Dietrich Knorr

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 31)

Successes
5 ships sunk, total tonnage 26,296 GRT
1 auxiliary warship sunk, total tonnage 4,724 GRT

Born	13 Feb 1912		Dessau
Died	20 Aug 1940	(28)	Bay of Biscay

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Ranks

1 Apr 1931		Offiziersanwärter
14 Oct 1931		Seekadett
1 Jan 1933		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1935		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1935		Leutnant zur See
1 Jan 1937		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Oct 1939		Kapitänleutnant

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-53	24 Jun 1939	Aug, 1939	No war patrols
U-51	15 Jan 1940	20 Aug 1940 (+)	4 patrols (108 days)

Dietrich Knorr joined the German Navy (Reichsmarine) in 1931. He served as Watch Officer (WO) on the small "duck" type IIB boat U-10 during 1937, then as WO on the sister boat U-16 from 1938-1939.

On 24 June 1939 he commissioned the new type VIIB boat U-53. He left the boat in August 1939 to take command of the U-51 of the same type. With this boat he first went out on patrol on 17 Jan 1940. During this patrol he sank 2 small ships with a total of 3,100 tons.

This was to be his first of 4 war patrols, spending 108 days at sea. Kplt. Dietrich Knorr sank 6 ships for over 31,000 tons during these missions, the last ship was sunk just 5 days before the loss of U-51.

On 20 Aug 1940 the U-51 was inbound for France in the Bay of Biscay west of Nantes, France, in position 47.06N, 04.51W, when she was sunk by a torpedo from the British submarine HMS Cachalot, 43 dead, all hands lost (Niestlé, 1998).

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).
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.

Patrol info for Dietrich Knorr

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-51	17 Jan 1940	Kiel	8 Feb 1940	Wilhelmshaven	Patrol 1,	23 days
2.	U-51	11 Mar 1940	Wilhelmshaven	22 Apr 1940	Kiel	Patrol 2,	43 days
3.	U-51	6 Jun 1940	Kiel	5 Jul 1940	Kiel	Patrol 3,	30 days
4.	U-51	9 Aug 1940	Kiel	20 Aug 1940	Sunk	Patrol 4,	12 days
4 patrols, 108 days at sea

Ships hit by Dietrich Knorr

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
22 Jan 1940	U-51	Gothia	1,640	sw
29 Jan 1940	U-51	Eika	1,503	nw
25 Jun 1940	U-51	Windsorwood	5,395	br	OA-172
25 Jun 1940	U-51	Saranac	12,049	br	OA-172
29 Jun 1940	U-51	HMS Willamette Valley (X 39)	4,724	br
15 Aug 1940	U-51	Sylvafield	5,709	br	HX-62
			31,020
6 ships sunk (31,020 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel.

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.