Not necessarily. There were plenty of German submarines in both world wars where the commanding officer was an Oberleutnant zur See. An officer who was an Oberleuntant zur See in 1945 should be listed in the 1944 Rangliste. That said, I don’t see Helmut Köchter listed there. One possibility is that he was a reserve officer. An Oberleuntnnant zur See der Reserve wouldn't be included
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I would suggest that “Möhlmann” would be Korvettenkapitän Helmut Möhlmann, the commander of the 14th Flotilla in Narvik. He’s the only “Möhlmann”listed in the 1944 Rangliste der Deutschen Kriegsmarine (though, to be fair, reserve officers aren’t included in the WWII-era Ranglisten.) See
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John, The issue is broader than posthumous promotions. There are also a large number of out-of-sequence promotions that magically happen right before a U-boat commander is killed in combat. I suspect that most of those are actually backdated promotions made after a U-boat went missing. Best wishes, Michael
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Paul, If you mean the large primary radio masts, yes, they folded down when the U-boat submerged or otherwise if the boat wanted to reduce its visibility. Best wishes, Michael
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Herbert Schrein was a real person. He was born in Kiel on May 30, 1917 and was part of Crew 1937a. Dates of rank: Leutnant zur See, November 1, 1939 Oberleutnany zur See, September 1, 1939 Kapitänleutnant, October 1, 1944 (per Busch and Roll, other dates per Rangliste) Schrein served as the torpedo officer of the raider Thor, which ends up in Japan in 1942. He serves on a couple of othe
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Per Spindler's German history, she was having her machinery overhauled at Wilhelmshaven. Best wishes, Michael
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Lio, Based upon U 79's KTB, also show 9 patrols, but the dates are different: 6-Aug-16 to 25-Aug-16, S coast of Ireland via Scotland 26-Sep-16 to 14-Oct-16, Firth of Clyde 21-Dec-16 to 28-Jan-17, through Dover to coast of Portugal, home via Scotland 1-Apr-17 to 21-Apr-17, N of Ireland via Scotland 6-Jun-17 to 3-Jul-17, NW of Ireland via Scotland 12-Sep-17 to 17-Oct-17, N of Irelan
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Dominic, Welcome! Great to hear that there's another book out on this under appreciated topic. I've added it to my book want list. For now though, I do have a question, which I'll send you a PM about. Best wishes, Michael Lowrey
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Yes, this site is still being updated. While not my main focus on the site, I think I can update that file for you. PM or post the information you have. Best wishes, Michael
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There's a nice summary in the Royal Navy‘s official history, The Naval Staff Monograph, Volume 18, ages 293 and 294: “U 61 proceeded north-east. She had only one torpedo left, but it scored a distinct success. This was against the Warner, a Queenstown “Q’ ship, Q 27 (Acting-Commander Thomas W. Biddlecombe, R.A.N.), which had been cruising off the Shannon since March 3, on her first trip.
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Martin Niemöller (note spelling) wasn’t a chaplain in World War I. He was instead a line naval officer that started the war on the battleship Thüringen before undergoing submarine training. He ended the war in command of UC 67 in the Mediterranean, sinking three ships. Niemöller was only ordained as a minister in 1924.
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I handle much of the WWI material for this website ans also work closely with divers to locate and identify submarine wrecks in the English Channel and North Sea. WWI U-boats are usually identified via propeller markings. How the props are marked depends upon the shipyard that built the boat but they usually simply give the boat's number (along with other details). It's not a serial
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David Hobbs' The Royal Navy’s Air Service in the Great War states that: “Another new wing, 6 Wing RNAS was formed at Otranto which, together with a seaplane base in Malta, provided aerial reconnaissance against enemy submarines emerging from the Adriatic Sea. Patrols from these stations commenced in June 1917 and continued throughout the remainder of the year, a number of submarines were
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Not specific to just German submarines, but Paul Kemp and Michael Wilson’s Mediterranean Submarines: Submarine Warfare in World War One is pretty good but could use more detail on later war operations.
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I have a small amount of additional information: The mam's name was Johann Völker, and he was born in Flensburg. The U 16 search of the Swedish bark Jonstrop happened on October 1, 1915. (There are two Jonstrops in the 1914/15 Lloyd's Register, so I'm not sure exactly which one it was.) Völker's rank is given as U-Matrose and Kriegslotse (war pilot). When U 44 is sunk
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A quick search suggests that the ship would be the Kildale and that the merchant sailor killed would be Alfred Boyd, age 22, who lived in Birkenhead. Best wishes, Michael
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Scott, The Ehrenblattspange (Honor Roll Clasp) was a relatively rare award for repeated valor. The criteria were that a service member had to already have been awarded both class of the Iron Cross, then again distinguished himself in combat, and be recognized in the relevant publication or other method. Obviously, there are other ways to honor service members for repeated valor, such a
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Mark, I'm not specifically an expert on U.S. ship movements, but I have pretty good idea what the best source is likely to be: the logs of the ships you mentioned, the Missouri and the George Washington. It's kind of a good news/bad news thing though. These do survive and are held at the National Archives (NARA) in (very likely) Washington, DC. NARA is also slowly digitizing ship
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Felix, Good question. He served as the Leiter des Marine-Spezialkommandos in Pola in 1915 and 1916, which helps but by itself wouldn't get him the PLM. Adam's medals were offered for sale recently (price: $56,250), which included the following: “He was awarded the Pour le Merite on Nov 6th, 1917 as Captain Lieutenant and commander of the U-boat U 82, for an attack on a strongl
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Meyer is a very common German last name. There most certainly were multiple officers named Wilhelm Meyer during World War I, including at least five in the Kaiserliche Marine. (There would likely have been even more in the German army.) The Wilhelm Meyer that you have a card from isn't the U-boat commander. (The U-boat commander wasn't captured and had the wrong rank in any case.) Th
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Otto-Heinrich Wamers was Crew XII/1939. Promotion dates: Fähnrich (Ing) November 1, 1941 Leutnant (Ing) July 1, 1942 Oberleutnant (Ing) December 1, 1943 Best wishes, Michael Lowrey uboat.net
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Allan, Kai Steenbuck and I are clearly coming at this from the same source (the Ehrenrangliste), so it's just a question of how you interpret those imprecise dates. Michael
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The more I look at it, the more I think not. Brandt was apparently a merchant marine officer in addition to being a reserve officer candidate (Vize Steuermann der Reserve as of May 26, 1912, which is a warrant officer rank). He's overseas when the war begins but gets back to Germany in April 1915. Brandt is then assigned to the II. Matrosendivision (an administrative unit overseeing pers
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The prize officer you're referring to was Alfred Brandt, born August 27, 1889. He was promoted to Leutnant zur See der Reserve on December 24, 1915. Per the Ehrenrangliste der kaiserlich Deutschen Marine 1914-18, Brandt was on U 20 from about May 1915 to September 1915 when still a reserve officer candidate (Vize Steuermann der Reserve).
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One small note: UC 55's commanding officer's family name is Rühle von Lilienstern, not just von Lilienstern.
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Clio, Yes, I'd be very interested in seeing the original report on Greenisland and especially Wheatear. Thanks for the explanation on the Larne Diary; I am familiar with Auxiliary Patrol Diaries but obviously haven't seen the pages in question. Michael
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Clio, That's an excellent find and makes a lot of sense. The file “Reported Destruction of Submarines” (ADM239/26) describes the Greenisland incident but then notes “S/m continued operating.” It’s not been obvious why exactly the Royal Navy came to that conclusion but a gunnery action later the same day nearby could certain do it. One slight correction: Based upon BVLAS and the Mercan
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Operation Reservist was an ill-fated and probably ill-advised attempt to take the Vichy port of Oran via a direct assault. The target submarine would presumably have to have been (Vichy) French.
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KTBs ended up at the German naval archives, which were captured in 1945 by the British. The Americans were allowed to make a microfilm copy of the files; copies of those microfilms are still sold by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. This covers about 98 percent of U-boat KTBs; a few fell through the cracks but have since been found oddly filed at… The original KTBs were ev
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We rely heavily the official description of the action contained in ADM239/46 “Reported Destruction of Submarines” which gives virtually all the credit to Lychnis. Lychnis did lightly ram U 64; Partridge II is only mentioned as an escort that ones fire at a distance upon the submarine (along with Manitou and Kandy.) Best wishes, Michael Lowrey uboat.net
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