Alfred Saalwächter

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 4/01)

Successes
27 ships sunk with a total of 64,084 GRT
1 warship sunk with a total of 1,250 tons
3 ships damaged with a total of 19,326 GRT

Born:	10 Jan 1883	Neusalz/Oder
Died:	6 Dec 1945	Berlin?

Ranks

10 Apr 1901		Seekadett
22 Apr 1902		Fähnrich zur See
29 Sep 1904		Leutnant zur See
30 Mar 1906		Oberleutnant zur See
10 Apr 1911		Kapitänleutnant
21 Jan 1920		Korvettenkapitän
1 Oct 1925		Fregattenkapitän
1 Jan 1928		Kapitän zur See
1 Oct 1932		Konteradmiral
1 Apr 1935		Vizeadmiral
1 Jun 1937		Admiral
1 Jan 1940		Generaladmiral

Decorations

1 Nov 1905		Order of the Crown (Siam)
9 May 1910		Order of St. Anna (Russia)
19 Sep 1912		Order of the Red Eagle
12 May 1914		Order of the Iron Crown
1 Aug 1916		Iron Cross 2nd class
14 Feb 1918		Iron Cross 1st class
5 Mar 1918		Royal House Order of Hohenzollern
5 Mar 1918		Hanseatic Cross
		U-Boat War Badge
9 May 1940		Knight's Cross (WWII)
		Clasp to the Iron Cross II Class
		Clasp to the Iron Cross I Class
14 Dec 1942		German Cross in Gold (WWII)

U-boat Commands

U 46	7 Dec 1916	-	15 Jan 1917
U 94	3 Mar 1917	-	24 Mar 1918

Notes

Alfred Saalwachter was born as the son of a factory director. As an eighteen-year-old was on 10 April 1901 cadet of the Imperial Navy, where he began studying at the frigate cruiser SMS Moltke and on the school cruiser SMS Hertha.

His first officer years until war broke out in 1914, he spent almost exclusively with on-board commands, first with the 2nd Sailors Division, then on the battleship SMS Hessen and at the 2nd Werft-Division. On 10 March 1906 he was lieutenant with 23 years at sea and then to 1908 at the 2nd Torpedo-Division used as adjutant of the First Department. He then served in the Great cruiser SMS Gneisenau. In 1910 he was flag lieutenant on board the ships of the line SMS SMS Westphalia Hannover and later, that one aide flag officer, Vice Admiral Hugo von Pohl (1855-1916), who commanded the First Squadron at the time. On 10 April 1911 was promoted to Lieutenant hall monitors and the Admiralty ordered the Navy to Berlin, where he served until March 1915, most recently as Head of Department in the Operations Section.

On 31 March 1915 was Saalwachter flag lieutenant in command of the sea forces on the battleship SMS Friedrich the Great. In February 1916 he was transferred to the U-boat arm. After completion of the submarine school he was from September 1916 to March 1918 as commander of SM U 25, SM U 46 and SM U 94 in use. His success as a submarine commander have been honored with the award of the Iron Cross First Class and the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with swords. He finished the war as a naval staff officer to the commander of the submarines, Commodore Andreas Michaelsen.

Between the wars

After taking over in the Navy hall monitor was appointed in 1920 lieutenant commander. After various other uses - including in the personnel office of the Navy - he was first Admiral Staff Officer on the staff of the commander of naval forces on the battleship Braunschweig.

On 1 October 1926, he became commander of the Amazon light cruiser and took over a year later as a frigate captain in command of the battleship Schlesien. After his promotion to Captain on 15 October 1928 was hall monitor for two years to the Chief of Staff of the fleet under Vice Admiral Oldekop allocated. Then he was for three years - from 1 October 1932 - as a rear admiral of the Navy as chief of naval military department.

On 2 October 1933 was appointed inspector of the hall monitor marine education. During the next five years, he had a strong influence on the development of the young Seeoffizierskorps. On 1 April 1935 he was appointed Vice Admiral and 1 June 1937 promoted to admiral. On 28 October 1938 he became the commanding admiral of the naval station of the North Sea, appointed in Wilhelmshaven, one of the highest positions in the former Navy.

Second World War and Death

When war broke out was Saalwachter the command of the Naval Group Command West and was in charge from September 1939 for the conduct of operations in the North Sea, but this leads to many of friction with the Fleet Commander, Vice-Admiral Hermann Boehm, William Marshal and Günther Lütjens. On 1 January 1940, he was promoted to Generaladmiral. Together with Admiral Rolf Carls, Saalwachter was responsible for the tactical management of naval operations in Norway use (companies Weser Exercise), in recognition of his performance he was on 9 May 1940 awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

From the summer of 1940 led Saalwachter the operations of German surface naval forces in the North Atlantic and English Channel until it was in September 1942 provided the commander of the Navy and replaced by Admiral Theodor Krancke. Saalwachter difference a few months after the final change of command from active naval service. He was arrested in July 1945 by the Soviet authorities and sent to the former youth prison Magdalene in Berlin-Lichtenberg. In August, he was there tried by a Soviet military court and sentenced to long terms of hard work. According to another version, he was sentenced to death on 6 December 1945 shot. The exact circumstances are not clear. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he was rehabilitated in 1994 by the Russian judicial authorities.

Text by Mr. Leonardo Formentini

Ships hit by Alfred Saalwächter

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Type of ship	Tons

16 Dec 1916	U 46	Chassie Maersk	Steamer	1,387	da
16 Dec 1916	U 46	Taki Maru	Steamer	3,208	jp
16 Dec 1916	U 46	Gerda	Steamer	775	da
17 Dec 1916	U 46	Bayhall	Steamer	3,898	br
19 Dec 1916	U 46	Falk	Steamer	948	nw
23 Dec 1916	U 46	Marques De Urquijo	Steamer	2,170	sp
25 Dec 1916	U 46	Marie Pierre	Sailing Vessel	166	fr
27 Dec 1916	U 46	Aislaby	Steamer	2,692	br
27 Dec 1916	U 46	Goulfar	Trawler	259	fr

9 Jun 1917	U 94	Deveron	Sailing vessel	1,261	nw
11 Jun 1917	U 94	Thessaly (d.)	Steamer	4,310	br
12 Jun 1917	U 94	Amakura	Steamer	2,316	br
13 Jun 1917	U 94	Cederic	Steamer	2,344	nw
20 Jun 1917	U 94	Salvia	Sloop	1,250	br
24 Jun 1917	U 94	Sylvanian	Steamer	4,858	br
26 Jun 1917	U 94	Haverford (d.)	Passenger steamer	11,635	br
29 Jul 1917	U 94	Ingeborg	Steamer	1,207	da
29 Jul 1917	U 94	Adalia	Steamer	3,847	br
30 Jul 1917	U 94	Kildin	Steamer	1,640	ru
30 Jul 1917	U 94	Manchester Inventor	Steamer	4,112	br
30 Jul 1917	U 94	Souma	Steamer	2,200	ru
6 Aug 1917	U 94	Argalia	Steamer	4,641	br
12 Aug 1917	U 94	Lynorta	Steamer	3,684	br
16 Aug 1917	U 94	Svanholm	Steamer	1,400	da
19 Sep 1917	U 94	Hydra	Sailing vessel	174	da
24 Sep 1917	U 94	Petersham (d.)	Steamer	3,381	br
15 Dec 1917	U 94	Bernard	Steamer	3,682	br
16 Dec 1917	U 94	Bristol City	Steamer	2,511	br

19 Feb 1918	U 94	Barrowmore	Steamer	3,832	br
26 Feb 1918	U 94	Snyg	Steamer	370	nw
2 Mar 1918	U 94	Rockpool	Steamer	4,502	br
				84,660
28 ships sunk (65,334 tons) and 3 ships damaged (19,326 tons). Legend (d.) means the ship was damaged. We have a picture of this vessel.