General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Re: Most famous U-boat commander (?)
Posted by:
Dougie
()
Date: March 03, 2004 03:35PM
<HTML>Many thanks for everybodys' replies, and more would be welcomed by myself. I should really have specified that I am asking about U-boat commanders who achieved their fame due to their actions during WWII. Sorry for any misunderstanding.
When I say "famous" I am talking in a very general sense. In other words, which U-boat commander the average guy on the street is likely to have heard about, or the commander whose photograph is most likely to be recognised. The question of who was the most successful U-boat commander is slightly different, although naturally the amount of tonnage sunk and medals received has a great influence over the degree of fame.
I did a search on Google, as suggested by Rodney, but got quite different results. The results are hardly definitive, but Rodney's idea does at least give a very rough indication of fame. The results I found were -
Otto Kretschmer 18100
Erich Topp 13200
Wolfgang Lüth 5030
Günther Prien 3410
Adalbert Schnee 2820
Joachim Schepke 802
Reinhard Suhren 322
Engelbert Endrass 243
Otto Schuhart 204
So perhaps Prien was the most famous during WWII, and Kretschmer is the most famous now?
Thanks everyone,
Dougie</HTML>
When I say "famous" I am talking in a very general sense. In other words, which U-boat commander the average guy on the street is likely to have heard about, or the commander whose photograph is most likely to be recognised. The question of who was the most successful U-boat commander is slightly different, although naturally the amount of tonnage sunk and medals received has a great influence over the degree of fame.
I did a search on Google, as suggested by Rodney, but got quite different results. The results are hardly definitive, but Rodney's idea does at least give a very rough indication of fame. The results I found were -
Otto Kretschmer 18100
Erich Topp 13200
Wolfgang Lüth 5030
Günther Prien 3410
Adalbert Schnee 2820
Joachim Schepke 802
Reinhard Suhren 322
Engelbert Endrass 243
Otto Schuhart 204
So perhaps Prien was the most famous during WWII, and Kretschmer is the most famous now?
Thanks everyone,
Dougie</HTML>