Siegfried Lüdden

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 36)

Successes
8 ships sunk, total tonnage 49,725 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 1,190 tons
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 9,977 GRT

Born	20 May 1916		Neubrandenburg, Stargard
Died	13 Jan 1945	(28)	Kiel (fire on barracks ship Daressalam)

Kptlt. Siegfried Lüdden

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
18 Mar 1945		Korvettenkapitän (posthumous)

Decorations

18 Dec 1941		Iron Cross 2nd Class
29 Dec 1941		U-boat War Badge 1939
8 Apr 1942		Iron Cross 1st Class
11 Feb 1944		Knights Cross
27 Sep 1944		U-boat Front Clasp

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-188	5 Aug 1942	9 Aug 1944	3 patrols (356 days)

Leutnant zur See Siegfried Lüdden was transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1938 and began the war serving in East Baltic Coastal Command, but in April 1940 he returned to start U-boat officer training. Following a short term on the school boat U-141, he served as an adjutant in various U-boat flotillas for ten months.

On 11 April 1943, on his first patrol commanding the newly-commissioned U-188, he sank the British destroyer HMS Beverley (Rohwer, 1998). His second patrol took him to Penang, and then Singapore, where he loaded 100 tons of tin and other badly-needed materials for the German war industry and transported them to his French base in June 1944. He later served in staff positions in Lorient, Plön, and Kiel.

Fire aboard the barracks ship Daressalam
On 13 Jan. 1945 a fire broke out on the naval Wohnschiffes (accommodation ship) Daressalam in Kiel harbour. Three U-boat commanders died In the fire: Oblt. Georg von Bitter and the Knights Cross winners KrvKpt. Wilhelm Franken and Kptlt. Siegfried Lüdden (Busch & Röll, 1999).

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Siegfried Lüdden

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-188	4 Mar 1943	Kiel	4 May 1943	Lorient	Patrol 1,	62 days
2.	U-188	30 Jun 1943	Lorient	30 Oct 1943	Penang	Patrol 2,	123 days
3.	U-188	1 Jan 1944	Penang	19 Jun 1944	Bordeaux	Patrol 3,	171 days
3 patrols, 356 days at sea

Ships hit by Siegfried Lüdden

Date	U-boat	Commander	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
11 Apr 1943	U-188	Siegfried Lüdden	HMS Beverley (H 64)	1,190	br	ON-176
21 Sep 1943	U-188	Siegfried Lüdden	Cornelia P. Spencer	7,176	am
5 Oct 1943	U-188	Siegfried Lüdden	Britannia (d.)	9,977	nw

20 Jan 1944	U-188	Siegfried Lüdden	Fort Buckingham	7,122	br
25 Jan 1944	U-188	Siegfried Lüdden	Fort la Maune	7,130	br
26 Jan 1944	U-188	Siegfried Lüdden	Samouri	7,219	br
26 Jan 1944	U-188	Siegfried Lüdden	Surada	5,427	br
29 Jan 1944	U-188	Siegfried Lüdden	Olga E. Embiricos	4,677	gr	CB-7
3 Feb 1944	U-188	Siegfried Lüdden	Chung Cheng	7,176	ch
9 Feb 1944	U-188	Siegfried Lüdden	Viva	3,798	nw
				60,892
9 ships sunk (50,915 tons) and 1 ship damaged (9,977 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.