Helmuth Ringelmann

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 31)

Successes
7 ships sunk, total tonnage 37,884 GRT
2 warships sunk, total tonnage 744 tons

Born	21 Apr 1912		Munich
Died	28 Dec 1941	(29)	Mediterranean

Kptlt. Helmuth Ringelmann

Ranks

1 Apr 1931		Offiziersanwärter
14 Oct 1931		Seekadett
1 Jan 1933		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1935		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1935		Leutnant zur See
1 Jan 1937		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Oct 1939		Kapitänleutnant
		Korvettenkapitän (posthumous)

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-75	19 Dec 1940	28 Dec 1941 (+)	5 patrols (141 days)

Helmuth Ringelmann joined the Reichsmarine in 1931. He trained with the 24th (Training) Flotilla from Sept to Oct 1940, and in Nov began U-boat construction familiarization (Baubelehrung) of his new boat at Bremen.

Kptlt. Helmut Ringelmann commissioned U-75 on 19 Dec 1940 . He took her on three patrols in the North Atlantic, sinking six ships, including the passenger ship City of Nagur and the large tanker Inversuir.

The Mediterranean
On 27 Sept 1941 U-75 left St Nazaire, France for her 4th patrol. On 3 Oct she successfully passed through the heavily guarded Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean (Busch and Röll, 1997). During this patrol Ringelmann sank two small British landing craft off Tobruk.

U-75 entered her new base at Salamis, Greece on 2 Nov after 37 days at sea.

U-75's 5th patrol was to be her last. Seven days out from Salamis on 28 Dec 1941, after sinking her last victim, U-75 was herself sunk the same day by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Kipling in the Mediterranean off Mersa Matruh. 14 of her crew died and 30 survived. (Niestlé, 1998). Kptlt. Ringelmann was not among the survivors.

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Niestle, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.

Patrol info for Helmuth Ringelmann

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-75	10 Apr 1941	Kiel	12 May 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol 1,	33 days
2.	U-75	29 May 1941	St. Nazaire	3 Jul 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol 2,	36 days
3.	U-75	29 Jul 1941	St. Nazaire	25 Aug 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol 3,	28 days
4.	U-75	27 Sep 1941	St. Nazaire	2 Nov 1941	Salamis	Patrol 4,	37 days
5.	U-75	22 Dec 1941	Salamis	28 Dec 1941	Sunk	Patrol 5,	7 days
5 patrols, 141 days at sea

Ships hit by Helmuth Ringelmann

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
29 Apr 1941	U-75	City of Nagpur	10,146	br
3 Jun 1941	U-75	Eibergen	4,801	nl	OB-327
3 Jun 1941	U-75	Inversuir	9,456	br	OB-327
25 Jun 1941	U-75	Schie	1,967	nl	OB-336
5 Aug 1941	U-75	Cape Rodney	4,512	br	SL-81
5 Aug 1941	U-75	Harlingen	5,415	br	SL-81
12 Oct 1941	U-75	HMS TLC-2 (A 2)	372	br
12 Oct 1941	U-75	HMS TLC-7 (A 7)	372	br
28 Dec 1941	U-75	Volo	1,587	br	ME-8
			38,628
9 ships sunk (38,628 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel.

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.