The Men - The Commander listing

Adolf Cornelius Piening

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 30)

Successes
25 ships sunk for a total of 126.664 GRT
1 warship sunk for a total of 13.785 tons
1 auxiliary warship damaged for a total of 6.736 GRT

Born	16 Sep, 1910	Süderende, Tondem
Died	15 May, 1984	Kiel

Kapitänleutnant Adolf Piening

Ranks

9 Oct, 1930	Seekadett
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

21 Nov, 1939	Iron Cross 2nd Class
27 Jun, 1940	Iron Cross 1st Class
13 Mar, 1942	U-boat War Badge 1939
13 Aug, 1942	Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-155

23 Aug, 1941

Feb, 1944

8 patrols (459 days)

Personal information

Adolf Piening began his navy career on the armored cruiser Deutschland, then spent a few years on torpedo boats and minesweepers before transferring in October 1940 to the U-boat arm. After the usual training he made one patrol on U-48 as Kommandantenschüler in June 1941. In August 1941 he took command of U-155. He was very successful with this boat and on 15 November, 1942 sank the British escort carrier HMS Avenger (13.875 tons).

In March 1944 he became the commander of the 7th Flotilla. On 30 April, 1945 he laid mines outside St. Nazaire with U-255. After the war he spent more than two years in Allied captivity. In 1956 the later Kapitän zur See Adolf Piening joined the Bundesmarine, serving for 13 years.

Piening is famous for the so-called Piening Route which he invented as a means to escape Allied aircraft in the Bay of Biscay.

Patrol info

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-155	7 Feb, 1942	Kiel	27 Mar, 1942	Lorient	Patrol,	49 days
2.	U-155	24 Apr, 1942	Lorient	14 Jun, 1942	Lorient	Patrol,	52 days
3.	U-155	9 Jul, 1942	Lorient	15 Sep, 1942	Lorient	Patrol,	69 days
4.	U-155	7 Nov, 1942	Lorient	30 Dec, 1942	Lorient	Patrol,	54 days
5.	U-155	8 Feb, 1943	Lorient	30 Apr, 1943	Lorient	Patrol,	82 days
6.	U-155	10 Jun, 1943	Lorient	16 Jun, 1943	Lorient	Patrol,	7 days
7.	U-155	30 Jun, 1943	Lorient	11 Aug, 1943	Lorient	Patrol,	43 days
8.	U-155	18 Sep, 1943	Lorient	19 Sep, 1943	Brest		2 days
9.	U-155	21 Sep, 1943	Brest	1 Jan, 1944	Lorient	Patrol,	103 days
10.	U-255	28 Apr, 1945	La Pallice	30 Apr, 1945	St. Nazaire	Patrol,	3 days
					9 patrols, 462 days at sea

Ships hit by Adolf Cornelius Piening

Date	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
22 Feb, 1942	U-155	Adellen	7.984		br	ONS-67
22 Feb, 1942	U-155	Sama	1.799		nw	ONS-67
7 Mar, 1942	U-155	Arabutan	7.874		bz
14 May, 1942	U-155	Brabant	2.483		be
17 May, 1942	U-155	Challenger	7.667		am
17 May, 1942	U-155	San Victorio	8.136		br
20 May, 1942	U-155	Sylvan Arrow	7.797		pa	OT-1
23 May, 1942	U-155	Watsonville	2.220		pa
28 May, 1942	U-155	Poseidon	1.928		nl
30 May, 1942	U-155	Baghdad	2.161		nw
28 Jul, 1942	U-155	Barbacena	4.772		bz
28 Jul, 1942	U-155	Piave	2.347		bz
29 Jul, 1942	U-155	Bill	2.445		nw
30 Jul, 1942	U-155	Cranford	6.096		am
1 Aug, 1942	U-155	Clan Macnaughton	6.088		br
1 Aug, 1942	U-155	Kentar	5.878		nl
4 Aug, 1942	U-155	Empire Arnold	7.045		br	E-6
5 Aug, 1942	U-155	Draco	389		nl
9 Aug, 1942	U-155	San Emiliano	8.071		br	E-7
10 Aug, 1942	U-155	Strabo	383		nl
15 Nov, 1942	U-155	Ettrick	11.279		br	MKF-1Y
15 Nov, 1942	U-155	HMS Avenger (D 14)	13.785		br	MKF-1Y
15 Nov, 1942	U-155	USS Almaack (AK 27)	6.736		am	MKF-1Y	damaged
6 Dec, 1942	U-155	Serooskerk	8.456		nl	ON-149

2 Apr, 1943	U-155	Lysefjord	1.091		nw
3 Apr, 1943	U-155	Gulfstate	6.882		am
24 Oct, 1943	U-155	Siranger	5.393		nw
			147.185
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk.