Rudolf Heinz Franke

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 36)

Successes
3 ships sunk, total tonnage 13,010 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 925 tons

Born	30 Nov 1915		Berlin-Steglitz
Died	5 Apr 2003	(87)

Kapitänleutnant Heinz Franke

Ranks

3 Apr 1936		Offiziersanwärter
10 Sep 1936		Seekadett
1 May 1937		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jul 1938		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1938		Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1940		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1943		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

23 Feb 1940		Iron Cross 2nd Class
21 Nov 1941		U-boat War Badge 1939
12 Dec 1941		Iron Cross 1st Class
30 Nov 1943		Knights Cross
24 Jan 1945		U-boat Front Clasp

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-148	16 Jan 1942	19 Oct 1942	No war patrols
U-262	26 Oct 1942	25 Jan 1944	5 patrols (222 days)
U-3509	15 Mar 1945	9 Apr 1945	No war patrols
U-2502	12 Apr 1945	9 May 1945	No war patrols

Kapitänleutnant Heinz Franke

Rudolf Heinz Franke joined the Kriegsmarine in April 1936, and was part of the Olympia Crew. He served for more than two years on the battle cruiser Gneisenau and was onboard during her two combat sorties in 1939 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

He transferred to the U-boat force in October 1940 and after attending Baubelehrung (U-boat Construction Familiarization) for the type VIIB U-boat U-84, he served as her First Watch Officer (IWO), before taking over his first command, the school boat U-148, at the start of 1942 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

In October 1942 he took command of U-262, and on his first patrol sank the Norwegian corvette Montbretia (Rohwer, 1998). In May 1943 Franke was sent on a mission to the Gulf of St. Lawrence to collect escaped POW U-boat men, but the planned breakout didn't succeed and U-262 returned home without them.

Heinz Franke

After Kptlt Franke left U-262 at the start of 1944 he was attached to the BdU org staff. After serving in several other senior staff positions, including Chief of training for a midget submarine unit, he took command of the type XXI Elektro U-boat U-3509 in March 1945. When that U-boat was damaged on 4 April 1945 he transferred to U-2502, another type XXI, which he commanded until she was surrendered at Horten, Norway on 9 May 1945 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

After the war he spent six months in Krageroe POW camp, Norway, and then served in a minesweeper unit (Busch & Röll, 1999).

In 1957 he joined the Bundesmarine (Federal German Navy) and served in the Armed Forces Amt für Militärkunde (Department of Military Science). He retired in March 1972 with the rank of Fregattenkapitän.

Heinz Franke died on 5 April 2003 suffering from advanced Alzheimers disease.

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).
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Rudolf Heinz Franke

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-262	5 Nov 1942	Narvik	9 Dec 1942	La Pallice	Patrol 1,	35 days
2.	U-262	16 Jan 1943	La Pallice	15 Feb 1943	La Pallice	Patrol 2,	31 days
3.	U-262	27 Mar 1943	La Pallice	25 May 1943	La Pallice	Patrol 3,	60 days
4.	U-262	24 Jul 1943	La Pallice	2 Sep 1943	La Pallice	Patrol 4,	41 days
5.	U-262	14 Oct 1943	La Pallice	7 Dec 1943	La Pallice	Patrol 5,	55 days
5 patrols, 222 days at sea

Ships hit by Rudolf Heinz Franke

Date	U-boat	Commander	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
18 Nov 1942	U-262	Rudolf Heinz Franke	HNoMS Montbretia (K 208)	925	nw	ONS-144
26 Nov 1942	U-262	Rudolf Heinz Franke	Ocean Crusader	7,178	br	HX-216

6 Feb 1943	U-262	Rudolf Heinz Franke	Zagloba	2,864	po	SC-118
31 Oct 1943	U-262	Rudolf Heinz Franke	Hallfried	2,968	nw	SL-138
				13,935
4 ships sunk (13,935 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.