Born | 28 Mar 1907 | Angerburg, East Prussia | |
Died | 20 Dec 1943 | (36) | Central Atlantic |
Ranks
Decorations
|
U-boat Commands
U-boat | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
U-1 | 29 Jun 1935 | 30 Sep 1936 | No war patrols |
U-35 | 3 Nov 1936 | 5 Dec 1936 | No war patrols |
U-36 | 16 Dec 1936 | 31 Oct 1938 | No war patrols |
U-26 | Aug, 1939 | 3 Jan 1940 | 2 patrols (74 days) |
U-850 | 17 Apr 1943 | 20 Dec 1943 (+) | 1 patrol (33 days) |
Klaus Ewerth joined the Reichsmarine in 1925. He commissioned the first German U-boat since the WWI, the small type IIA U-1 on 29 Jun 1935. He left the on 30 Sep 1936 to prepare for another command (Baubelehrung) (Busch & Röll, 1999).
Kptlt. Klaus Ewerth commissioned the new type VIIA U-35 on 3 Nov 1936. He commanded the boat until 5 Dec 1936. He then commissioned the new U-36 on 16 Dec 1936. He would command the boat for almost 2 years, until 31 Oct 1938 (Busch & Röll, 1999).
From Nov 1938 to Aug 1939 Ewerth served as an instructor at the Torpedo School Mürwik (Busch & Röll, 1999).
Klaus Ewerth commanded the U-26 from 1 Aug 1939 to 3 Jan 1940. He went out on two patrols with the boat, spending 74 days at sea (Busch & Röll, 1997). He sank 4 ships (21,669 GRT) during these patrols, 3 of them were lost to mines laid by U-26 (Rohwer, 1998).
From Jan 1940 to Feb 1943 Klaus Ewerth served in several staff positions with the U-Boat Command before being assigned to U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) in preparation for his command of a new U-boat from March to April 1943 (Busch & Röll, 1999).
Monsun boats
On 17 April 1943 KorvKpt. Klaus Ewerth commissioned the huge new type IXC2 boat U-850. After almost 7 months in training and preparation Ewerth took the boat from Kiel heading in to the South Atlantic as part of the Monsun boats. 33 days later the boat was sunk with all hands, 66 men, on 20 Dec 1943 in the mid-Atlantic west of Madeira, Portugal by depth charges and Fido homing torpedoes from 5 Avenger and Wildcat aircraft (VC-19) of the American escort carrier USS Bogue (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 Klaus Ewerth
U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | U-26 | 29 Aug 1939 | Wilhelmshaven | 26 Sep 1939 | Wilhelmshaven | Patrol 1, | 29 days | |
2. | U-26 | 22 Oct 1939 | Wilhelmshaven | 5 Dec 1939 | Wilhelmshaven | Patrol 2, | 45 days | |
3. | U-850 | 18 Nov 1943 | Kiel | 20 Dec 1943 | Sunk | Patrol 3, | 33 days | |
3 patrols, 107 days at sea |
Ships hit by Klaus Ewerth
Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
15 Sep 1939 | U-26 | Alex van Opstal [Mine] | 5,965 | be | ||||
7 Oct 1939 | U-26 | Binnendijk [Mine] | 6,873 | nl | ||||
13 Nov 1939 | U-26 | Loire | 4,285 | fr | ||||
22 Nov 1939 | U-26 | Elena R. [Mine] | 4,576 | gr | ||||
21,699 | ||||||||
4 ships sunk (21,699 tons). Legend |
Media links
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