Ulrich Folkers

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)


Successes
17 ships sunk, total tonnage 82,873 GRT

Born  6 Mar 1915 Kiel
Died  6 May 1943(28)North Atlantic


Kptlt. Ulrich Folkers

Ranks

8 Apr 1934 Offiziersanwärter
26 Sep 1934 Seekadett
1 Jul 1935 Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1937 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1937 Leutnant zur See
1 Apr 1939 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Nov 1941 Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

15 Jan 1940 Iron Cross 2nd Class
26 Mar 1941 U-boat War Badge 1939
27 Mar 1943 Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-37 3 May 1941 15 Nov 1941   No war patrols 
U-125 15 Dec 1941 6 May 1943  (+)  5 patrols (339 days) 


Kptlt. Ulrich Folkers after patrol

Ulrich Folkers joined the navy in April 1934. He served on the light cruiser Emden and on the destroyer Bruno Heinemann. In April 1940 he was attached to the U-boat force and after training he became the first watch officer on U-37 under the command of Nico Clausen.

In November 1941 he took over U-125 from Güther Kuhnke and was one of the five boats which launched the U-boat war against the USA in January 1942 with Operation Paukenschlag. The BdU was not very happy with Folkers' performance on his first patrol (he only sank one ship), but his second and third patrols were very successful and for them Ulrich Folkers won the Knights Cross.

He was killed along with his whole crew when U-125 was scuttled on 6 May, 1943 after extensive damages from British destroyers (Niestlé, 1998).

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). 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 Ulrich Folkers

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-125 18 Dec 1941  Lorient  23 Feb 1942  Lorient  Patrol 1,68 days
2. U-125 4 Apr 1942  Lorient  13 Jun 1942  Lorient  Patrol 2,71 days
3. U-125 27 Jul 1942  Lorient  6 Nov 1942  Lorient  Patrol 3,103 days
4. U-125 9 Dec 1942  Lorient  19 Feb 1943  Lorient  Patrol 4,73 days
5. U-125 13 Apr 1943  Lorient  6 May 1943  Sunk  Patrol 5,24 days
5 patrols, 339 days at sea

Ships hit by Ulrich Folkers

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
26 Jan 1942U-125 West Ivis5,666am
23 Apr 1942U-125 Lammot Du Pont5,102am
3 May 1942U-125 San Rafael1,973do
4 May 1942U-125 Tuscaloosa City5,687am
6 May 1942U-125 Green Island1,946am
6 May 1942U-125 Empire Buffalo6,404br
9 May 1942U-125 Calgarolite11,941ca
14 May 1942U-125 Comayagua2,493ho
18 May 1942U-125 Mercury Sun8,893am
18 May 1942U-125 William J. Salman2,616am
1 Sep 1942U-125 Ilorin815br
23 Sep 1942U-125 Bruyère5,335br
29 Sep 1942U-125 Baron Ogilvy3,391br
30 Sep 1942U-125 Empire Avocet6,015br
30 Sep 1942U-125 Kumsang5,447br
8 Oct 1942U-125 Glendene4,412br
 
4 May 1943U-125 Lorient4,737brONS-5
 82,873

17 ships sunk (82,873 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.


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.

Men who sank over 50,000 tons

Media links


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim


Naval Officers Under Hitler

Rust, Eric C.

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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