WWI U-boat commanders

Paul Hundius

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 4/07)

Successes
70 ships sunk with a total of 98,495 GRT
1 warship sunk with a total of 880 tons
8 ships damaged with a total of 14,442 GRT
1 ship taken as prize with a total of 0 GRTNo ships sunk or damaged

Born:	2 Feb 1889	Gera
Died:	14 Aug 1918	off Flanders

Ranks

3 Apr 1907		Seekadett
21 Apr 1908		Fähnrich zur See
28 Sep 1910		Leutnant zur See
27 Sep 1913		Oberleutnant zur See
16 Jul 1917		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

		Iron Cross 2nd class
		Iron Cross 1st class
23 Jul 1917		Royal House Order of Hohenzollern
18 Aug 1918		Pour le Mérite (posthumous)

U-boat Commands

UB 16	5 Apr 1916	-	29 Aug 1916
UC 47	13 Oct 1916	-	8 Oct 1917
UB 103	18 Dec 1917	-	14 Aug 1918 (+)

Notes

When war broke out he was Oblt.z.S. and Adjutant on the Linienschiff Lothringen. In July 1915 went to the U-Boot-Schule. On the 5th of April 1916 he became commanding officer of the UB 16 which served with the U-Flottille Flandern. In October, on the 13th 1916 he became CO of the UC 47. In July 1917 he was awarded the Hohenzollerschen Hausorden mit Schwertern. On 16th July 1917 he also became Kapitänleutnant.

On 18 December 1917 he took command of the UB 103. On the 18th August 1918 he was also awarded the Pour le Mérite on demand of Korv.kap. Bartenbach at Admiral von Schröder’s office.

He died on his ship on the 14th of September. The origin of the loss of his submarine remains even today a mystery. Some sources claim UB 103 to be hit by a plane bomb and shells from an armed fishing vessel. In reality she had been discovered by the British airship SSZ 1 which signaled the position of the U-boat to the drifter Young Crow. The submarine was already in trouble as she lost oil. She possibly ran on a mine. Sinking, and loosing more oil, the crew of the Young Crow threw some depth charges on the location were it went down, resulting in two heavy explosions and a third heavy explosion half an hour later. Hundius and all his men died. They were given no chance at all for survival.

Hundius sank a total of 67 merchant vessels with a total of 95.280 BRT and one military vessel of 890 tons.

With the reconstruction of the U-boat weapon in the 1930’s, the 6th U-Boot Flottille of the Kriegsmarine received in May 1936 the name Hundius.

Ships hit by Paul Hundius

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Type of ship	Tons

10 Apr 1916	UB 16	Robert Adamson	Steamer	2,978	br
22 Apr 1916	UB 16	Tregantle	Steamer	3,091	br
27 Jun 1916	UB 16	Z 20 (p.)	Fishing vessel	unknown	be
2 Aug 1916	UB 16	John Wilson	Steamer	798	nw
24 Aug 1916	UB 16	Velox	Steamer	312	nw

31 Jan 1917	UC 47	Modiva	Steamer	1,276	nw
1 Feb 1917	UC 47	Portia	Steamer	1,127	nw
8 Feb 1917	UC 47	Ghurka	Destroyer	880	br
8 Feb 1917	UC 47	Lullington	Steamer	2,816	br
10 Feb 1917	UC 47	Japanese Prince	Steamer	4,876	br
12 Feb 1917	UC 47	Aghios Spyridon	Steamer	1,618	gr
12 Feb 1917	UC 47	Brissons	Fishing vessel (smack)	60	br
13 Feb 1917	UC 47	Sequoya (d.)	Tanker	5,263	br
13 Feb 1917	UC 47	F. D. Lambert	Steamer	2,195	br
13 Feb 1917	UC 47	Fleurette	Fishing vessel (smack)	60	br
11 Mar 1917	UC 47	Charles Le Cour	Steamer	2,352	fr
11 Mar 1917	UC 47	G. A. Savage	Steamer	357	br
12 Mar 1917	UC 47	C.A.S.	Fishing vessel (smack)	60	br
12 Mar 1917	UC 47	Ena	Fishing vessel (smack)	56	br
12 Mar 1917	UC 47	Gratia	Fishing vessel (smack)	37	br
12 Mar 1917	UC 47	Hyacinth	Fishing vessel (smack)	56	br
12 Mar 1917	UC 47	Inter-nos	Fishing vessel (smack)	59	br
12 Mar 1917	UC 47	Jessamine	Fishing vessel (smack)	56	br
12 Mar 1917	UC 47	Lent Lily	Fishing vessel (smack)	23	br
12 Mar 1917	UC 47	Nellie	Fishing vessel (smack)	61	br
12 Mar 1917	UC 47	Proverb	Fishing vessel (smack)	37	br
12 Mar 1917	UC 47	Rivina	Fishing vessel (smack)	22	br
14 Mar 1917	UC 47	Brika	Steamer	3,549	br
15 Mar 1917	UC 47	Solferino	Steamer	1,155	nw
15 Mar 1917	UC 47	Wilfred	Steamer	1,121	nw
16 Mar 1917	UC 47	Medusa	Steamer	1,274	it
16 Mar 1917	UC 47	Sully	Sailing vessel	2,649	fr
17 Apr 1917	UC 47	Dantzic	Sailing vessel	108	br
17 Apr 1917	UC 47	William Shepherd	Sailing vessel	143	br
19 Apr 1917	UC 47	Old Head (d.)	Sailing vessel	105	br
19 Apr 1917	UC 47	Gold Coast	Steamer	4,255	br
19 Apr 1917	UC 47	Jewel	Sailing vessel	195	br
19 Apr 1917	UC 47	Star Of Freedom	Navy Trawler	258	br
22 Apr 1917	UC 47	Gaelic (hms - Q.22) (d.)	Q-ship	224	br
23 Apr 1917	UC 47	Tommi (d.)	Sailing vessel	138	br
23 Apr 1917	UC 47	Imataka	Steamer	1,776	br
24 Apr 1917	UC 47	Heather	Drifter	58	br
24 Apr 1917	UC 47	Plutus	Steamer	1,189	br
26 Apr 1917	UC 47	Aigle	Sailing vessel	172	fr
26 Apr 1917	UC 47	John Lockett	Sailing vessel	842	nw
18 May 1917	UC 47	Mary Baird	Steamer	1,830	br
3 Jun 1917	UC 47	Portofino	Steamer	1,754	it
12 Jun 1917	UC 47	Carew Castle	Navy Trawler	256	br
14 Jun 1917	UC 47	Dart	Steamer	3,207	br
19 Jun 1917	UC 47	Great City (d.)	Steamer	5,525	br
18 Jul 1917	UC 47	Ruth (d.)	Steamer	549	nw
20 Jul 1917	UC 47	Beatrice	Steamer	712	br
20 Jul 1917	UC 47	Bramham	Steamer	1,978	br
31 Jul 1917	UC 47	Fremona	Steamer	3,028	br
31 Jul 1917	UC 47	Motano	Tanker	2,730	am
22 Aug 1917	UC 47	Gro	Steamer	2,667	nw
23 Aug 1917	UC 47	Peer Gynt	Steamer	1,144	nw
23 Aug 1917	UC 47	Veghtstroom	Steamer	1,353	br
26 Aug 1917	UC 47	Eirini	Steamer	2,452	gr
26 Aug 1917	UC 47	Seresia (d.)	Steamer	2,342	be
23 Sep 1917	UC 47	Perseverance	Sailing vessel	118	br
24 Sep 1917	UC 47	Mimosa (d.)	Sailing vessel	296	fr
25 Sep 1917	UC 47	Boynton	Steamer	2,578	br
3 Oct 1917	UC 47	Annie F. Conlon	Sailing vessel	591	am

14 Mar 1918	UC 47	Jeanne Marie	Steamer	2,971	fr
20 Mar 1918	UB 103	Eros	Steamer	858	sw
21 Mar 1918	UB 103	Tyrhaug	Steamer	1,483	br
24 Mar 1918	UB 103	Anteros	Steamer	4,241	br
22 Apr 1918	UB 103	Eric Calvert	Steamer	1,862	br
28 Apr 1918	UB 103	Elba	Steamer	1,081	br
2 May 1918	UB 103	Thorsa	Steamer	1,319	br
3 May 1918	UB 103	Vasilefs Georgios	Steamer	3,651	gr
10 Jun 1918	UB 103	Borg	Steamer	2,111	br
11 Jun 1918	UB 103	Lorle	Steamer	2,686	br
12 Jun 1918	UB 103	Kul	Steamer	1,095	br
11 Jul 1918	UB 103	Kong Guttorm	Steamer	731	nw
15 Jul 1918	UB 103	Cap Breton	Steamer	1,464	fr
15 Jul 1918	UB 103	Vendee	Steamer	892	fr
16 Jul 1918	UB 103	Lyndiane	steamer	1,564	fr
21 Jul 1918	UB 103	Arvor	Steamer	961	fr
				113,817
72 ships sunk (99,375 tons) and 8 ships damaged (14,442 tons). Legend (d.) means the ship was damaged. (p.) means the ship was taken as prize (included in ships & tonnage lost). We have a picture of this vessel.