The Men - The Commander listing

Erich Würdemann

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 33)

Successes
14 ships sunk for a total of 69.893 GRT
3 ships damaged for a total of 23.358 GRT
1 ship a total loss for a total of 6.821 GRT

Born	15 Jan, 1914	Hamburg
Died	12 Jul, 1943	North Atlantic near Spain

Kapitänleutnant Erich Würdemann

Ranks

23 Sep, 1933	Seekadett
1 Jul, 1934	Fähnrich zur See
1 Apr, 1936	Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct, 1936	Leutnant zur See
1 Jun, 1938	Oberleutnant zur See
1 Nov, 1940	Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

24 Apr, 1940	Iron Cross 2nd Class
26 Mar, 1942	U-boat War Badge 1939
18 Jun, 1942	Iron Cross 1st Class
14 Mar, 1943	Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-506

15 Sep, 1941

12 Jul, 1943 (+)

5 patrols (344 days)

Personal information

Erich Würdemann began his naval career in April 1933. Later he served on the destroyer Paul Jacoby, where he made 11 patrols in the first year of the war. In November 1940 he transferred to the U-boat force. After the usual training he served for one patrol on U-43 under Kptlt. Wolfgang Lüth.

In September 1941 he commissioned the ocean-going U-boat U-506 and operated on his first patrol in the North Atlantic. On his second patrol he sank no less than nine ships. On the third patrol U-506 was involved in the famous Laconia incident. Later the boat operated as a Monsun boat in the Indian Ocean.

Six days after leaving base on her fifth patrol, U-506 was bombed in the Atlantic west of Vigo, Spain by a USAAF aircraft. Kptlt. Erich Würdemann and most of his crew perished (6 survived).

Patrol info

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-506	2 Mar, 1942	Hamburg	3 Mar, 1942	Helgoland		2 days
2.	U-506	9 Mar, 1942	Helgoland	25 Mar, 1942	Lorient	Patrol,	17 days
3.	U-506	6 Apr, 1942	Lorient	15 Jun, 1942	Lorient	Patrol,	71 days
4.	U-506	28 Jul, 1942	Lorient	7 Nov, 1942	Lorient	Patrol,	103 days
5.	U-506	14 Dec, 1942	Lorient	8 May, 1943	Lorient	Patrol,	146 days
6.	U-506	6 Jul, 1943	Lorient	12 Jul, 1943	Sunk	Patrol,	7 days
					5 patrols, 344 days at sea

Ships hit by Erich Würdemann

Date	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
3 May, 1942	U-506	Sama	567		ni
10 May, 1942	U-506	Aurora	7.050		am		damaged
13 May, 1942	U-506	Gulfpenn	8.862		am
14 May, 1942	U-506	David McKelvy	6.821		am		total loss
16 May, 1942	U-506	Sun	9.002		am		damaged
16 May, 1942	U-506	William C. McTarnahan	7.306		am		damaged
17 May, 1942	U-506	Gulfoil	5.189		am
19 May, 1942	U-506	Heredia	4.732		am
20 May, 1942	U-506	Halo	6.986		am
28 May, 1942	U-506	Yorkmoor	4.457		br
31 May, 1942	U-506	Fred W. Green	2.292		br
21 Aug, 1942	U-506	City of Wellington	5.733		br
23 Aug, 1942	U-506	Hamla	4.416		br
5 Sep, 1942	U-506	Myrmidon	6.278		br
13 Sep, 1942	U-506	Lima	3.764		sw
30 Sep, 1942	U-506	Siam II	6.637		br

7 Mar, 1943	U-506	Sabor	5.212		br
9 Mar, 1943	U-506	Tabor	4.768		nw
			100.072
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk.