Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 36)

Successes
3 ships sunk, total tonnage 10,969 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 206 tons
2 ships damaged, total tonnage 17,179 GRT

Born	16 Jun 1917		Berlin-Wilmersdorf
Died	2 Jul 1944	(27)	Atlantic, south-west of Tenerife

Kapitänleutnant Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel

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

24 Apr 1940		U-boat War Badge 1939
26 Apr 1940		Iron Cross 2nd Class
3 Jul 1940		Iron Cross 1st Class
3 Feb 1944		Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-140	7 Apr 1941	9 Dec 1941	2 patrols (30 days)
U-96	28 Mar 1942	15 Mar 1943	3 patrols (158 days)
U-543	21 Apr 1943	2 Jul 1944 (+)	2 patrols (174 days)

Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel joined the Kriegsmarine in April 1936, and was part of the Olympia Crew. After six months on the torpedo boat Luchs he transferred to the U-bootwaffe (U-boat force). He served as IIWO onboard U-46 under the command of Kptlt. Sohler and later under Kptlt. Endrass before taking command of the type IID U-boat U-140 (Hinsch). He made two patrols in U-140 in the Baltic during the summer of 1941 and sank the Soviet submarine M-94.

In April 1942 he replaced the successful commander of U-96, Kptlt. Lehmann-Willenbrock. On his second patrol he sank three ships and damaged the British tanker F. J. Wolfe and the British former coastal liner New York.

In March 1943 Hellriegel left U-96 and a month later commissioned the type IXC/40 U-boat U-543. This made him one of very few commanders to see active service in each of the three main U-boat types. He died when U-543 was sunk with all hands by US aircraft off the coast of west Africa on 2 July 1944 (Niestlé, 1998).

Oberleutnant Hellriegel (left) on the conning tower of U-96 returning from patrol.

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 Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-140	19 Jun 1941	Gotenhafen	30 Jun 1941	Gotenhafen	Patrol 1,	12 days
2.	U-140	7 Jul 1941	Gotenhafen	24 Jul 1941	Gotenhafen	Patrol 2,	18 days
3.	U-96	23 Apr 1942	St. Nazaire	1 Jul 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 3,	70 days
4.	U-96	24 Aug 1942	St. Nazaire	5 Oct 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 4,	43 days
5.	U-96	26 Dec 1942	St. Nazaire	8 Feb 1943	Königsberg	Patrol 5,	45 days
6.	U-543	9 Nov 1943	Kiel	24 Jan 1944	Lorient	Patrol 6,	77 days
7.	U-543	28 Mar 1944	Lorient	2 Jul 1944	Sunk	Patrol 7,	97 days
7 patrols, 362 days at sea

Ships hit by Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel

Date	U-boat	Commander	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
21 Jul 1941	U-140	Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel	M-94	206	sj

10 Sep 1942	U-96	Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel	Elisabeth van Belgie	4,241	be	ON-127
10 Sep 1942	U-96	Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel	F.J. Wolfe (d.)	12,190	br	ON-127
10 Sep 1942	U-96	Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel	Sveve	6,313	nw	ON-127
11 Sep 1942	U-96	Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel	Delães	415	pt
25 Sep 1942	U-96	Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel	New York (d.)	4,989	br	RB-1
				28,354
4 ships sunk (11,175 tons) and 2 ships damaged (17,179 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (d.) means the ship was damaged.

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.