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-boat	From	To
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		Convoy
26 Jan 1942	U-125	West Ivis	5,666	am
23 Apr 1942	U-125	Lammot Du Pont	5,102	am
3 May 1942	U-125	San Rafael	1,973	do
4 May 1942	U-125	Tuscaloosa City	5,687	am
6 May 1942	U-125	Green Island	1,946	am
6 May 1942	U-125	Empire Buffalo	6,404	br
9 May 1942	U-125	Calgarolite	11,941	ca
14 May 1942	U-125	Comayagua	2,493	ho
18 May 1942	U-125	Mercury Sun	8,893	am
18 May 1942	U-125	William J. Salman	2,616	am
1 Sep 1942	U-125	Ilorin	815	br
23 Sep 1942	U-125	Bruyère	5,335	br
29 Sep 1942	U-125	Baron Ogilvy	3,391	br
30 Sep 1942	U-125	Empire Avocet	6,015	br
30 Sep 1942	U-125	Kumsang	5,447	br
8 Oct 1942	U-125	Glendene	4,412	br

4 May 1943	U-125	Lorient	4,737	br	ONS-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.