Ulrich Borcherdt
Korvettenkapitän (Crew 33)
| Successes 4 ships sunk, total tonnage 22,734 GRT 1 auxiliary warship sunk, total tonnage 655 GRT |
| Born | 13 Sep 1909 | Görlitz | |
| Died | 27 Mar 1942 | (32) | North Atlantic |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-8 | 26 Apr 1941 | 22 May 1941 | No war patrols |
| U-587 | 11 Sep 1941 | 27 Mar 1942 (+) | 2 patrols (68 days) |
Ulrich Borcherdt joined the Kriegsmarine in 1933. He commanded Schiff 26 from Oct to Nov 1939, then commanded Schiff 47 until March 1940 when he took command of Schiff 111 until April 1940. From April to May 1940 he commanded harbour defences at Bergen, Norway immediately after its capture during the German invasion of Norway. He then moved to Molde in Norway and commanded its Harbour Defences until Oct 1940 (Busch & Röll, 1999).
He went through U-boat training from Oct 1940 to March 1941, then began his U-boat Commander training with the 24th Flotilla lasting until 25 April 1941. Borcherdt briefly commanded the small school boat U-8 with the 22nd Flotilla from 26 Apr 1941 to 22 May 1941 (Busch & Röll, 1999).
Kptlt. Ulrich Borcherdt was with the 7th Flotilla and was sent to the U-553 (Kptlt. Karl Thurmann) as Commander in training from 23 May to 11 August 1941 (Busch & Röll, 1999). He went out on 1 patrol, 43 days, into the North Atlantic. They sank 2 ships with a total of almost 8,000 GRT during the patrol (Rohwer, 1998)
First front-line command
Borcherdt then went through U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) programme to prepare for his own new boat from Aug to Sept 1941. On 11 Sept 1941 Kptlt. Ulrich Borcherdt commissioned the brand new U-587 at Hamburg (Busch & Röll, 1999). The boat then went into the Baltic for training and work-up trials.
On 8 Jan 1942 Borcherdt took the U-587 out for its first war patrol. He arrived 24 days later at his new base at St. Nazaire, France on 31 Jan 1942 (Busch & Röll, 1997).
On 12 Feb 1942 Kptlt. Ulrich Borcherdt left St. Nazaire for his second patrol, heading for Canadian waters (Busch & Röll, 1997). On 1 March he was promoted to Korvettenkapitän. He sank 5 ships on this patrol with a total of 23,389 GRT (Rohwer, 1998).
The motor tanker Anadara sunk by U-587 (Borcherdt) on 24 Feb 1942.
Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart
KrvKpt. Ulrich Borcherdt was lost with his entire crew of 42 men when his inbound U-587 was sunk on 27 March 1942 in the North Atlantic by depth charges from the British escort destroyers HMS Grove and HMS Aldenham, and the British destroyers HMS Volunteer and HMS Leamington (Niestlé, 1998).
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).
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World
War II.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine
Successes of World War Two.
Patrol info for Ulrich Borcherdt
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | U-587 | 8 Jan 1942 | Kiel | 31 Jan 1942 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 1, | 24 days | |
| 2. | U-587 | 12 Feb 1942 | St. Nazaire | 27 Mar 1942 | Sunk | Patrol 2, | 44 days | |
| 2 patrols, 68 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Ulrich Borcherdt
| Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Feb 1942 | U-587 |  | Anadara | 8,009 |  | br | ONS-67 | |
| 6 Mar 1942 | U-587 | | Hans Egede | 900 |  | go | ||
| 8 Mar 1942 | U-587 | | HMS Northern Princess (4.06) | 655 | | br | ||
| 9 Mar 1942 | U-587 | | Lily | 5,719 |  | gr | ON-68 | |
| 23 Mar 1942 | U-587 | | Diala | 8,106 | | br | ON-52 | |
| 23,389 | ||||||||
5 ships sunk (23,389 tons). Legend | ||||||||
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.
Media links
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