Siegfried Strelow

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 31)

Successes
9 ships sunk, total tonnage 53,712 GRT
1 auxiliary warship sunk, total tonnage 2,456 GRT
3 warships sunk, total tonnage 855 tons

Born	15 Apr 1911		Kiel
Died	9 Jul 1943	(32)	North Atlantic

Kapitänleutnant Siegfried Strelow

Ranks

7 Apr 1931		Offiziersanwärter
14 Oct 1931		Seekadett
1 Jan 1933		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1935		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1935		Leutnant zur See
1 Jan 1937		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Oct 1939		Kapitänleutnant
1 Jul 1943		Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

25 Apr 1940		Iron Cross 2nd Class
25 May 1940		Iron Cross 1st Class
15 Apr 1942		U-boat War Badge 1939
27 Oct 1942		Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-435	30 Aug 1941	9 Jul 1943 (+)	8 patrols (249 days)

Kapitänleutnant Siegfried Strelow after patrol

Siegfried Strelow began his naval career in April 1931. He served as torpedo officer on the battleships Schleswig-Holstein, Admiral Graf Spee and on the destroyer Richard Beitzen. He spent a year on E-boats (Schnellboot) S-9 and S-11 and then commanded the torpedo boat G-11 for a year.

During the war he commanded the torpedo boats Albatros and Löwe for six months each before serving as torpedo officer on the light cruiser Leipzig.

Having gained experience of almost every type of vessel in the Kriegsmarine, Strelow joined the U-boat force in April 1941.

He commissioned the type VIIC U-boat U-435 in August 1941, and despite lacking prior combat experience on U-boats went on to become one of the most experienced and successful commanders operating in northern and Arctic waters.

During six patrols in action against PQ and QP convoys he sank seven ships totalling some 35,000 GRT, for which he was awarded the Knights Cross. In January 1943 he moved base to Brest, France and was from then on attached to the 1st Flotilla. On her second patrol in the Atlantic U-435 was sunk with all hands by a British Wellington bomber on 9 July 1943. (Niestlé, 1998)

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.

Patrol info for Siegfried Strelow

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-435	20 Jan 1942	Kiel	16 Feb 1942	Kirkenes	Patrol 1,	28 days
2.	U-435	18 Feb 1942	Kirkenes	22 Feb 1942	Trondheim		5 days
3.	U-435	16 Mar 1942	Trondheim	5 Apr 1942	Kirkenes	Patrol 2,	21 days
4.	U-435	7 Apr 1942	Kirkenes	26 Apr 1942	Kiel	Patrol 3,	20 days
5.	U-435	18 Jun 1942	Kiel	20 Jun 1942	Hela		3 days
6.	U-435	25 Jun 1942	Hela	26 Jun 1942	Kiel		2 days
7.	U-435	18 Jul 1942	Kiel	25 Jul 1942	Narvik		8 days
8.	U-435	25 Jul 1942	Narvik	31 Aug 1942	Skjomenfjord	Patrol 4,	38 days
9.	U-435	16 Sep 1942	Skjomenfjord	28 Sep 1942	Skjomenfjord	Patrol 5,	13 days
10.	U-435	30 Sep 1942	Skjomenfjord	3 Oct 1942	Bergen		4 days
11.	U-435	30 Nov 1942	Bergen	10 Jan 1943	Brest	Patrol 6,	42 days
12.	U-435	18 Feb 1943	Brest	25 Mar 1943	Brest	Patrol 7,	36 days
13.	U-435	20 May 1943	Brest	9 Jul 1943	Sunk	Patrol 8,	51 days
8 patrols, 249 days at sea

Ships hit by Siegfried Strelow

Date	U-boat	Commander	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
30 Mar 1942	U-435	Siegfried Strelow	Effingham	6,421	am	PQ-13
13 Apr 1942	U-435	Siegfried Strelow	El Occidente	6,008	pa	QP-10
13 Apr 1942	U-435	Siegfried Strelow	Harpalion	5,486	br	QP-10
20 Sep 1942	U-435	Siegfried Strelow	HMS Leda (J 93)	835	br	QP-14
22 Sep 1942	U-435	Siegfried Strelow	Bellingham	5,345	am	QP-14
22 Sep 1942	U-435	Siegfried Strelow	Grey Ranger	3,313	br	QP-14
22 Sep 1942	U-435	Siegfried Strelow	Ocean Voice	7,174	br	QP-14
29 Dec 1942	U-435	Siegfried Strelow	Empire Shackleton	7,068	br	ONS-154
29 Dec 1942	U-435	Siegfried Strelow	Norse King	5,701	nw	ONS-154
30 Dec 1942	U-435	Siegfried Strelow	HMS Fidelity (D 57)	2,456	br	ONS-154
30 Dec 1942	U-435	Siegfried Strelow	HMS LCV-752 [Trans.]	10	br	ONS-154
30 Dec 1942	U-435	Siegfried Strelow	HMS LCV-754 [Trans.]	10	br	ONS-154

17 Mar 1943	U-435	Siegfried Strelow	William Eustis	7,196	am	HX-229
				57,023
13 ships sunk (57,023 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. [Trans.] indicates the vessel was lost while being transported on another 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.