Ernst Vogelsang
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 31)
| Successes 8 ships sunk, total tonnage 32,964 GRT 1 warship sunk, total tonnage 2,216 tons 1 ship damaged, total tonnage 6,690 GRT 1 ship a total loss, total tonnage 4,367 GRT |
| Born | 31 Aug 1911 | Frankfurt am Main | |
| Died | 4 Nov 1942 | (31) | Cape Farewell, North Atlantic |
|
|
Ranks
Decorations
|
U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-18 | 18 Dec 1940 | 6 May 1941 | No war patrols |
| U-132 | 29 May 1941 | 4 Nov 1942 (+) | 4 patrols (168 days) |
Ernst Vogelsang joined the German Navy in 1931 as an officer candidate (Crew 31). He served in the Spanish civil war and earned his Spanish Cross decoration (rare among U-boat men).
He then served on the destroyer Z5 Paul Jacobi from Oct 1938 until May 1940 where he took part in the battles of the Norwegian invasion.
Vogelsang was in U-boat training (U-Lehrdevision) from June – Nov 1940 and then at the commander school with the 24.U-Flottille from Nov – 8. December 1940 when he took command of the small training U-boat U-18. He commanded that boat for 6 months until 6 May, 1941 when he left to take command of the larger U-132.
In all probability Ernst Vogelsang died with his entire crew when the British ammunition ship Hatimura (his last ship hit) exploded in a huge explosion when hit by U-442 (Hesse) and U-132 was probably within the lethal radius (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.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.
Patrol info for Ernst Vogelsang
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-132 | 7 Sep 1941 | Trondheim | 21 Oct 1941 | Kirkenes | Patrol 1, | 45 days | |
| 2. | U-132 | 25 Oct 1941 | Kirkenes | 30 Oct 1941 | Trondheim | 6 days | ||
| 3. | U-132 | 15 Jan 1942 | Trondheim | 8 Feb 1942 | La Pallice | Patrol 2, | 25 days | |
| 4. | U-132 | 10 Jun 1942 | La Pallice | 16 Aug 1942 | La Pallice | Patrol 3, | 68 days | |
| 5. | U-132 | 6 Oct 1942 | La Pallice | 4 Nov 1942 | Sunk | Patrol 4, | 30 days | |
| 4 patrols, 168 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Ernst Vogelsang
| Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Oct 1941 | U-132 | Argun | 3,487 |  | sj | ||
| 18 Oct 1941 | U-132 | RT-8 Seld´ | 608 | | sj | ||
| 29 Jan 1942 | U-132 |  | USCGC Alexander Hamilton (WPG 34) | 2,216 |  | am | HX-170 |
| 6 Jul 1942 | U-132 | | Anastassios Pateras | 3,382 |  | gr | QS-15 |
| 6 Jul 1942 | U-132 | | Hainaut | 4,312 |  | be | QS-15 |
| 6 Jul 1942 | U-132 | | Dinaric | 2,555 |  | br | QS-15 |
| 20 Jul 1942 | U-132 | | Frederika Lensen (t.) | 4,367 | | br | QS-19 |
| 30 Jul 1942 | U-132 | Pacific Pioneer | 6,734 | | br | ON-113 | |
| 4 Nov 1942 | U-132 | | Empire Lynx | 6,379 | | br | SC-107 |
| 4 Nov 1942 | U-132 | | Hatimura (d.) | 6,690 | | br | SC-107 |
| 4 Nov 1942 | U-132 | | Hobbema | 5,507 |  | nl | SC-107 |
| 46,237 | |||||||
10 ships sunk (39,547 tons) and 1 ship damaged (6,690 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.