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Born	3 Feb 1917		Mirschkowitz, Silesia
Died	2 May 1997	(80)	Eckernförde, Germany

Ranks 3 Apr 1936   Offiziersanwärter 10 Sep 1936   Seekadett 1 May 1937   Fähnrich zur See 1 Jul 1938   Oberfähnrich zur See 1 Oct 1938   Leutnant zur See 1 Oct 1940   Oberleutnant zur See 1 Apr 1943   Kapitänleutnant Decorations     Iron Cross 2nd Class     Iron Cross 1st Class     U-boat War Badge 1939

Hubert Nordheimer joined the Kriegsmarine in 1936, and was part of the Olympia Crew. He served as a Cadet training officer on the light cruiser Emden Dec 1939 - Sept 1940. He then went through U-boat training until March 1941. From April to May 1941 he was assigned to U-boat construction familiarization (Baubelehrung) for the new type VIIC U-boat U-206 under construction at Kiel (Busch & Röll, 1999).

Upon commission of U-206 by Oblt. Herbert Opitz on 17 May 1941 Nordheimer served as 1st Watch Officer (I WO) until the following October (Busch & Röll, 1999). He went on two patrols in the North Atlantic during which three ships totalling 4,208 tons were sunk.

Sharing a joke. From left; Oblt. Ernst Witendorff, WO Burchard, Kptlt. Hubert Nordheimer.

Nordheimer went through further training from Oct to Dec 1941 and then served as a Training Officer with the 2nd ULD at Gotenhafen until Dec 1942 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

In Dec 1942 Nordheimer was assigned to another Baubelehrung course, this time to prepare him for his own command, the new type VIIC U-237. He commissioned the boat on 30 Jan 1943 and then began working up boat and men in the Baltic (Busch & Röll, 1999). U-237 was sunk during an American bombing raid on Kiel on 14 May 1943 (Niestlé, 1998). Nordheimer and his men were assigned to another new boat, the type VIIC U-990 on 28 July 1943 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

Nordheimer sailed in U-990 on four patrols from Jan to May 1944, all in the Arctic against convoys to Russia (Busch & Röll, 1997).

The British destroyer HMS Mahratta sunk by U-990 (Nordheimer) on 24 Feb 1944.

Rescue of survivors from sister boat and eventual loss

On 24 May 1944 U-476 (Oblt. Niethmann) suffered crippling damage from an RAF Catalina (Sqdn 210/V) and the boat was scuttled (Niestlé, 1998). U-990 rescued 21 of the men, but 34 went down with their boat (Blair, 1998).

The men from U-476 had no better luck on U-990, as she was sunk the next day by another aircraft, this time a British B-24 Liberator (Sqdn 59/S). 20 died and 33 survived (Niestlé, 1998).

The German picket boat V 5901 rescued 51 men from the sinking of U-990, including 18 of U-476's crew (three died on U-990). Nordheimer survived, as did Niethmann, commander of U-476 . Both were sent to Germany to take command a new type of U-boat (Blair, 1998).

From July to Oct 1944 Nordheimer went through another Baubelehrung, this time for a revolutionary new type XXI Elektro U-boat Elektro boat. He commissioned U-2512 on 10 Oct 1944 and began training in the Baltic. The war ended before the boat was ready for active service, and Nordheimer scuttled U-2512 on 3 May 1945 at Eckernförde (Niestlé, 1998).

After the war he joined the Bundesmarine (Federal German Navy), and retired with the rank of Fregattenkapitän.

Sources

Blair, C. (1998). Hitler’s U-boat War. The Hunted, 1942-1945.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). 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.

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.

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