Wilhelm Rollmann

Fregattenkapitän (Crew 26)

Successes
20 ships sunk, total tonnage 96,562 GRT
2 warships sunk, total tonnage 1,770 tons
2 ships sunk, total tonnage 4,957 GRT
1 warship a total loss, total tonnage 595 tons

Born	5 Aug 1907		Wilhelmshaven
Died	5 Nov 1943	(36)	South Atlantic

Korvettenkapitän Wilhelm Rollmann

Ranks

1 Apr 1926		Offiziersanwärter
12 Oct 1926		Seekadett
1 Apr 1928		Fähnrich zur See
1 May 1930		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1930		Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1932		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1936		Kapitänleutnant
1 Dec 1940		Korvettenkapitän
1 Nov 1943		Fregattenkapitän

Decorations

26 Sep 1939		Iron Cross 2nd Class
12 Nov 1939		U-boat War Badge 1939
7 Feb 1940		Iron Cross 1st Class
31 Jul 1940		Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-34	26 Oct 1938	28 Sep 1940	7 patrols (190 days)
U-847	26 Jan 1943	26 Jan 1943	No war patrols (Transit)
U-848	20 Feb 1943	5 Nov 1943 (+)	1 patrol (49 days)

Wilhelm Rollmann joined the Reichsmarine in in April 1926. After serving on several ships, including the light cruiser Karlsruhe, in May 1937 he transferred to the U-boat force. After a thorough pre-war training he took over command of the type VIIA U-boat U-34 in October 1938. Two of his more notable successes were the sinking of the British destroyer HMS Whirlwind and the British submarine Spearfish.

After seven successful patrols he left the boat and became an instructor in the 2nd ULD (Unterseeboots-Lehr-Division).

On 20 February 1943 he commissioned the large type IXD2 U-848. The boat was sunk with all hands on her first patrol by US aircraft southwest of Ascension Island, in the South Atlantic on 5 November 1943. (Niestlé, 1998).

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Wilhelm Rollmann

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-34	19 Aug 1939	Wilhelmshaven	26 Sep 1939	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 1,	39 days
2.	U-34	17 Oct 1939	Wilhelmshaven	12 Nov 1939	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 2,	27 days
3.	U-34	1 Jan 1940	Wilhelmshaven	6 Feb 1940	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 3,	37 days
4.	U-34	11 Mar 1940	Wilhelmshaven	30 Mar 1940	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 4,	20 days
5.	U-34	3 Apr 1940	Wilhelmshaven	30 Apr 1940	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 5,	28 days
6.	U-34	22 Jun 1940	Wilhelmshaven	18 Jul 1940	Lorient	Patrol 6,	27 days
7.	U-34	23 Jul 1940	Lorient	3 Aug 1940	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 7,	12 days
8.	U-848	18 Sep 1943	Kiel	5 Nov 1943	Sunk	Patrol 8,	49 days
8 patrols, 239 days at sea

Ships hit by Wilhelm Rollmann

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
7 Sep 1939	U-34	Pukkastan	5,809	br
8 Sep 1939	U-34	Kennebec	5,548	br
24 Sep 1939	U-34	Hanonia (c.)	1,781	es
20 Oct 1939	U-34	Gustaf Adolf	926	sw
20 Oct 1939	U-34	Sea Venture	2,327	br
27 Oct 1939	U-34	Bronte	5,317	br	OB-25
29 Oct 1939	U-34	Malabar	7,976	br	HX-5A
9 Nov 1939	U-34	Snar (c.)	3,176	nw

20 Jan 1940	U-34	Caroni River [Mine]	7,807	br
28 Jan 1940	U-34	Eleni Stathatou	5,625	gr
13 Apr 1940	U-34	HNoMS Frøya (t.)	595	nw
5 Jul 1940	U-34	HMS Whirlwind (D 30)	1,100	br
6 Jul 1940	U-34	Vapper	4,543	es
7 Jul 1940	U-34	Lucrecia	2,584	nl
9 Jul 1940	U-34	Tiiu	1,865	es
10 Jul 1940	U-34	Petsamo	4,596	fi
11 Jul 1940	U-34	Janna	2,197	nw	HX-54
15 Jul 1940	U-34	Evdoxia	2,018	gr
17 Jul 1940	U-34	Naftilos	3,531	gr
26 Jul 1940	U-34	Accra	9,337	br	OB-188
26 Jul 1940	U-34	Vinemoor	4,359	br	OB-188
27 Jul 1940	U-34	Sambre	5,260	br	OB-188
27 Jul 1940	U-34	Thiara	10,364	br	OB-188
1 Aug 1940	U-34	HMS Spearfish (N 69)	670	br

2 Nov 1943	U-848	Baron Semple	4,573	br
			103,884
25 ships sunk (103,884 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (c.) means the ship was captured (included in ships & tonnage lost). (t.) means the ship was a total loss (included in ships & tonnage lost). [Mine] indicates the vessel was hit by a mine laid by said U-boat.

About ranks and decorations
Ranks shown in italics are our database inserts based on the rank dates of his crew comrades. The officers of each crew would normally have progressed through the lower ranks at the same rate.