Heinz Walkerling

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 35)

Successes
4 ships sunk, total tonnage 26,194 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 1,375 tons

Born	19 May 1915		Kiel
Died	16 Sep 2001	(86)	Mühlheim, Germany

Oblt. Heinz Walkerling

Ranks

5 Apr 1935		Offiziersanwärter
25 Sep 1935		Seekadett
1 Jul 1936		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1938		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1938		Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1939		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Jun 1942		Kapitänleutnant

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-91	28 Jan 1942	19 Apr 1943	3 patrols (156 days)

Heinz Walkerling joined the Kriegsmarine in 1935. He served on the minelayer Hansestadt Danzig from Aug 1939 to March 1940, then the destroyer Z 8 Bruno Heinemann until Oct 1940.

He received U-boat training from Oct 1940 to March 1941. He then served as First Watch Officer (1WO) under Kptlt. Wilhelm Dommes on U-431. He went on two patrols, 63 days at sea, during which one small ship was sunk.

From Nov to Dec 1941 Walkerling went through U-boat Commander training with the 24th (Training) Flotilla and U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) until Jan 1942 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

On 28 Jan 1942 Kptlt Walkerling commissioned the brand new type VIIC U-91 at Lübeck, and conducted working up exercises in the Baltic (Busch & Röll, 1999).

U-91 left on her first patrol from Kiel on 15 Aug 1942 (Busch & Röll, 1997). Her new commander attacked several convoys, sinking two ships, including the Canadian destroyer HMCS Ottawa (H 60) (Rohwer, 1998). She arrived at Brest, her new base, on 6 Oct 1942.

The Canadian destroyer HMCS Ottawa (H 60), sunk by U-91 (Walkerling) on 14 Sept 1942.

After two more patrols Heinz Walkerling left U-91, having sunk five ships totalling 27,000 tons and spending 156 days at sea. From April 1943 to Sept 1944 he served with the 9th, 24th and 19th U-boat Flotillas. He was then posted to the Torpedo School at Mürwik from Sept 1944 until the end of the war (Busch & Röll, 1999).

Kptlt. Heinz Walkerling died on 16 Sep 2001 (information supplied by his son).

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).
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Heinz Walkerling

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-91	15 Aug 1942	Kiel	6 Oct 1942	Brest	Patrol 1,	53 days
2.	U-91	1 Nov 1942	Brest	26 Dec 1942	Brest	Patrol 2,	56 days
3.	U-91	11 Feb 1943	Brest	29 Mar 1943	Lorient	Patrol 3,	47 days
3 patrols, 156 days at sea

Ships hit by Heinz Walkerling

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
14 Sep 1942	U-91	HMCS Ottawa (H 60)	1,375	ca	ON-127
26 Sep 1942	U-91	New York	4,989	br	RB-1

17 Mar 1943	U-91	Harry Luckenbach	6,366	am	HX-229
17 Mar 1943	U-91	Irénée Du Pont	6,125	am	HX-229
17 Mar 1943	U-91	Nariva	8,714	br	HX-229
			27,569
5 ships sunk (27,569 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.