Wolfgang Riekeberg

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 37a)

Successes
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 39 tons

Born	14 Oct 1918		Peine, Hannover
Died	26 Apr 1945	(26)	Norwegian Sea

Kptlt. Wolfgang Riekeberg

Ranks

3 Apr 1937		Offiziersanwärter
21 Sep 1937		Seekadett
1 May 1938		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jul 1939		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Aug 1939		Leutnant zur See
1 Sep 1941		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1944		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

		Merchant Raider Badge
		Iron Cross 2nd Class
		Iron Cross 1st Class

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-1054	25 Mar 1944	16 Sep 1944	No war patrols
U-637	1 Oct 1944	26 Apr 1945 (+)	3 patrols (63 days, * died during this patrol)

Wolfgang Riekeberg joined the Kriegsmarine as part of crew 37a in April 1937. He served as gunnery officer on the merchant raider Stier from March to Dec 1942. Riekeberg then was assigned as gunnery officer to the proposed merchant raider Hansa, which was cancelled, and he joined the U-boat force in May 1943.

Riekeberg first went through regular U-boat training from May to Oct 1943 and then a U-boat commander course with the 23rd flotilla (training) until Jan 1944. On 25 March 1944 he commissioned U-1054.

On 1 Oct 1944 he took over command of U-637.

On 26 April 1945 Riekeberg took his own life after suffering serious face wounds in a skirmish with two Norwegian motor torpedo boats off Utsira. Several of his crew died in action, and U-637 returned to base under the command of the Chief Engineer.

Sources

Busch, R & Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.

Patrol info for Wolfgang Riekeberg

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-637	13 Oct 1944	Kiel	16 Oct 1944	Danzig		4 days
2.	U-637	25 Nov 1944	Danzig	13 Jan 1945	Danzig	Patrol 1,	50 days
3.	U-637	5 Apr 1945	Kiel	13 Apr 1945	Stavanger	Patrol 2,	9 days
4.	U-637	23 Apr 1945	Stavanger	28 Apr 1945	Stavanger	Patrol 3,	4 days	*
3 patrols, 63 days at sea * Wolfgang Riekeberg died during this patrol on 26 Apr 1945

Ships hit by Wolfgang Riekeberg

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons
24 Dec 1944	U-637	BMO-594 (No 90)	39	sj
			39
1 ship sunk (39 tons).

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.