Fritz Frauenheim

Fregattenkapitän (Crew 30)

Successes
18 ships sunk, total tonnage 78,248 GRT
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 4,155 GRT
1 warship damaged, total tonnage 11,500 tons

Born	9 Mar 1912		Berlin
Died	28 Sep 1969	(57)	Hamburg, Germany

Fritz Frauenheim

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
1 Dec 1944		Fregattenkapitän

Decorations

6 Jun 1939		Spanish Cross in Bronze without Swords
2 Oct 1939		Iron Cross 2nd Class
7 Nov 1939		Iron Cross 1st Class
29 Aug 1940		Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-21	1 Oct 1937	6 Jan 1940	5 patrols (70 days)
U-101	11 Mar 1940	18 Nov 1940	4 patrols (100 days)

Kapitänleutnant Fritz Frauenheim

Fritz Frauenheim began his naval career in April 1930 and served on the line ship Schleswig Holstein and the light cruiser Karlsruhe. In January 1936 he transferred to the U-boat force and thus received a solid pre-war training.

After more than a year as a watch officer (WO) on U-25 he took over U-21 in October 1939. He served on this U-boat for several patrols at the beginning of the war and sank five ships, mostly in the North Sea. The British cruiser HMS Belfast was badly damaged by a mine laid by Frauenheim's U-boat in November 1939 (Rohwer, 1998).

In March 1940 he commissioned the type VIIC U-boat U-101 and in the course of the next four patrols he sank 12 ships. In December 1940 he left U-101 and became a teacher in the 2nd ULD. After holding various staff positions, in September 1941 Frauenheim took command of the 23rd Flotilla (Med) flotilla, and in May 1942 of the 29th Flotilla.

Starting in February 1944 he served on the staff of the Admiral der Kleinkampfverbände (Admiral of Midget Assault Units). After the surrender Frauenheim spent eight months in Allied captivity.

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Fritz Frauenheim

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-21	25 Aug 1939	Wilhelmshaven	5 Sep 1939	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 1,	12 days
2.	U-21	9 Sep 1939	Wilhelmshaven	1 Oct 1939	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 2,	23 days
3.	U-21	2 Oct 1939	Wilhelmshaven	3 Oct 1939	Kiel		2 days
4.	U-21	22 Oct 1939	Kiel	8 Nov 1939	Kiel	Patrol 3,	18 days
5.	U-21	27 Nov 1939	Kiel	5 Dec 1939	Kiel	Patrol 4,	9 days
6.	U-21	17 Dec 1939	Kiel	24 Dec 1939	Kiel	Patrol 5,	8 days
7.	U-101	29 Apr 1940	Kiel	3 May 1940	Trondheim	Patrol 6,	5 days
8.	U-101	5 May 1940	Trondheim	10 May 1940	Kiel		6 days
9.	U-101	21 May 1940	Kiel	25 Jun 1940	Kiel	Patrol 7,	36 days
10.	U-101	9 Aug 1940	Kiel	16 Sep 1940	Lorient	Patrol 8,	39 days
11.	U-101	5 Oct 1940	Lorient	24 Oct 1940	Lorient	Patrol 9,	20 days
9 patrols, 170 days at sea

Ships hit by Fritz Frauenheim

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
21 Nov 1939	U-21	HMS Belfast (35) (d.) [Mine]	11,500	br
1 Dec 1939	U-21	Mercator	4,260	fi
21 Dec 1939	U-21	Mars	1,475	sw
21 Dec 1939	U-21	Carl Henckel	1,352	sw

24 Feb 1940	U-21	Royal Archer [Mine]	2,266	br	FN-100
30 May 1940	U-101	Stanhall	4,831	br
31 May 1940	U-101	Orangemoor	5,775	br	HG-31F
2 Jun 1940	U-101	Polycarp	3,577	br
11 Jun 1940	U-101	Mount Hymettus	5,820	gr
12 Jun 1940	U-101	Earlspark	5,250	br
14 Jun 1940	U-101	Antonis Georgandis	3,557	gr
16 Jun 1940	U-101	Wellington Star	13,212	br
19 Aug 1940	U-101	Ampleforth	4,576	br	OA-199
28 Aug 1940	U-101	Elle	3,868	fi	SC-1
1 Sep 1940	U-101	Efploia	3,867	gr	OB-205
12 Oct 1940	U-101	Saint-Malô	5,779	ca	HX-77
18 Oct 1940	U-101	Creekirk	3,917	br	SC-7
18 Oct 1940	U-101	Blairspey (d.)	4,155	br	SC-7
19 Oct 1940	U-101	Assyrian	2,962	br	SC-7
19 Oct 1940	U-101	Soesterberg	1,904	nl	SC-7
			93,903
18 ships sunk (78,248 tons) and 2 ships damaged (15,655 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (d.) means the ship was damaged. [Mine] indicates the vessel was hit by a mine laid by said U-boat.

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.