Rolf Struckmeier
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 35)
| Successes 4 ships sunk, total tonnage 35,539 GRT 1 warship sunk, total tonnage 291 tons (lost aboard transport ships) |
| Born | 27 Jul 1916 | Obernkirchen, Schaumburg |
|
|
Ranks
Decorations
|
U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-608 | 5 Feb 1942 | 12 Jan 1944 | 5 patrols (289 days) |
Rolf Struckmeier joined the Kriegsmarine in 1935. He was a range-finder officer on the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper from Sept 1939 to April 1940 when he joined the 1st torpedo boat flotilla.
In Oct 1940 Struckmeier joined the U-boat force and began his training. In March 1941 he was sent to U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) at Germaniawerft, Kiel in preparation of his duty as First Watch Officer of the new U-205 from May to Dec 1941. With the U-205 he went out on 3 patrols, 79 days at sea in total. On the third patrol U-205 went into the Mediterranean, passing the Straits of Gibraltar on 11 Nov 1941 (Busch and Röll, 1997).
Oblt. Rolf Struckmeier was sent to another U-boat familiarization in Dec 1941 in preparation for his own command. He commissioned the new type VIIC boat U-608 on 5 Feb 1942 and spent the next few months working her and her crew up in the Baltic. With this boat he went out on 5 patrols, spending almost 300 days at sea until Jan 1944 when he left the boat. He sank 5 ships for almost 36,000 GRT during his successful command of the U-608.
After leaving U-608 in Jan 1944 he was a training officer with the 20th flotilla until Oct 1944 when he switched over to the 26th and 27th flotillas until the end of the war.
Sources
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Patrol info for Rolf Struckmeier
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-608 | 20 Aug 1942 | Kiel | 24 Sep 1942 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 1, | 36 days | |
| 2. | U-608 | 20 Oct 1942 | St. Nazaire | 9 Dec 1942 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 2, | 51 days | |
| 3. | U-608 | 20 Jan 1943 | St. Nazaire | 29 Mar 1943 | Bordeaux | Patrol 3, | 69 days | |
| 4. | U-608 | 8 May 1943 | Bordeaux | 18 Jul 1943 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 4, | 72 days | |
| 5. | U-608 | 23 Sep 1943 | St. Nazaire | 25 Sep 1943 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 5, | 3 days | |
| 6. | U-608 | 2 Oct 1943 | St. Nazaire | 28 Nov 1943 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 5, | 58 days | |
| 5 patrols, 289 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Rolf Struckmeier
| Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Sep 1942 | U-608 |  | Hektoria | 13,797 |  | br | ON-127 |
| 12 Sep 1942 | U-608 | Empire Moonbeam | 6,849 | | br | ON-127 | |
| 16 Nov 1942 | U-608 | | Irish Pine | 5,621 |  | ir | |
| 8 Feb 1943 | U-608 | Daghild | 9,272 |  | nw | SC-118 | |
| 8 Feb 1943 | U-608 | HMS LCT-2335 [Trans.] | 291 | | br | SC-118 | |
| 35,830 | |||||||
5 ships sunk (35,830 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.
Special thanks to Fernando Almeida for data on ranks and decorations.