Bernhard Zurmühlen

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 33)

Successes
5 ships sunk, total tonnage 28,600 GRT
3 ships damaged, total tonnage 19,230 GRT

Born	23 Feb 1909		Bielefeld
Died	25 Nov 1943	(34)	north of Punta Delgada, Azores

Bernhard Zurmühlen on the left.

Ranks

11 Apr 1934		Offiziersanwärter
1 Jul 1934		Fähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1936		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1936		Leutnant zur See
1 Jun 1938		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1940		Kapitänleutnant
1 Nov 1943		Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

1939		Iron Cross 2nd Class
Nov, 1941		Fleet War Badge
23 Sep 1942		U-boat War Badge 1939
Dec, 1942		Iron Cross 1st Class
27 Feb 1943		German Cross in Gold

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-600	11 Dec 1941	25 Nov 1943 (+)	6 patrols (278 days)

Bernhard Zurmühlen joined the Reichsmarine in 1933. He served as a Radio Technical Officer on the old training battleship Schleswig-Holstein Aug 1939 - Aug 1940. From Aug to Nov 1940 he was based at Bruges, after which he became an instructor at the Signals School at Mürwik Naval Academy until March 1941 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

He went through U-boat training from March to July 1941, when he began his U-boat Commander training with the 24th (Training) Flotilla. In Sept 1941 Bernhard Zurmühlen graduated and was assigned as supernumerary Watch Officer (WO) to U-331 (Kptlt. Freiherr Hans-Diedrich von Tiesenhausen). He went on two patrols: on the first they managed to enter the Mediterranean past the heavily defended Straits of Gibraltar, and on the second sank the British battleship HMS Barham on 25 Nov 1941 (Rohwer, 1998).

Bernhard Zurmühlen then attended U-boat construction familiarization (Baubelehrung) to prepare for his own command. He commissioned the type VIIC U-boat U-600 on 11 Dec 1941, andfter training in the Baltic during the winter the boat left for its first war patrol on 14 July 1942 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

Kptlt. Zurmühlen took U-600 on five patrols, sinking five ships (28,600 tons) and damaging three (19,230 tons). In March 1943 he fought in one of the largest convoy battles of the war, as part of Wolfpack Raubgraf, against convoy HX 229. U-600 was one of the most successful boats, with one large ship sunk and two damaged (Rohwer, 1998).

The newly-promoted KrvKpt. Zurmühlen was lost with the entire crew of 54 when U-600 was sunk on 25 Nov 1943 in the North Atlantic north of Ponta Delgada by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Bazely and HMS Blackwood (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 Bernhard Zurmühlen

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-600	14 Jul 1942	Kiel	22 Sep 1942	La Pallice	Patrol 1,	71 days
2.	U-600	22 Nov 1942	La Pallice	27 Dec 1942	La Pallice	Patrol 2,	36 days
3.	U-600	11 Feb 1943	La Pallice	26 Mar 1943	La Pallice	Patrol 3,	44 days
4.	U-600	25 Apr 1943	La Pallice	11 May 1943	La Pallice	Patrol 4,	17 days
5.	U-600	12 Jun 1943	La Pallice	10 Sep 1943	Brest	Patrol 5,	91 days
6.	U-600	7 Nov 1943	Brest	25 Nov 1943	Sunk	Patrol 6,	19 days
6 patrols, 278 days at sea

Ships hit by Bernhard Zurmühlen

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
10 Aug 1942	U-600	Vivian P. Smith	130	br
13 Aug 1942	U-600	Delmundo	5,032	am	TAW-12
13 Aug 1942	U-600	Everelza	4,520	le	TAW-12
8 Dec 1942	U-600	James McKay	6,762	am	HX-217

24 Feb 1943	U-600	Ingria (d.)	4,391	nw	ON-166
17 Mar 1943	U-600	Irénée Du Pont (d.)	6,125	am	HX-229
17 Mar 1943	U-600	Nariva (d.)	8,714	br	HX-229
17 Mar 1943	U-600	Southern Princess	12,156	br	HX-229
			47,830
5 ships sunk (28,600 tons) and 3 ships damaged (19,230 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (d.) means the ship was damaged.