Gustav Poel
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 36)
Successes 4 ships sunk, total tonnage 34,525 GRT 1 warship sunk, total tonnage 1,100 tons |
Born | 2 Aug 1917 | Hamburg | |
Died | 16 Jan 2009 | (91) | Hamburg, Germany |
Ranks
Decorations
|
U-boat Commands
U-boat | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
U-413 | 3 Jun 1942 | 19 Apr 1944 | 5 patrols (290 days) |
Kapitänleutnant Gustav Poel |
Gustav Poel joined the Kriegsmarine in April 1936, and was part of the Olympia Crew. After service on the sailing school ship Gorch Fock and the light cruiser Emden, he spent six months on the torpedo boat Tiger, seeing action in the Spanish Civil War. He transferred to the U-boat force in October 1938. Following standard training and a brief period as II WO (2nd Watch Officer) on U-27, he transferred to U-37 (Schuch), serving as II WO from May 1939 - June 1940, during which he again saw active service. He then spent a year in staff positions, first at BdU org (Commander in Chief U-boats, admin), Kiel, and with Italian Submarine Command liason at Bordeaux .
In June 1941 he became a tactical instructor at the 25th (Training) Flotilla (Training) Flotilla, and in January 1942 became a staff officer there.
On 3 June 1942 he commissioned the type VIIC U-boat U-413. He took her on five patrols, mostly in the North Atlantic. A particularly notable success was his sinking the British destroyer HMS Warwick off the Scilly Isles in February 1944. He was awarded the Knights Cross in March 1944 (Rohwer, 1998).
He left U-413 in April 1944 to become a unit leader at Marinekriegsschule Glücksburg (Naval Warfare Academy). From January 1945 he was on Admiral von Friedeburg's staff (Kommandierende Admiral der U-Boote) at Flesburg-Mürwik until the end of the war.
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.
Special thanks to Mr. Fernando Almeida for details on date of death and post-war career.
Patrol info for Gustav Poel
U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | U-413 | 22 Oct 1942 | Kiel | 24 Oct 1942 | Marviken | Patrol 1, | 3 days | |
2. | U-413 | 28 Oct 1942 | Marviken | 25 Nov 1942 | Brest | Patrol 1, | 29 days | |
3. | U-413 | 27 Dec 1942 | Brest | 17 Feb 1943 | Brest | Patrol 2, | 53 days | |
4. | U-413 | 29 Mar 1943 | Brest | 13 Jun 1943 | Brest | Patrol 3, | 77 days | |
5. | U-413 | 4 Sep 1943 | Brest | 5 Sep 1943 | Brest | Patrol 4, | 2 days | |
6. | U-413 | 8 Sep 1943 | Brest | 18 Sep 1943 | Brest | Patrol 4, | 11 days | |
7. | U-413 | 27 Sep 1943 | Brest | 28 Sep 1943 | Brest | Patrol 4, | 2 days | |
8. | U-413 | 2 Oct 1943 | Brest | 21 Nov 1943 | Brest | Patrol 4, | 51 days | |
9. | U-413 | 26 Jan 1944 | Brest | 27 Mar 1944 | Brest | Patrol 5, | 62 days | |
5 patrols, 290 days at sea |
Ships hit by Gustav Poel
Date | U-boat | Commander | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
14 Nov 1942 | U-413 | Gustav Poel | Warwick Castle | 20,107 | br | MKF-1X | ||
22 Jan 1943 | U-413 | Gustav Poel | Mount Mycale | 3,556 | gr | SC-117 | ||
5 Feb 1943 | U-413 | Gustav Poel | West Portal | 5,376 | am | SC-118 | ||
21 Apr 1943 | U-413 | Gustav Poel | Wanstead | 5,486 | br | ONS-3 | ||
20 Feb 1944 | U-413 | Gustav Poel | HMS Warwick (D 25) | 1,100 | br | |||
35,625 | ||||||||
5 ships sunk (35,625 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.
Media links
|
|
As an Amazon Associate uboat.net earns a commission from qualifying purchases.