Erwin Christophersen

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 35)



No ships sunk or damaged.


Born  13 Apr 1915 Sonderburg
Died  4 May 1945(30)Lillebaelt, Denmark


Kriegsmarine crew book photo

Ranks

25 Sep 1935 Seekadett
1 May 1937 Fähnrich zur See
1 Jul 1938 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1938 Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1940 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Sep 1943 Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

1940 Iron Cross 2nd Class
27 Mar 1942 U-boat War Badge 1939
1942 Iron Cross 1st Class
11 Jul 1944 German Cross in Gold

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-228 12 Sep 1942 Aug, 1944   5 patrols (224 days) 
U-3028 27 Jan 1945 3 May 1945   No war patrols 

Erwin Christophersen joined the Kriegsmarine in 1935. He was seconded to the Luftwaffe before joining the U-boat force in Dec 1940. He served as 1st Watch Officer on U-753 for a year before attending U-boat Commander school at the 24th (Training) Flotilla in 1942 and Baubelehrung (construction familiarization) for U-228 in preparation for his first command.

Oblt. Christophersen commissioned U-228 on 12 Sept 1942 and stayed with her until Aug 1944. U-228 operated with several wolfpacks in the North Atlantic during this period, but without sinking anything. After being on reserve from Sept to Nov 1944, Christophersen attended Baubelehrung for the new type XXI Elektro U-boat U-3028 Elektro boat, commissioning her on 27 Jan 1945. U-3028 never saw active service, and Christophersen scuttled her on 3 May 1945 at Kiel.

He died later that day as a passenger aboard U-2503 en route to Norway to take command of a new boat. Kptlt. Erwin Christophersen and the boat's commander, Kptlt. Karl-Jürg Wächter, were among twelve men who died when a rocket penetrated the control room in an air attack at approx 17.20 hrs.

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.

Patrol info for Erwin Christophersen

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-228 6 Feb 1943  Kiel  29 Mar 1943  St. Nazaire  Patrol 1,52 days
2. U-228 4 May 1943  St. Nazaire  19 Jul 1943  Lorient  Patrol 2,77 days
3. U-228 18 Sep 1943  Lorient  19 Sep 1943  Brest  Patrol 3,2 days
4. U-228 27 Sep 1943  Brest  29 Sep 1943  Brest  Patrol 3,3 days
5. U-228 11 Oct 1943  Brest  12 Oct 1943  Brest  Patrol 3,2 days
6. U-228 23 Oct 1943  Brest  20 Dec 1943  Bordeaux  Patrol 3,59 days
7. U-228 24 Feb 1944  Bordeaux  26 Feb 1944  La Pallice  Patrol 4,3 days
8. U-228 4 Mar 1944  La Pallice  7 Mar 1944  La Pallice  Patrol 4,4 days
9. U-228 11 Mar 1944  La Pallice  13 Mar 1944  La Pallice  Patrol 4,3 days
10. U-228 19 Mar 1944  La Pallice  26 Mar 1944  St. Nazaire  Patrol 4,8 days
11. U-228 6 Jun 1944  St. Nazaire  16 Jun 1944  St. Nazaire  Patrol 5,11 days
5 patrols, 224 days at sea


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


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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