The Men - The Commander listing

Wilhelm Rollmann

Fregattenkapitän (Crew 26)

Successes
20 ships sunk for a total of 96,562 GRT
3 warships sunk for a total of 2,365 tons
2 ships sunk for a total of 4,957 GRT

Born	5 Aug 1907		Wilhelmshaven
Died	5 Nov 1943	(36)	South Atlantic

Korvettenkapitän Wilhelm Rollmann

Ranks

12 Oct 1926	Seekadett
1 Apr 1928	Fähnrich zur See
1 May 1930	Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1930	Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1932	Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1936	Kapitänleutnant
1 Dec 1940	Korvettenkapitän
1 Nov 1943	Fregattenkapitän

Decorations

26 Sep 1939	Iron Cross 2nd Class
12 Nov 1939	U-boat War Badge 1939
7 Feb 1940	Iron Cross 1st Class
31 Jul 1940	Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-34	26 Oct 1938	28 Sep 1940	7 patrols (190 days)
U-847	26 Jan 1943	26 Jan 1943	No war patrols (Transit)
U-848	20 Feb 1943	5 Nov 1943 (+)	1 patrol (49 days)

Personal information

Wilhelm Rollmann began his naval career in April 1926. Later he served on several ships, including the light cruiser Karlsruhe. In May 1937 he transferred to the U-boat force. After the usual training he took command of U-34 in October 1938. Two of his more notable successes were the sinking of the British destroyer HMS Whirlwind and the British submarine Spearfish.

After seven successful patrols he left the boat and became an instructor in the 2nd ULD (Unterseeboots-Lehr-Division).

On 20 February, 1943 he commissioned the U-848, a large Type IXD2 U-boat. The boat was sunk on her first patrol with all hands on 5 November, 1943 by US aircraft southwest of Ascension in the mid-Atlantic.

Patrol info for Wilhelm Rollmann

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-34	19 Aug 1939	Wilhelmshaven	26 Sep 1939	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 1,	39 days
2.	U-34	17 Oct 1939	Wilhelmshaven	12 Nov 1939	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 2,	27 days
3.	U-34	1 Jan 1940	Wilhelmshaven	6 Feb 1940	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 3,	37 days
4.	U-34	11 Mar 1940	Wilhelmshaven	30 Mar 1940	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 4,	20 days
5.	U-34	3 Apr 1940	Wilhelmshaven	30 Apr 1940	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 5,	28 days
6.	U-34	22 Jun 1940	Wilhelmshaven	18 Jul 1940	Lorient	Patrol 6,	27 days
7.	U-34	23 Jul 1940	Lorient	3 Aug 1940	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 7,	12 days
8.	U-848	18 Sep 1943	Kiel	5 Nov 1943	Sunk	Patrol 8,	49 days
8 patrols, 239 days at sea

Ships hit by Wilhelm Rollmann

Date	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
7 Sep, 1939	U-34	Pukkastan	5,809		br
8 Sep, 1939	U-34	Kennebec	5,548		br
24 Sep, 1939	U-34	Hanonia	1,781		es		captured
20 Oct, 1939	U-34	Gustaf Adolf	926		sw
20 Oct, 1939	U-34	Sea Venture	2,327		br
27 Oct, 1939	U-34	Bronte	5,317		br	OB-25
29 Oct, 1939	U-34	Malabar	7,976		br	HX-5A
9 Nov, 1939	U-34	Snar	3,176		nw		captured

20 Jan, 1940	U-34	Caroni River [Mine]	7,807		br
28 Jan, 1940	U-34	Eleni Stathatou	5,625		gr
13 Apr, 1940	U-34	HNoMS Frøya	595		nw
5 Jul, 1940	U-34	HMS Whirlwind (D 30)	1,100		br
6 Jul, 1940	U-34	Vapper	4,543		es
7 Jul, 1940	U-34	Lucrecia	2,584		nl
9 Jul, 1940	U-34	Tiiu	1,865		es
10 Jul, 1940	U-34	Petsamo	4,596		fi
11 Jul, 1940	U-34	Janna	2,197		nw	HX-54
15 Jul, 1940	U-34	Evdoxia	2,018		gr
17 Jul, 1940	U-34	Naftilos	3,531		gr
26 Jul, 1940	U-34	Accra	9,337		br	OB-188
26 Jul, 1940	U-34	Vinemoor	4,359		br	OB-188
27 Jul, 1940	U-34	Sambre	5,260		br	OB-188
27 Jul, 1940	U-34	Thiara	10,364		br	OB-188
1 Aug, 1940	U-34	HMS Spearfish (N 69)	670		br

2 Nov, 1943	U-848	Baron Semple	4,573		br
			103,884
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk. [Mine] indicates the vessel was hit by a mine.