Claus Korth
Korvettenkapitän (Crew 32)
Successes 13 ships sunk, total tonnage 54,584 GRT 1 auxiliary warship sunk, total tonnage 8,240 GRT 1 ship damaged, total tonnage 4,996 GRT 1 ship a total loss, total tonnage 10,191 GRT |
Born | 7 Nov 1911 | Berlin | |
Died | 25 Jan 1988 | (76) | Kiel, Germany |
Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
U-boat | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
U-57 | 29 Dec 1938 | 4 Jun 1940 | 9 patrols (137 days) |
U-93 | 30 Jul 1940 | 30 Sep 1941 | 5 patrols (155 days) |
Claus Korth began his naval career in April 1932. During his officer training he was one of the few survivors when the sailing school ship Niobe sank in a training accident. In March 1936 he joined in the U-boat force and received a solid pre-war training. In the autumn of 1937 he was I WO on U-37 for two months in Spanish waters during the civil war there.
Claus Korth during patrol |
In December 1938 he commissioned the type IIC U-boat U-57. Her first successes were scored on her fourth patrol when she sank two ships. Outstanding was the sinking of the British tanker Gretafield of 10,191 tons in February 1940. Korth left the U-boat in June 1940 and commissioned U-93 in July of the same year.
On five patrols he sank eight ships with a total of 43,392 tons and in May 1941 received the Knights Cross. In October 1941 he left U-93 and became the 3rd Asto in the BdU org.
In June 1942 he became training officer in the 27th (Training) Flotilla. During the last year of war he was in the torpedo trial institution (TVA) Eckernförde. After the surrender Claus Korth spent six months in Allied captivity.
In 1955 he joined the Bundesmarine (postwar German Navy) where he was for nearly four years the head of the torpedo trial station (Marine-Torpedo-Versuchsstation). He retired in 1970 with a rank of Kapitän zur See.
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 Claus Korth
U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | U-57 | 23 Aug 1939 | Kiel | 26 Aug 1939 | Memel | 4 days | ||
2. | U-57 | 26 Aug 1939 | Memel | 2 Sep 1939 | Memel | Patrol 1, | 8 days | |
3. | U-57 | 3 Sep 1939 | Memel | 5 Sep 1939 | Kiel | Patrol 1, | 3 days | |
4. | U-57 | 5 Sep 1939 | Kiel | 18 Sep 1939 | Kiel | Patrol 2, | 14 days | |
5. | U-57 | 25 Oct 1939 | Kiel | 5 Nov 1939 | Kiel | Patrol 3, | 12 days | |
6. | U-57 | 12 Nov 1939 | Kiel | 23 Nov 1939 | Kiel | Patrol 4, | 12 days | |
7. | U-57 | 5 Dec 1939 | Kiel | 5 Dec 1939 | Wilhelmshaven | 1 days | ||
8. | U-57 | 7 Dec 1939 | Wilhelmshaven | 16 Dec 1939 | Kiel | Patrol 5, | 10 days | |
9. | U-57 | 16 Jan 1940 | Kiel | 25 Jan 1940 | Wilhelmshaven | Patrol 6, | 10 days | |
10. | U-57 | 8 Feb 1940 | Wilhelmshaven | 25 Feb 1940 | Wilhelmshaven | Patrol 7, | 18 days | |
11. | U-57 | 14 Mar 1940 | Wilhelmshaven | 29 Mar 1940 | Wilhelmshaven | Patrol 8, | 16 days | |
12. | U-57 | 4 Apr 1940 | Wilhelmshaven | 7 May 1940 | Kiel | Patrol 9, | 34 days | |
13. | U-93 | 5 Oct 1940 | Kiel | 7 Oct 1940 | Kristiansand | 3 days | ||
14. | U-93 | 9 Oct 1940 | Kristiansand | 25 Oct 1940 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 10, | 17 days | |
15. | U-93 | 7 Nov 1940 | St. Nazaire | 29 Nov 1940 | Lorient | Patrol 11, | 23 days | |
16. | U-93 | 11 Jan 1941 | Lorient | 14 Feb 1941 | Lorient | Patrol 12, | 35 days | |
17. | U-93 | 3 May 1941 | Lorient | 10 Jun 1941 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 13, | 39 days | |
18. | U-93 | 12 Jul 1941 | St. Nazaire | 21 Aug 1941 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 14, | 41 days | |
14 patrols, 292 days at sea |
Ships hit by Claus Korth
Date | U-boat | Commander | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
17 Nov 1939 | U-57 | Claus Korth | Kaunas | 1,566 | li | |||
19 Nov 1939 | U-57 | Claus Korth | Stanbrook | 1,383 | br | |||
13 Dec 1939 | U-57 | Claus Korth | Mina | 1,173 | es | |||
20 Jan 1940 | U-57 | Claus Korth | Miranda | 1,328 | nw | |||
26 Jan 1940 | U-57 | Claus Korth | HMS Durham Castle [Mine] | 8,240 | br | |||
14 Feb 1940 | U-57 | Claus Korth | Gretafield (t.) | 10,191 | br | HX-18 | ||
21 Feb 1940 | U-57 | Claus Korth | Loch Maddy (d.) | 4,996 | br | HX-19 | ||
25 Mar 1940 | U-57 | Claus Korth | Daghestan | 5,742 | br | |||
15 Oct 1940 | U-93 | Claus Korth | Hurunui | 9,331 | br | OA-228 | ||
17 Oct 1940 | U-93 | Claus Korth | Dokka | 1,168 | nw | OB-228 | ||
17 Oct 1940 | U-93 | Claus Korth | Uskbridge | 2,715 | br | OB-228 | ||
29 Jan 1941 | U-93 | Claus Korth | King Robert | 5,886 | br | SC-19 | ||
29 Jan 1941 | U-93 | Claus Korth | W.B. Walker | 10,468 | br | SC-19 | ||
29 Jan 1941 | U-93 | Claus Korth | Aikaterini | 4,929 | gr | SC-19 | ||
4 Feb 1941 | U-93 | Claus Korth | Dione II | 2,660 | br | SC-20 | ||
21 May 1941 | U-93 | Claus Korth | Elusa | 6,235 | nl | HX-126 | ||
78,011 | ||||||||
15 ships sunk (73,015 tons) and 1 ship damaged (4,996 tons). Legend |
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.
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