Rudolf Schneider

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 4/01)

Successes
45 ships sunk with a total of 125,976 GRT
1 warship sunk with a total of 15,000 tons
5 ships damaged with a total of 21,956 GRT
1 ship taken as prize with a total of 1,925 GRT

Born:	13 Feb 1882	Zittau
Died:	13 Oct 1917	Northwest of Ireland

Ranks

10 Apr 1901		Seekadett
22 Apr 1902		Fähnrich zur See
29 Sep 1904		Leutnant zur See
6 Apr 1907		Oberleutnant zur See
25 Apr 1912		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

20 Nov 1906		Lifesaving Medal
2 Sep 1909		Order of St. Stanislaus (Russia)
9 Jul 1912		Military Merit Order (Bavaria)
		Iron Cross 2nd class
		Iron Cross 1st class
19 Nov 1915		Royal House Order of Hohenzollern

U-boat Commands

U 24	6 Dec 1913	-	14 Oct 1916
U 87	26 Feb 1917	-	13 Oct 1917 (+)

Notes

Most people knew him as Rudi. He entered the Kaiserliche Marine in 1901 as a Seekadett. In June 1914 he received the Rettungsmedaille as a Leutnant zur See and was promoted Kapitänleutnant.

He became CO of U24 and was responsible for the sinking of the British battleship HMS Formidable during the very first underwater attack at night on the 1st January 1915 off Portland Bill.

He also received the Hausorden von Hohenzollern mit Schwertern.

On October 13 1917, during a very stormy weather, he was lost overboard from the conning tower of U 87. One of his shipmates managed to bring him back on board but it was too late. He was subsequently buried at sea. His 1WO, KL Freiherr Rudolf von Speth-Schulzburg, took over the command of the boat.

Ships hit by Rudolf Schneider

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Type of ship	Tons

26 Oct 1914	U 24	Amiral Ganteaume (d.)	Steamer	4,590	fr

1 Jan 1915	U 24	Formidable	Battleship	15,000	br
2 Apr 1915	U 24	Lochwood	Steamer	2,042	br
4 Apr 1915	U 24	City Of Bremen	Steamer	1,258	br
10 Apr 1915	U 24	The President	Steamer	647	br
11 Apr 1915	U 24	Frederic Franck (d.)	Steamer	973	fr
27 Jun 1915	U 24	Edith	Sailing vessel	97	br
27 Jun 1915	U 24	Indrani	Steamer	3,640	br
27 Jun 1915	U 24	Lucena	Steamer	243	br
28 Jun 1915	U 24	Dumfriesshire	Sailing vessel	2,622	br
28 Jun 1915	U 24	Armenian	Steamer	8,825	br
29 Jun 1915	U 24	Scottish Monarch	Steamer	5,043	br
30 Jun 1915	U 24	Thistlebank	Sailing vessel	2,411	nw
1 Jul 1915	U 24	L. C. Tower	Sailing vessel	518	br
1 Jul 1915	U 24	Sardomene	Sailing vessel	2,000	it
1 Jul 1915	U 24	Welbury	Steamer	3,591	br
6 Jul 1915	U 24	Ellen	Sailing vessel	169	da
7 Aug 1915	U 24	Geiranger	Steamer	1,081	nw
12 Aug 1915	U 24	Osprey	Steamer	310	br
13 Aug 1915	U 24	Cairo	steamer	1,671	br
19 Aug 1915	U 24	Arabic	Passenger steamer	15,801	br
19 Aug 1915	U 24	Dunsley	Steamer	4,930	br
19 Aug 1915	U 24	New York City	Steamer	2,970	br
19 Aug 1915	U 24	St. Olaf	Sailing vessel	277	br
24 Aug 1915	U 24	Sinsen (p.)	Steamer	1,925	nw
25 Dec 1915	U 24	Van Stirum	Passenger steamer	3,284	br
26 Dec 1915	U 24	Cottingham	Steamer	513	br
26 Dec 1915	U 24	Ministre Bernaert	Steamer	4,215	be
28 Dec 1915	U 24	Huronian (d.)	Steamer	8,755	br
28 Dec 1915	U 24	El Zorro	tanker	5,989	br

11 Jul 1916	U 24	Nellie Nutten	Navy Trawler	174	br

23 May 1917	U 87	Bernisse (d.)	Steamer	951	nl
23 May 1917	U 87	Elve	Steamer	962	nl
26 May 1917	U 87	Lucipara	Sailing vessel	1,943	ru
26 May 1917	U 87	Saint Mirren	Sailing vessel	1,956	br
30 May 1917	U 87	Bathurst	Steamer	2,821	br
30 May 1917	U 87	Hanley	Steamer	3,331	br
2 Jun 1917	U 87	Eliofilo	Steamer	3,583	it
2 Jun 1917	U 87	Mississipi (d.)	Steamer	6,687	fr
4 Jul 1917	U 87	Loch Katrine	Trawler	151	br
8 Jul 1917	U 87	Valetta	Steamer	5,871	br
10 Jul 1917	U 87	Seang Choon	Passenger steamer	5,807	br
11 Jul 1917	U 87	Kioto	Steamer	6,182	br
12 Jul 1917	U 87	Castleton	Steamer	2,395	br
16 Jul 1917	U 87	Tamele	Steamer	3,932	br
19 Jul 1917	U 87	Artensis	Sailing vessel	1,788	nw
21 Jul 1917	U 87	Coniston Water	Steamer	3,738	br
19 Aug 1917	U 87	Eika Ii	Steamer	1,268	nw
21 Aug 1917	U 87	Oslo	Steamer	2,296	br
22 Aug 1917	U 87	Alexander Shukoff	Steamer	1,652	da
27 Aug 1917	U 87	Anna	Steamer	1,211	da
27 Aug 1917	U 87	Aurora	Steamer	768	da
				164,857
47 ships sunk (142,901 tons) and 5 ships damaged (21,956 tons). Legend (d.) means the ship was damaged. (p.) means the ship was taken as prize (included in ships & tonnage lost). We have a picture of this vessel.