The Men - The Commander listing

Erich Topp

Fregattenkapitän (Crew 34)

Successes
35 ships sunk for a total of 197,460 GRT
1 warship sunk for a total of 1,190 tons
4 ships damaged for a total of 32,317 GRT

Born	2 Jul 1914		Hannover
Died	26 Dec 2005	(91)	Suessen, Germany

Erich Topp

Ranks

1 Jul 1935	Fähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1937	Leutnant zur See
1 Apr 1939	Oberleutnant zur See
1 Sep 1941	Kapitänleutnant
17 Aug 1942	Korvettenkapitän
1 Dec 1944	Fregattenkapitän

Decorations

7 Nov 1939	U-boat War Badge 1939
20 Jun 1941	Knights Cross
11 Apr 1942	Knights Cross with Oak Leaves
11 Apr 1942	U-boat War Badge with Diamonds
17 Aug 1942	Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Crossed Swords

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-57	5 Jun 1940	15 Sep 1940	2 patrols (38 days)
U-552	4 Dec 1940	8 Sep 1942	10 patrols (308 days)
U-3010	23 Mar 1945	26 Apr 1945	No war patrols
U-2513	27 Apr 1945	8 May 1945	No war patrols

Personal information

Kapitänleutnant Erich Topp after a patrol.

Erich Topp began his naval career in April 1934. He served six months on the light cruiser Karlsruhe before joining the U-boat force in October 1937. A year later he became watch officer on U-46.

After four patrols with U-46, Topp took over command of U-57. With this boat he sank six ships for a total of 36,862 tons. U-57 sank on 3 September, 1940 after an accident with the Norwegian ship Rona.

Topp was then given command of the VIIC boat U-552, the famous "Red Devil Boat". Topp scored most of his successes in the North Atlantic against convoys and off the North American coast. On his very successful eighth patrol in March/April 1942, he sank eight ships for a total of 45,731 tons.

Oberleutnant Erich Topp and his close friend Bertl Endrass

In September 1942 Topp became commander of the 27th U-boat Flotilla, where new U-boat crews received their tactical training. Topp wrote the Battle Instructions for the new XXI Elektro Boat submarine in 1944, and when the war ended he was commanding one of them, U-2513, which he surrendered at Horten, Norway in May 1945.

Konteradmiral Erich Topp

After the war Topp worked for some months as a fisherman before he became a successful architect. In March 1958 he rejoined the Navy. He then spent four years in the USA as a staff member of the Military Committee of NATO. Later he served in several staff positions and for a month was commander of U-boats in deputize.

Konteradmiral Erich Topp retired in December 1969. He was decorated in that year with the Große Bundes-Verdienst- kreuz (Great Federal Merit Cross).

From 1970 to 1984 he worked as industrial consultant for, among others, the Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft.

He died on Dec 26 2005.

Patrol info for Erich Topp

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-57	11 Jul 1940	Kiel	20 Jul 1940	Bergen		10 days
2.	U-57	22 Jul 1940	Bergen	7 Aug 1940	Lorient	Patrol 1,	17 days
3.	U-57	14 Aug 1940	Lorient	3 Sep 1940	Sunk	Patrol 2,	21 days
4.	U-552	13 Feb 1941	Kiel	15 Feb 1941	Helgoland		3 days
5.	U-552	18 Feb 1941	Helgoland	16 Mar 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol 3,	27 days
6.	U-552	7 Apr 1941	St. Nazaire	6 May 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol 4,	30 days
7.	U-552	25 May 1941	St. Nazaire	2 Jul 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol 5,	39 days
8.	U-552	18 Aug 1941	St. Nazaire	26 Aug 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol 6,	9 days
9.	U-552	4 Sep 1941	St. Nazaire	5 Oct 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol 7,	32 days
10.	U-552	25 Oct 1941	St. Nazaire	26 Nov 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol 8,	33 days
11.	U-552	25 Dec 1941	St. Nazaire	27 Jan 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 9,	34 days
12.	U-552	7 Mar 1942	St. Nazaire	27 Apr 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 10,	52 days
13.	U-552	9 Jun 1942	St. Nazaire	19 Jun 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 11,	11 days
14.	U-552	4 Jul 1942	St. Nazaire	13 Aug 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 12,	41 days
12 patrols, 346 days at sea

Ships hit by Erich Topp

Date	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
17 Jul, 1940	U-57	Manipur	8,652		br	HX-55A
17 Jul, 1940	U-57	O.A. Brodin	1,960		sw
3 Aug, 1940	U-57	Atos	2,161		sw
24 Aug, 1940	U-57	Cumberland	10,939		br	OB-202
24 Aug, 1940	U-57	Havildar	5,407		br	OB-202	damaged
24 Aug, 1940	U-57	Saint Dunstan	5,681		br	OB-202
25 Aug, 1940	U-57	Pecten	7,468		br	HX-65B

1 Mar, 1941	U-552	Cadillac	12,062		br	HX-109
10 Mar, 1941	U-552	Reykjaborg	687		is
27 Apr, 1941	U-552	Beacon Grange	10,119		br
27 Apr, 1941	U-552	Commander Horton	227		br
28 Apr, 1941	U-552	Capulet	8,190		br	HX-121	damaged
1 May, 1941	U-552	Nerissa	5,583		br	HX-121
10 Jun, 1941	U-552	Ainderby	4,860		br
12 Jun, 1941	U-552	Chinese Prince	8,593		br
18 Jun, 1941	U-552	Norfolk	10,948		br
23 Aug, 1941	U-552	Spind	2,129		nw	OG-71
20 Sep, 1941	U-552	Barbro	6,325		nw	SC-44
20 Sep, 1941	U-552	Pink Star	4,150		pa	SC-44
20 Sep, 1941	U-552	T.J. Williams	8,212		br	SC-44
31 Oct, 1941	U-552	USS Reuben James (DD 245)	1,190		am	HX-156

15 Jan, 1942	U-552	Dayrose	4,113		br
18 Jan, 1942	U-552	Frances Salman	2,609		am
20 Jan, 1942	U-552	Maro	3,838		gr	ON-53
25 Mar, 1942	U-552	Ocana	6,256		nl
3 Apr, 1942	U-552	David H. Atwater	2,438		am
5 Apr, 1942	U-552	Byron D. Benson	7,953		am
7 Apr, 1942	U-552	British Splendour	7,138		br
7 Apr, 1942	U-552	Lancing	7,866		nw
9 Apr, 1942	U-552	Atlas	7,137		am
10 Apr, 1942	U-552	Tamaulipas	6,943		am
15 Jun, 1942	U-552	City of Oxford	2,759		br	HG-84
15 Jun, 1942	U-552	Etrib	1,943		br	HG-84
15 Jun, 1942	U-552	Pelayo	1,346		br	HG-84
15 Jun, 1942	U-552	Slemdal	7,374		nw	HG-84
15 Jun, 1942	U-552	Thurso	2,436		br	HG-84
25 Jul, 1942	U-552	British Merit	8,093		br	ON-113	damaged
25 Jul, 1942	U-552	Broompark	5,136		br	ON-113
3 Aug, 1942	U-552	G.S. Walden	10,627		br	ON-115	damaged
3 Aug, 1942	U-552	Lochkatrine	9,419		br	ON-115
			230,967
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk.