Erwin Rostin

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 32)

Successes
17 ships sunk, total tonnage 101,321 GRT
2 ships damaged, total tonnage 15,264 GRT

Born	8 Oct 1907		Güstrow, Mecklenburg
Died	30 Jun 1942	(34)	West Atlantic, west of Bermudas

Erwin Rostin

Ranks

1 Apr 1933		Offiziersanwärter
1 Jan 1934		Fähnrich zur See
1 Sep 1935		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1936		Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1937		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1940		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

10 Oct 1939		Iron Cross 2nd Class
21 Nov 1940		Iron Cross 1st Class
3 Jan 1941		Minesweeper War Badge
28 Jun 1942		Knights Cross
1 Jul 1942		U-boat War Badge 1939 (posthumous)

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-158	25 Sep 1941	30 Jun 1942 (+)	2 patrols (111 days)

Erwin Rostin began his naval career in October 1932. After serving on the WWI battleship Schlesien, he commanded the minesweepers M-98 and M-21 1940-41. In March 1941 he transferred to the U-boat force. Following standard training, but without any previous combat experience, he commissioned the large type IXC U-boat U-158 on 25 Sep 1941. After four months of working up the boat and crew, he took U-158 out for the first war patrol, off the US east coast, during which he sank five ships with a total of over 38,000 tons.

One month after her return, U-158 left for the second war patrol, this time in the Gulf of Mexico, on 4 May 1942. This turned out to be one of the most successful patrols of the war in terms of tonnage, with 12 ships totalling 62,536 tons sunk. Its outcome was not successful for the boat and her crew, however. U-158 was sunk by depth charges from a US aircraft on 30 June 1942 and went down with all hands (Niestlé, 1998). Kptlt. Rostin had been awarded the Knights Cross via radio two days before his death.

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 Erwin Rostin

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-158	2 Feb 1942	Wilhelmshaven	2 Feb 1942	Helgoland		1 days
2.	U-158	7 Feb 1942	Helgoland	31 Mar 1942	Lorient	Patrol 1,	53 days
3.	U-158	4 May 1942	Lorient	30 Jun 1942	Sunk	Patrol 2,	58 days
2 patrols, 111 days at sea

Ships hit by Erwin Rostin

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
24 Feb 1942	U-158	Empire Celt	8,032	br	ONS-67
24 Feb 1942	U-158	Diloma (d.)	8,146	br	ONS-67
1 Mar 1942	U-158	Finnanger	9,551	nw	ONS-67
11 Mar 1942	U-158	Caribsea	2,609	am
13 Mar 1942	U-158	John D. Gill	11,641	am
15 Mar 1942	U-158	Olean (d.)	7,118	am
15 Mar 1942	U-158	Ario	6,952	am
20 May 1942	U-158	Darina	8,113	br	ON-93
22 May 1942	U-158	Frank B. Baird	1,748	ca
2 Jun 1942	U-158	Knoxville City	5,686	am
4 Jun 1942	U-158	Nidarnes	2,647	nw
5 Jun 1942	U-158	Velma Lykes	2,572	am
7 Jun 1942	U-158	Hermis	5,234	pa
11 Jun 1942	U-158	Sheherazade	13,467	pa
12 Jun 1942	U-158	Cities Service Toledo	8,192	am
17 Jun 1942	U-158	San Blas	3,601	pa
17 Jun 1942	U-158	Moira	1,560	nw
23 Jun 1942	U-158	Major General Henry Gibbins	5,766	am
29 Jun 1942	U-158	Everalda	3,950	le
			116,585
17 ships sunk (101,321 tons) and 2 ships damaged (15,264 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (d.) means the ship was damaged.

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.