Go Back   Kampfgruppe Forums > Military History > World War II > War at Sea

 
We are happy to announce open registration on the KG forums has begun! Welcome everyone!

Reply
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Unread 12-28-2005, 10:50 PM
KG_Cloghaun's Avatar
KG_Cloghaun KG_Cloghaun is offline
Oberste Befehlshaber
Generalleutnant
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Michigan
Posts: 1,984
Send a message via MSN to KG_Cloghaun
Default U-Boat Aces

In my opinion, the greatest U-Boat Ace ever, certainly in terms of tonnage sunk.

source- http://www.uboat.net/men/kretschmer.htm


Otto Kretschmer

Fregattenkapitän (Crew 30)


Successes
40 ships sunk for a total of 208.869 GRT
3 auxiliary warships sunk for a total of 46.440 GRT
1 warship sunk for a total of 1.375 tons
5 ships damaged for a total of 37.965 GRT
1 ship taken as prize for a total of 2.136 GRT
2 ships a total loss for a total of 15.513 GRT
Born 1 May, 1912Heidau, LiegnitzDied 5 Aug, 1998Bavaria
U-Boot Archiv

Otto KretschmerRanks

9 Oct, 1930Seekadett1 Jan, 1932Fähnrich zur See1 Apr, 1934Oberfähnrich zur See1 Oct, 1934Leutnant zur See1 Jun, 1936Oberleutnant zur See1 Jun, 1939Kapitänleutnant1 Mar, 1941Korvettenkapitän1 Sep, 1944FregattenkapitänDecorations

17 Oct, 1939Iron Cross 2nd Class9 Nov, 1939U-boat War Badge17 Dec, 1939Iron Cross 1st Class4 Aug, 1940Knights Cross4 Nov, 1940Knights Cross with Oak Leaves26 Dec, 1941Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords

U-boat Commands

U-3531 Jul, 1937 - 15 Aug, 1937 No war patrols U-231 Oct, 1937 - 1 Apr, 1940 8 patrols (94 days) U-9918 Apr, 1940 - 17 Mar, 1941 8 patrols (119 days)


Kptlt. Kretschmer (right) after patrol on U-99
on the 21st July 1940 in Lorient (France)Before the 17-year-old Otto Kretschmer began his naval career he spent eight months in Exeter, England where he mastered the English language. Beginning in April 1930 he went through the usual officer training, spending three months on the sailing school ship Niobe and more than a year on the light cruiser Emden.

He served on the light cruiser Köln starting in December 1934, and in January 1936 transferred to the U-boat force. Here he received a solid pre-war training as a U-boat officer. His first command was on U-35 and there he participated in a patrol in Spanish waters in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War.
In September 1937 he left U-35 and took over the Type II U-boat U-23. After the outbreak of the war he won his first successes with U-23 on some patrols in the North Sea in the area of the English and Scottish east coast.
In November 1939 he laid nine mines in Moray Firth, Scotland. The first great success for Otto Kretschmer was the sinking of the Danish tanker Danmark (10,517 tons) on 12 January 1940.
Just over a month later he sank the British destroyer HMS Daring (1,375 tons).
He left U-23 in April 1940 and in the same month commissioned U-99. After two months of training U-99 left Kiel for her first patrol in June 1940. In the course of the next patrols Otto Kretschmer became famous on his U-99 for his night-time surface attacks against convoys, and there his motto "One torpedo ... one ship" was created!


Kptlt. Kretschmer amidst the crew of U-99 after patrol enjoying the first bottle of beer.
Especially notable was the sinking of three British Armed Merchant Cruisers, Laurentic (18,724 tons), Patroclus (11,314 tons) and Forfar (16,402 tons) in November 1940 for a total of more than 46,000 tons. At that time Silent Otto became the "tonnage king" among U-boat men, never to be dethroned.
On his last patrol he was also very successful and attacked 10 ships. He was captured after scuttling U-99 at 0343hrs on 17 March, 1941 (Schepke was lost in the same battle) south-east of Iceland in approximate position 61N, 12W after depth charge damage inflicted by the British destroyer HMS Walker. Kretschmer managed to surface his badly damaged boat and save 40 out of his 43-man crew (his chief engineer died) before the boat sank again for the last time.


(c) 1997 Stephen Ames After his capture he spent more than six and a half years in British captivity. For more than four years he was held in Canada in Camp 30 (often referred to as Camp Bowmanville), from where he maintained contact with BdU. In December 1947 he returned to Germany.
In 1955 Otto Kretschmer joined the Bundesmarine (postwar German navy), in 1957 becoming commander of the 1. Geleitgeschwader (1st Escort Squadron). In November 1958 he became commander of the Amphibische Streitkräfte (Amphibian Forces). Starting in 1962 he served in several staff positions before becoming Chief of Staff of the NATO Command COMNAVBALTAP in May 1965, a position he held for four years. He retired in September 1970 with a rank of Flotillenadmiral.
During a vacation during the summer of 1998 Otto Kretschmer died in hospital in Bavaria after an accident. You can listen to Silent Otto speaking of his experiences here
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Unread 01-02-2006, 10:58 AM
KG_AGCent's Avatar
KG_AGCent KG_AGCent is offline
Oberste Befehlshaber (Ret.)
Oberst
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Doing Laps Around the Beads for You Heathen
Posts: 1,620
Send a message via MSN to KG_AGCent
Default

In an interesting side note; I learned that the governor of California's emergency disaster headquarters is the USS Iowa currently in reserve commission status in the Port of San Fransisco. Don't most other governors have an RV or some other such thing?
__________________
"Besides, the atheist non-god is not going to send me to non-hell for my lapse of non-faith if it should turn out that I am mistaken." - John C. Wright
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Unread 01-06-2006, 10:50 PM
KG_ThorsHammer's Avatar
KG_ThorsHammer KG_ThorsHammer is offline
Oberfeldwebel
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Hamilton, Ontario
Posts: 754
Default

"You'll never sink my battleship..I'll be back" (said with Heavy Austrian Accent)
__________________
Victory is like a feather in the wind; just as it is in your grasp, it can slip away on a gust of defeat.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Unread 01-28-2006, 11:24 PM
KG_Cloghaun's Avatar
KG_Cloghaun KG_Cloghaun is offline
Oberste Befehlshaber
Generalleutnant
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Michigan
Posts: 1,984
Send a message via MSN to KG_Cloghaun
Default

Erich Topp Dies at 91

* read a great deal on this captain. A real risk taker, as if any of them weren't. Always regarded as the top choice had Hitler chose to try and make a Uboat escape to Argentina.

Erich Topp

Fregattenkapitän (Crew 34)


Successes
34 ships sunk for a total of 197.233 GRT
1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 227 GRT
1 warship sunk for a total of 1.190 tons
4 ships damaged for a total of 32.317 GRT
Born 2 Jul, 1914HannoverDied 26 Dec, 2005
U-Boot Archiv

Erich ToppRanks

1 Jul, 1935Fähnrich zur See1 Apr, 1937Leutnant zur See1 Apr, 1939Oberleutnant zur See1 Sep, 1941Kapitänleutnant17 Aug, 1942Korvettenkapitän1 Dec, 1944FregattenkapitänDecorations

7 Nov, 1939U-boat War Badge20 Jun, 1941Knights Cross11 Apr, 1942Knights Cross with Oak Leaves11 Apr, 1942U-boat War Badge with Diamonds17 Aug, 1942Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords

U-boat Commands

U-575 Jun, 1940 - 15 Sep, 1940 2 patrols (36 days) U-5524 Dec, 1940 - 8 Sep, 1942 10 patrols (298 days) U-301023 Mar, 1945 - 26 Apr, 1945 No war patrols U-251327 Apr, 1945 - 8 May, 1945 No war patrols

Kapitänleutnant Erich Topp after a patrol. Erich Topp began his naval career in April 1934. He served six months on the light cruiser Karlsruhe before joining the U-boat force in October 1937. A year later he became watch officer on U-46.

After four patrols with U-46, Topp took over command of U-57. With this boat he sank six ships for a total of 36,862 tons. U-57 sank on 3 September, 1940 after an accident with the Norwegian ship Rona.
Topp was then given command of the VIIC boat U-552, the famous "Red Devil Boat". Topp scored most of his successes in the North Atlantic against convoys and off the North American coast. On his very successful eighth patrol in March/April 1942, he sank eight ships for a total of 45,731 tons.

Oberleutnant Erich Topp and his close friend Bertl Endrass

In September 1942 Topp became commander of the 27th U-boat Flotilla, where new U-boat crews received their tactical training. Topp wrote the Battle Instructions for the new XXI Elektro Boat submarine in 1944, and when the war ended he was commanding one of them, U-2513, which he surrendered at Horten, Norway in May 1945.

Konteradmiral Erich Topp After the war Topp worked for some months as a fisherman before he became a successful architect. In March 1958 he rejoined the Navy. He then spent four years in the USA as a staff member of the Military Committee of NATO. Later he served in several staff positions and for a month was commander of U-boats in deputize.
Konteradmiral Erich Topp retired in December 1969. He was decorated in that year with the Große Bundes-Verdienst- kreuz (Great Federal Merit Cross). From 1970 to 1984 he worked as industrial consultant for, among others, the Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft.
Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 03:08 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.