Born | 24 Mar 1908 | Esenshausen, Baden-Württemberg | |
Died | 15 May 1943 | (35) | Cuban waters |
Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
U-boat | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
U-176 | 15 Dec 1941 | 15 May 1943 (+) | 3 patrols (216 days) |
Reiner Dierksen joined the Germany Navy (Reichsmarine) in 1933. From Oct 1938 to June 1940 he was Commander M 5 of the 1st Mineseweeping flotilla, then he was the Commander of the 32nd Minesweeping flotilla until March 1941.
Kapitänleutnant Reiner Dierksen began his U-boat training in March 1941, then took his U-boat Commander training and U-boat familiarization until 15 Dec 1941 when he commissioned the type IXC U-176 at Bremen.
On his second patrol with U-176 Dierksen ran into one of the most stubborn victims of the entire war when he spent almost 48 hours hunting the Dutch freighter Polydorus before finally sinking her with his 7th and 8th torpedoes! (Blair, 1998).
Korvettenkapitän Reiner Dierksen died when his U-176 was sunk with all hands, 53 men, on its 3 war patrol north of Cuba on 15 May 1943 by Cuban patrol boat CS 13. Dierksen had sunk 10 ships with a total of 45,850 GRT and one 7,457 GRT ship damaged.
Sources
Blair, C. (1998). Hitler’s U-boat War. The Hunted, 1942-1945.
Busch, R and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Patrol info for Reiner Dierksen
U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | U-176 | 21 Jul 1942 | Kiel | 2 Oct 1942 | Lorient | Patrol 1, | 74 days | |
2. | U-176 | 9 Nov 1942 | Lorient | 18 Feb 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 2, | 102 days | |
3. | U-176 | 6 Apr 1943 | Lorient | 15 May 1943 | Sunk | Patrol 3, | 40 days | |
3 patrols, 216 days at sea |
Ships hit by Reiner Dierksen
Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 Aug 1942 | U-176 | Richmond Castle | 7,798 | br | ||||
8 Aug 1942 | U-176 | Kelso | 3,956 | br | SC-94 | |||
8 Aug 1942 | U-176 | Mount Kassion | 7,914 | gr | SC-94 | |||
8 Aug 1942 | U-176 | Trehata | 4,817 | br | SC-94 | |||
9 Aug 1942 | U-176 | Radchurch | 3,701 | br | SC-94 | |||
25 Aug 1942 | U-176 | Empire Breeze | 7,457 | br | ONS-122 | |||
27 Nov 1942 | U-176 | Polydorus | 5,922 | nl | ON-145 | |||
13 Dec 1942 | U-176 | Scania | 1,629 | sw | ||||
16 Dec 1942 | U-176 | Observer | 5,881 | br | ||||
13 May 1943 | U-176 | Mambi | 1,983 | cu | NC-18 | |||
13 May 1943 | U-176 | Nickeliner | 2,249 | am | NC-18 | |||
53,307 | ||||||||
11 ships sunk (53,307 tons). Legend |
About ranks and decorations
Special thanks to Fernando Almeida for data on ranks and decorations.
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