Fritz Frauenheim

Fregattenkapitän (Crew 30)


Successes
18 ships sunk, total tonnage 78,248 GRT
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 4,155 GRT
1 warship damaged, total tonnage 11,500 tons

Born  9 Mar 1912 Berlin
Died  28 Sep 1969(57)Hamburg, Germany


Fritz Frauenheim

Ranks

1 Apr 1930 Offiziersanwärter
10 Oct 1930 Seekadett
1 Jan 1932 Fähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1934 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1934 Leutnant zur See
1 Jun 1936 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1939 Kapitänleutnant
1 Apr 1943 Korvettenkapitän
1 Dec 1944 Fregattenkapitän

Decorations

6 Jun 1939 Spanish Cross in Bronze without Swords
2 Oct 1939 Iron Cross 2nd Class
7 Nov 1939 Iron Cross 1st Class
29 Aug 1940 Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-21 1 Oct 1937 6 Jan 1940   5 patrols (70 days) 
U-101 11 Mar 1940 18 Nov 1940   4 patrols (100 days) 



Kapitänleutnant Fritz Frauenheim

Fritz Frauenheim began his naval career in April 1930 and served on the line ship Schleswig Holstein and the light cruiser Karlsruhe. In January 1936 he transferred to the U-boat force and thus received a solid pre-war training.

After more than a year as a watch officer (WO) on U-25 he took over U-21 in October 1939. He served on this U-boat for several patrols at the beginning of the war and sank five ships, mostly in the North Sea. The British cruiser HMS Belfast was badly damaged by a mine laid by Frauenheim's U-boat in November 1939 (Rohwer, 1998).

In March 1940 he commissioned the type VIIC U-boat U-101 and in the course of the next four patrols he sank 12 ships. In December 1940 he left U-101 and became a teacher in the 2nd ULD. After holding various staff positions, in September 1941 Frauenheim took command of the 23rd Flotilla (Med) flotilla, and in May 1942 of the 29th Flotilla.

Starting in February 1944 he served on the staff of the Admiral der Kleinkampfverbände (Admiral of Midget Assault Units). After the surrender Frauenheim spent eight months in Allied captivity.

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).
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Fritz Frauenheim

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-21 25 Aug 1939  Wilhelmshaven  5 Sep 1939  Wilhelmshaven  Patrol 1,12 days
2. U-21 9 Sep 1939  Wilhelmshaven  1 Oct 1939  Wilhelmshaven  Patrol 2,23 days
3. U-21 2 Oct 1939  Wilhelmshaven  3 Oct 1939  Kiel   2 days
4. U-21 22 Oct 1939  Kiel  8 Nov 1939  Kiel  Patrol 3,18 days
5. U-21 27 Nov 1939  Kiel  5 Dec 1939  Kiel  Patrol 4,9 days
6. U-21 17 Dec 1939  Kiel  24 Dec 1939  Kiel  Patrol 5,8 days
7. U-101 29 Apr 1940  Kiel  3 May 1940  Trondheim  Patrol 6,5 days
8. U-101 5 May 1940  Trondheim  10 May 1940  Kiel   6 days
9. U-101 21 May 1940  Kiel  25 Jun 1940  Kiel  Patrol 7,36 days
10. U-101 9 Aug 1940  Kiel  16 Sep 1940  Lorient  Patrol 8,39 days
11. U-101 5 Oct 1940  Lorient  24 Oct 1940  Lorient  Patrol 9,20 days
9 patrols, 170 days at sea

Ships hit by Fritz Frauenheim

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
21 Nov 1939U-21 HMS Belfast (35) (d.) [Mine]11,500br
1 Dec 1939U-21 Mercator4,260fi
21 Dec 1939U-21 Mars1,475sw
21 Dec 1939U-21 Carl Henckel1,352sw
 
24 Feb 1940U-21 Royal Archer [Mine]2,266brFN-100
30 May 1940U-101 Stanhall4,831br
31 May 1940U-101 Orangemoor5,775brHG-31F
2 Jun 1940U-101 Polycarp3,577br
11 Jun 1940U-101 Mount Hymettus5,820gr
12 Jun 1940U-101 Earlspark5,250br
14 Jun 1940U-101 Antonis Georgandis3,557gr
16 Jun 1940U-101 Wellington Star13,212br
19 Aug 1940U-101 Ampleforth4,576brOA-199
28 Aug 1940U-101 Elle3,868fiSC-1
1 Sep 1940U-101 Efploia3,867grOB-205
12 Oct 1940U-101 Saint-Malô5,779caHX-77
18 Oct 1940U-101 Creekirk3,917brSC-7
18 Oct 1940U-101 Blairspey (d.)4,155brSC-7
19 Oct 1940U-101 Assyrian2,962brSC-7
19 Oct 1940U-101 Soesterberg1,904nlSC-7
 93,903

18 ships sunk (78,248 tons) and 2 ships damaged (15,655 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.
(d.) means the ship was damaged.
[Mine] indicates the vessel was hit by a mine laid by said U-boat.


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


U-Boat Attack Logs

Daniel Morgan and Bruce Taylor


amazon.co.uk
(£ 38.25)


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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