Adolf Cornelius Piening

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 30)

Successes
25 ships sunk, total tonnage 126,664 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 13,785 tons
1 auxiliary warship damaged, total tonnage 6,736 GRT

Born	16 Sep 1910		Süderende, Tondem
Died	15 May 1984	(73)	Kiel, Germany

Kapitänleutnant Adolf Piening

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

Decorations

21 Nov 1939		Iron Cross 2nd Class
27 Jun 1940		Iron Cross 1st Class
13 Mar 1942		U-boat War Badge 1939
13 Aug 1942		Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-155	23 Aug 1941	Feb, 1944	8 patrols (459 days)

Adolf Piening began his navy career on the famous 'Pocket Battleship' Deutschland, then spent a few years on torpedo boats and minesweepers before transferring to the U-bootwaffe (U-boat arm) in October 1940. Following standard training he made one patrol on U-48 as Kommandantenschüler (commandant in training) in June 1941, and in August took command of U-155. This command was very successful, most notably for the sinking of the British escort carrier HMS Avenger (13,875 tons) on 15 November 1942.

In March 1944 he became leader of the 7th Flotilla. On 30 April 1945 he laid mines outside St. Nazaire in U-255. After the war he spent more than two years in Allied captivity. In 1956 Adolf Piening joined the Bundesmarine, serving for 13 years and retiring as Kapitän zur See.

Piening is famous for the Piening Route, which he devised as a means to escape Allied aircraft in the Bay of Biscay.

Sources

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

Patrol info for Adolf Cornelius Piening

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-155	7 Feb 1942	Kiel	27 Mar 1942	Lorient	Patrol 1,	49 days
2.	U-155	24 Apr 1942	Lorient	14 Jun 1942	Lorient	Patrol 2,	52 days
3.	U-155	9 Jul 1942	Lorient	15 Sep 1942	Lorient	Patrol 3,	69 days
4.	U-155	7 Nov 1942	Lorient	30 Dec 1942	Lorient	Patrol 4,	54 days
5.	U-155	8 Feb 1943	Lorient	30 Apr 1943	Lorient	Patrol 5,	82 days
6.	U-155	10 Jun 1943	Lorient	16 Jun 1943	Lorient	Patrol 6,	7 days
7.	U-155	30 Jun 1943	Lorient	11 Aug 1943	Lorient	Patrol 7,	43 days
8.	U-155	18 Sep 1943	Lorient	19 Sep 1943	Brest		2 days
9.	U-155	21 Sep 1943	Brest	1 Jan 1944	Lorient	Patrol 8,	103 days
10.	U-255	28 Apr 1945	La Pallice	30 Apr 1945	St. Nazaire	Patrol 9,	3 days
9 patrols, 462 days at sea

Ships hit by Adolf Cornelius Piening

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
22 Feb 1942	U-155	Sama	1,799	nw	ONS-67
22 Feb 1942	U-155	Adellen	7,984	br	ONS-67
7 Mar 1942	U-155	Arabutan	7,874	bz
14 May 1942	U-155	Brabant	2,483	be
17 May 1942	U-155	San Victorio	8,136	br
17 May 1942	U-155	Challenger	7,667	am
20 May 1942	U-155	Sylvan Arrow	7,797	pa	OT-1
23 May 1942	U-155	Watsonville	2,220	pa
28 May 1942	U-155	Poseidon	1,928	nl
30 May 1942	U-155	Baghdad	2,161	nw
28 Jul 1942	U-155	Barbacena	4,772	bz
28 Jul 1942	U-155	Piave	2,347	bz
29 Jul 1942	U-155	Bill	2,445	nw
30 Jul 1942	U-155	Cranford	6,096	am
1 Aug 1942	U-155	Kentar	5,878	nl
1 Aug 1942	U-155	Clan Macnaughton	6,088	br
4 Aug 1942	U-155	Empire Arnold	7,045	br	E-6
5 Aug 1942	U-155	Draco	389	nl
9 Aug 1942	U-155	San Emiliano	8,071	br	E-7
10 Aug 1942	U-155	Strabo	383	nl
15 Nov 1942	U-155	HMS Avenger (D 14)	13,785	br	MKF-1Y
15 Nov 1942	U-155	USS Almaack (AK 27) (d.)	6,736	am	MKF-1Y
15 Nov 1942	U-155	Ettrick	11,279	br	MKF-1Y
6 Dec 1942	U-155	Serooskerk	8,456	nl	ON-149

2 Apr 1943	U-155	Lysefjord	1,091	nw
3 Apr 1943	U-155	Gulfstate	6,882	am
24 Oct 1943	U-155	Siranger	5,393	nw
			147,185
26 ships sunk (140,449 tons) and 1 ship damaged (6,736 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (d.) means the ship was damaged.

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.