Siegfried Freiherr von Forstner

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 30)

Successes
14 ships sunk, total tonnage 70,434 GRT
1 auxiliary warship sunk, total tonnage 602 GRT
3 ships damaged, total tonnage 28,682 GRT

Born	19 Sep 1910		Hannover
Died	13 Oct 1943	(33)	North Atlantic

Korvkpt. Siegfried Freiherr von Forstner

Ranks

1 Apr 1930		Offiziersanwärter
10 Oct 1930		Seekadett
1 Jan 1932		Fähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1934		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1934		Leutnant zur See
1 Jun 1936		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1939		Kapitänleutnant
1 Apr 1943		Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

18 Feb 1942		Iron Cross 2nd Class
7 Aug 1942		Iron Cross 1st Class
9 Feb 1943		Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-59	11 Nov 1940	16 Apr 1941	No war patrols
U-402	21 May 1941	13 Oct 1943 (+)	8 patrols (349 days)

Siegfried von Forstner celebrates news of his Knights Cross award in the wardroom of U-402, cruising at a depth of 100 ft.

Siegfried Freiherr von Forstner began his naval career in April 1930 (his younger brother, Wolfgang-Friedrich, was also a U-boat commander, 37a). He served for more than two years on the light cruiser Nürnberg, including six patrols during the first year of the war. In April 1940 he transferred to the U-boat force. Following standard training he served on U-99 under Kptlt. Kretschmer for one patrol as a Kommandantenschüler (Commander-in-training) (Busch & Röll, 1999).

After a few months on the training boat U-59, in April 1941 he commissioned U-402, a type VIIC U-boat (Busch & Röll, 1999). He operated mostly against convoys in the North Atlantic and became one of the most successful commanders in 1943.

U-402 was sunk with all hands on 13 October 1943 by an aircraft from the US escort carrier USS Card (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.

Patrol info for Siegfried Freiherr von Forstner

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-402	26 Oct 1941	Kiel	9 Dec 1941	St. Nazaire	Patrol 1,	45 days
2.	U-402	11 Jan 1942	St. Nazaire	11 Feb 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 2,	32 days
3.	U-402	26 Mar 1942	St. Nazaire	20 May 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 3,	56 days
4.	U-402	16 Jun 1942	St. Nazaire	5 Aug 1942	La Pallice	Patrol 4,	51 days
5.	U-402	4 Oct 1942	La Pallice	20 Nov 1942	La Pallice	Patrol 5,	48 days
6.	U-402	14 Jan 1943	La Pallice	23 Feb 1943	La Pallice	Patrol 6,	41 days
7.	U-402	21 Apr 1943	La Pallice	26 May 1943	La Pallice	Patrol 7,	36 days
8.	U-402	4 Sep 1943	La Pallice	13 Oct 1943	Sunk	Patrol 8,	40 days
8 patrols, 349 days at sea

Ships hit by Siegfried Freiherr von Forstner

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
16 Jan 1942	U-402	Llangibby Castle (d.)	11,951	br	WS-15
13 Apr 1942	U-402	Empire Progress	5,249	br	ON-80
30 Apr 1942	U-402	Ashkhabad	5,284	sj
2 May 1942	U-402	USS Cythera (PY 26)	602	am
2 Nov 1942	U-402	Empire Sunrise (d.)	7,459	br	SC-107
2 Nov 1942	U-402	Dalcroy	4,558	br	SC-107
2 Nov 1942	U-402	Rinos	4,649	gr	SC-107
2 Nov 1942	U-402	Empire Leopard	5,676	br	SC-107
2 Nov 1942	U-402	Empire Antelope	4,945	br	SC-107

7 Feb 1943	U-402	Toward	1,571	br	SC-118
7 Feb 1943	U-402	Robert E. Hopkins	6,625	am	SC-118
7 Feb 1943	U-402	Daghild (d.)	9,272	nw	SC-118
7 Feb 1943	U-402	Afrika	8,597	br	SC-118
7 Feb 1943	U-402	Henry R. Mallory	6,063	am	SC-118
7 Feb 1943	U-402	Kalliopi	4,965	gr	SC-118
8 Feb 1943	U-402	Newton Ash	4,625	br	SC-118
11 May 1943	U-402	Antigone	4,545	br	SC-129
11 May 1943	U-402	Grado	3,082	nw	SC-129
			99,718
15 ships sunk (71,036 tons) and 3 ships damaged (28,682 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (d.) means the ship was damaged.

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.