Born | 24 Nov 1908 | Frankfurt | |
Died | 14 Oct 1939 | (30) | North Atlantic |
Ranks
Decorations |
U-boat Commands
U-boat | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
U-1 | 1 Oct 1936 | 2 Feb 1938 | No war patrols |
U-45 | 25 Jun 1938 | 14 Oct 1939 (+) | 2 patrols (34 days) |
Alexander Gelhaar joined the Reichsmarine in 1927. He was one of the select few who received a very thorough pre-war U-boat training. He studied U-boat theories and methods from Sept 1935 to Sept 1936 (Busch & Röll, 1999).
Gelhaar commanded the small "duck" school boat U-1 from 1 Oct 1936 to 2 Feb 1938. He then wen through several staff positions until he began his U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) in preparation for his next command. On 25 June 1938 he commissioned the brand new type VIIC boat U-45 at Kiel (Busch & Röll, 1999).
When the war seemed imminent Gelhaar was ordered to take his boat out from Kiel on 19 Aug 1939, two weeks prior to the actual outbreak of war. He patrolled around the British Isles and returned on 15 Sept 1939 (Busch & Röll, 1997).
U-45 was lost with all hands of 38 men when it was sunk on 14 Oct 1939 south-west of Ireland, in position 50.58N, 12.57W, by depth charges from the British destroyers HMS Inglefield, HMS Ivanhoe and HMS Intrepid (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 Alexander Gelhaar
U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | U-45 | 19 Aug 1939 | Kiel | 15 Sep 1939 | Kiel | Patrol 1, | 28 days | |
2. | U-45 | 9 Oct 1939 | Kiel | 14 Oct 1939 | Sunk | Patrol 2, | 6 days | |
2 patrols, 34 days at sea |
Ships hit by Alexander Gelhaar
Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
14 Oct 1939 | U-45 | Lochavon | 9,205 | br | KJF-3 | |||
14 Oct 1939 | U-45 | Bretagne | 10,108 | fr | KJF-3 | |||
19,313 | ||||||||
2 ships sunk (19,313 tons). Legend |
Media links
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