Joachim Franze

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 37a)

Successes
1 ship sunk, total tonnage 7,177 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 1,810 tons

Born	19 Jan 1918		Leipzig
Died	19 Mar 1984	(66)

Ranks

3 Apr 1937		Offiziersanwärter
21 Sep 1937		Seekadett
1 May 1938		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jul 1939		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Aug 1939		Leutnant zur See
1 Sep 1941		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1944		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

29 Apr 1941		War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords
9 Aug 1942		Iron Cross 2nd Class
11 Nov 1942		U-boat War Badge 1939
		Iron Cross 1st Class
		U-boat Front Clasp
		U-boat Front Clasp in Silver
6 Feb 1945		German Cross in Gold

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-278	16 Jan 1943	9 May 1945	7 patrols (245 days)

Patrol info for Joachim Franze

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-278	30 Dec 1943	Kiel	5 Jan 1944	Bergen		7 days
2.	U-278	8 Jan 1944	Bergen	28 Jan 1944	Hammerfest	Patrol 1,	21 days
3.	U-278	29 Jan 1944	Hammerfest	19 Feb 1944	Narvik	Patrol 2,	22 days
4.	U-278	4 Mar 1944	Narvik	4 Apr 1944	Hammerfest	Patrol 3,	32 days
5.	U-278	24 Apr 1944	Hammerfest	8 May 1944	Bergen	Patrol 4,	15 days
6.	U-278	5 Jul 1944	Bergen	9 Jul 1944	Ramsund		5 days
7.	U-278	9 Jul 1944	Ramsund	10 Jul 1944	Narvik		2 days
8.	U-278	23 Jul 1944	Narvik	24 Jul 1944	Hammerfest		2 days
9.	U-278	2 Aug 1944	Hammerfest	3 Oct 1944	Narvik	Patrol 5,	63 days
10.	U-278	6 Oct 1944	Narvik	8 Oct 1944	Trondheim		3 days
11.	U-278	12 Dec 1944	Trondheim	20 Dec 1944	Bergen	Patrol 6,	9 days
12.	U-278	23 Dec 1944	Bergen	13 Feb 1945	Narvik	Patrol 6,	53 days
13.	U-278	10 Apr 1945	Narvik	9 May 1945	Narvik	Patrol 7,	30 days
14.	U-278	12 May 1945	Narvik	12 May 1945	Skjomenfjord		1 days
15.	U-278	15 May 1945	Skjomenfjord	19 May 1945	Loch Eriboll, UK		5 days
7 patrols, 245 days at sea

Ships hit by Joachim Franze

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
25 Jan 1944	U-278	Penelope Barker	7,177	am	JW-56A
30 Jan 1944	U-278	HMS Hardy (R 08)	1,810	br	JW-56B
			8,987
2 ships sunk (8,987 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.