons. But it was the longest patrol a U-boat or other submarine ever made in wartime. U-196 left Kiel on 13 March, 1943 and reached Bordeaux on 23 October, 1943, 225 days later. In the photo below can you see that such a long patrol left its mark on the face of the commander. The second patrol with U-196 was also longer than five months. Korvkpt. Kentrat left the boat in Penang and served to the end of war in several staff positions in Japan. He returned to Germany after more than two years in captivity in October 1947.

Korvkpt. Kentrat with the well earned Beck's beer after his outstanding 225 days patrol.
Left the FdU West KzS Rösing, right the commander of the 12th flotilla Korvkpt. Scholtz.

Patrol info

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-8	19 May, 1940	Kiel	7 Jun, 1940	Kiel	Patrol,	20 days
2.	U-74	22 Feb, 1941	Kiel	23 Feb, 1941	Helgoland		2 days
3.	U-74	24 Feb, 1941	Helgoland	27 Feb, 1941	Bergen		4 days
4.	U-74	5 Mar, 1941	Bergen	11 Apr, 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol,	38 days
5.	U-74	8 May, 1941	St. Nazaire	30 May, 1941	Lorient	Patrol,	23 days
6.	U-74	5 Jul, 1941	Lorient	12 Aug, 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol,	39 days
7.	U-74	8 Sep, 1941	St. Nazaire	26 Sep, 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol,	19 days
8.	U-74	22 Oct, 1941	St. Nazaire	12 Nov, 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol,	22 days
9.	U-74	9 Dec, 1941	St. Nazaire	24 Dec, 1941	Messina	Patrol,	16 days
10.	U-74	27 Dec, 1941	Messina	8 Jan, 1942	La Spezia	Patrol,	13 days
11.	U-196	13 Mar, 1943	Kiel	23 Oct, 1943	Bordeaux	Patrol,	225 days
12.	U-196	11 Mar, 1944	Bordeaux	13 Mar, 1944	La Pallice		3 days
13.	U-196	16 Mar, 1944	La Pallice	10 Aug, 1944	Penang	Patrol,	148 days
					10 patrols, 563 days at sea

Ships hit by Eitel-Friedrich Kentrat

Date	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
11 Mar, 1941	U-74	Frodi	123		is		damaged
3 Apr, 1941	U-74	HMS Worcestershire (F 29)	11.402		br	SC-26	damaged
3 Apr, 1941	U-74	Leonidas Z. Cambanis	4.274		gr	SC-26
5 Aug, 1941	U-74	Kumasian	4.922		br	SL-81
19 Sep, 1941	U-74	HMCS Levis (K 115)	925		ca	SC-44
20 Sep, 1941	U-74	Empire Burton	6.966		br	SC-44
7 Nov, 1941	U-74	Nottingham	8.532		br

11 May, 1943	U-196	Nailsea Meadow	4.962		br
2 Aug, 1943	U-196	City of Oran	7.323		br	CB-21

9 Jul, 1944	U-196	Shahzada	5.454		br
			54.883
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk.