Gustav-Adolf Mugler

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 31)


Successes
5 ships sunk, total tonnage 22,815 GRT
2 ships sunk, total tonnage 2,073 GRT
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 8,096 GRT

Born  10 Oct 1912 Danzig-Langfuhr
Died  5 Feb 1940(27)North Atlantic


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
1 Mar 1940 Korvettenkapitän (posthumous)

Decorations

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-41 22 Apr 1939 5 Feb 1940  (+)  3 patrols (71 days) 

Gustav-Adolf Mugler joined the Reichsmarine in 1931. He served as a Watch officer (WO) on U-30 (Kptlt. Hans Cohausz) in 1937 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

Gustav-Adolf Mugler commissioned the new type IX U-boat U-41 on 22 April 1939. U-41 joined the initial wave of U-boats leaving in preparation for possible war with England when she left Wilhelmshaven on 19 Aug 1939 (Busch & Röll, 1997). She docked almost a month later, having sunk two small Finnish ships on the return route.

Kptlt. Mugler's second patrol in U-41 was from Wilhelmshaven to the Bay of Biscay. He sank four ships, including the large neutral Norwegian motor tanker Arne Kjøde on 12 Nov 1939 (Rohwer, 1998). On 16 Nov the boat was hunted by British escorts from convoy SL 7 for 20 hours before managing to escape. On two occasions during this patrol Mugler took survivors from sunken ships onboard the boat (seven from Cresswell and 11 from Darino).

Mugler and his entire crew of 49 died when U-41 was sunk on 5 Feb 1940 by the British destroyer HMS Antelope south of Ireland (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.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Gustav-Adolf Mugler

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-41 19 Aug 1939  Wilhelmshaven  17 Sep 1939  Wilhelmshaven  Patrol 1,30 days
2. U-41 7 Nov 1939  Wilhelmshaven  7 Dec 1939  Wilhelmshaven  Patrol 2,31 days
3. U-41 23 Jan 1940  Wilhelmshaven  24 Jan 1940  Helgoland   2 days
4. U-41 27 Jan 1940  Helgoland  5 Feb 1940  Sunk  Patrol 3,10 days
3 patrols, 71 days at sea

Ships hit by Gustav-Adolf Mugler

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
16 Sep 1939U-41 Vega (c.)974fi
16 Sep 1939U-41 Suomen Poika (c.)1,099fi
12 Nov 1939U-41 Cresswell275br
12 Nov 1939U-41 Arne Kjøde11,019nw
19 Nov 1939U-41 Darino1,351br
21 Nov 1939U-41 Les Barges II296fr
 
5 Feb 1940U-41 Ceronia (d.)8,096nl
5 Feb 1940U-41 Beaverburn9,874brOA-84
 32,984

7 ships sunk (24,888 tons) and 1 ship damaged (8,096 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.
(d.) means the ship was damaged.
(c.) means the ship was captured (included in ships & tonnage lost).


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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