Albert Lauzemis

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 37a)


Successes
5 ships sunk, total tonnage 27,302 GRT
1 auxiliary warship sunk, total tonnage 545 GRT

Born  12 Mar 1918 Kairien, Memel
Died  10 Apr 1944(26)north-west of Madeira


Ranks

3 Apr 1937 Offiziersanwärter
21 Sep 1937 Seekadett
1 May 1938 Fähnrich zur See
1 Jul 1939 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Aug 1939 Leutnant zur See
1 Sep 1941 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Jul 1944 Kapitänleutnant (posthumous)

Decorations

  Iron Cross 2nd Class
  Iron Cross 1st Class
21 Jan 1944 German Cross in Gold

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-139 18 May 1942 30 Jun 1942   No war patrols 
U-37 1 Jul 1942 3 Jan 1943   No war patrols 
U-68 21 Jan 1943 16 Jun 1943   2 patrols (99 days) 
U-68 30 Jul 1943 10 Apr 1944  (+)  3 patrols (129 days) 

Albert Lauzemis joined the Kriegsmarine in 1937. He went through U-boat training and U-boat construction familiarization (Baubelehrung) from Jun 1940 to Feb 1941. He was trained for type IX U-boats, and when U-68 was commissioned by KrvKpt. Karl-Friedrich Merten he became 2nd Watch Officer (II WO). Lauzemis sailed on the boat for two patrols as II WO and then for the third patrol as 1st Watch Officer (I WO). He served on the boat until April 1942 (Busch & Röll, 1999). During Lauzemis' stint on U-68 Merten sank 11 ships totalling over 63,000 tons.

Lauzemis went through U-boat Commander training with the 24th (Training) Flotilla during May 1942, and on 18 May he was given command of the small school boat U-139. After only six weeks he took over the much larger Type XI U-37 on 1 July 1942 (Busch & Röll, 1999). This hugely successful boat was by that time a school boat in the Baltic.

Oblt. Lauzemis left U-37 on 3 Jan 1943 and on the 21st took command of U-68, his old boat (Busch & Röll, 1999). He left for his first war patrol as commander on 7 May 1943, heading for the Caribbean (Busch & Röll, 1997).

On the second patrol in U-68 the outbound boat was attacked on 14 June 1943, only two days after leaving Lorient. Lauzemis, the II WO and another man were wounded, and one man was lost overboard. The I WO, Scherraus, brought the boat back to base. Lauzemis spent six weeks in hospital and was relieved of command during his recovery (Busch & Röll, 1999).

During his five patrols (228 days at sea) Lauzemis sank six ships of almost 28,000 tons total (Rohwer, 1998).

On 30 July Albert Lauzemis took command of U-68 again and left for patrol on 14 Aug 1943. The boat was sunk on 10 Apr 1944 north-west of Madeira, Portugal in position 33.24N, 18.59W by depth charges and rockets from Avenger and Wildcat aircraft of the US escort carrier USS Guadalcanal (VC-58). 56 dead and 1 survivor (Niestlé, 1998). Lauzemis died on his boat.

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 Albert Lauzemis

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-68 3 Feb 1943  Lorient  7 May 1943  Lorient  Patrol 1,94 days
2. U-68 12 Jun 1943  Lorient  16 Jun 1943  Lorient  Patrol 2,5 days
3. U-68 1 Aug 1943  Lorient  3 Aug 1943  Lorient   3 days
4. U-68 14 Aug 1943  Lorient  15 Aug 1943  Lorient  Patrol 3,2 days
5. U-68 8 Sep 1943  Lorient  23 Dec 1943  Lorient  Patrol 4,107 days
6. U-68 22 Mar 1944  Lorient  10 Apr 1944  Sunk  Patrol 5,20 days
5 patrols, 228 days at sea

Ships hit by Albert Lauzemis

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
13 Mar 1943U-68 Cities Service Missouri7,506amGAT-49
13 Mar 1943U-68 Ceres2,680nlGAT-49
21 Oct 1943U-68 HMS Orfasy (T 204)545br
22 Oct 1943U-68 Litiopa5,356nw
31 Oct 1943U-68 New Columbia6,574br
30 Nov 1943U-68 Fort de Vaux5,186fr
 27,847

6 ships sunk (27,847 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.

Media links


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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