Selected Book
Allied Warships
Check out our new extensive section on all the Allied Warships during WWII in all theatres of the war.Over 21,000 ships
Rudolf Schneider
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 4/01)
| Successes 44 ships sunk with a total of 125,783 GRT 1 warship sunk with a total of 15,000 tons 5 ships damaged with a total of 21,956 GRT 1 ship taken as prize with a total of 1,925 GRT |
| Born: | 13 Feb 1882 | |
| Died: | 13 Oct 1917 | North Sea |
 | Ranks
Decorations
|
Notes
Most people knew him as Rudi. He entered the Kaiserliche Marine in 1901 as a Seekadett. In June 1914 he received the Rettungsmedaille as a Leutnant zur See and was promoted Kapitänleutnant.
He became CO of U24 and was responsible for the sinking of the British battleship HMS Formidable during the very first underwater attack at night on the 1st January 1915 off Portland Bill.
He also received the Hausorden von Hohenzollern mit Schwertern.
On October 13 1917, during a very stormy weather, he was lost overboard from the conning tower of U-87. One of his shipmates managed to bring him back on board but it was too late. He was subsequently buried at sea between the Shetland Isles and Norway. His 1WO, KL Freiherr Rudolf von Speth-Schulzburg, took over the command of the boat.