The Men - U-boat Commanders

Rudolf Franzius

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 32)

Successes
3 ships sunk, total tonnage 12,045 GRT
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 5,496 GRT

Born	5 Jun 1911		Hamburg
Died	5 Oct 1965	(54)	Stuttgart, Germany

Ranks

1 Sep 1935		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1936		Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1937		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1940		Kapitänleutnant
1 Oct 1944		Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-145	19 Dec 1940	21 Oct 1941	3 patrols (55 days)
U-438	22 Nov 1941	29 Mar 1943	3 patrols (127 days)

Special thanks to Mr. Fernando Almeida for details on date of death.

Patrol info for Rudolf Franzius

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-145	18 Jun 1941	Gotenhafen	6 Jul 1941	Stormelö	Patrol 1,	19 days
2.	U-145	14 Jul 1941	Stormelö	29 Jul 1941	Stormelö	Patrol 2,	16 days
3.	U-145	9 Aug 1941	Stormelö	28 Aug 1941	Oxhöft	Patrol 3,	20 days
4.	U-438	1 Aug 1942	Kiel	3 Sep 1942	Brest	Patrol 4,	34 days
5.	U-438	6 Oct 1942	Brest	19 Nov 1942	Brest	Patrol 5,	45 days
6.	U-438	31 Dec 1942	Brest	16 Feb 1943	Brest	Patrol 6,	48 days
6 patrols, 182 days at sea

Ships hit by Rudolf Franzius

Date	U-boat		Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy
10 Aug 1942	U-438		Condylis	4,439		gr	SC-94
10 Aug 1942	U-438		Oregon	6,008		br	SC-94
25 Aug 1942	U-438		Trolla	1,598		nw	ONS-122
2 Nov 1942	U-438		Hartington (d.)	5,496		br	SC-107
				17,541
3 ships sunk (12,045 tons) and 1 ship damaged (5,496 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (d.) means the ship was damaged.

Media links

German U-boat Commanders of World War II
Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim

Listing of all U-boat commanders

As an Amazon Associate uboat.net earns a commission from qualifying purchases.