Sven Thienemann

Oberleutnant zur See der Reserve (entry, Jahrgang X/39)



No ships sunk or damaged.


Born  4 Dec 1912 Münster, Westphalia
Died   2006(93)


Ranks

1 May 1944 Oberleutnant zur See der Reserve

Decorations

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-682 17 Apr 1944 11 Mar 1945   No war patrols 
U-1271 Apr, 1945 9 May 1945   No war patrols 

Sven Thienemann joined the Kriegsmarine in 1939. From Nov 1939 to July 1941 he served with the 13th Anti Submarine Flotilla. He was the acting Commander of the 14th Anti Submarine Flotilla from Oct 1940 to July 1942 when he became its formal Commander (Busch & Röll, 1999).

In Jan 1943 he joined the U-boat force (Ubootwaffe) and went through U-boat training until October (Busch & Röll, 1999).

Thienemann went through U-boat Commander training with the 24th (Training) Flotilla from Nov to Dec 1943 when he began his U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) with the 8th (Training) Flotilla to prepare for his first command (Busch & Röll, 1999).

First U-boat Command

On 17 April 1944 Ltnt. Sven Thienemann commissioned the new type VIIC boat U-682 at Hamburg and then took the boat into the Baltic for training (Busch & Röll, 1999). On 11 March 1945 the boat, having never sailed on war patrol, was destroyed by US bombing raid on Hamburg (Niestlé, 1998).

In mid April 1945 Oblt. Thienemann was given command of the U-1271 (Busch & Röll, 1999). On 9 May 1945 he surrendered the boat at Bergen, Norway (Waller & Niestlé, 2010).

Post war career

After the war Sven Thienemann went back to sea and in 1951 left for Peru with a small German whaling fleet. There he met Greek tycoon Greek Aristotle Onassis. In 1954 Sven rebuilt the former Canadian frigate HMCS Stormont (K 327) into the yacht Christina for Onassis and became its first captain. He served with Onassis for two years on his yacht then went to join his family.

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.
Süddeutsche Zeitung Magzin. Interview with Sven Thienemann.
Wikipedia.org. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle_Onassis

Patrol info for Sven Thienemann

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-682 23 Dec 1944  Kiel  26 Dec 1944  Horten   4 days
2. U-682 3 Jan 1945  Horten  4 Jan 1945  Kiel   2 days

Media links


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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