Bernhard Zurmühlen

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 33)

Successes
5 ships sunk, total tonnage 28,600 GRT
3 ships damaged, total tonnage 19,230 GRT

Born	23 Feb 1909		Bielefeld
Died	25 Nov 1943	(34)	north of Punta Delgada, Azores

Bernhard Zurmühlen on the left.

Ranks

11 Apr 1934	Offiziersanwärter
1 Jul 1934	Fähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1936	Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1936	Leutnant zur See
1 Jun 1938	Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1940	Kapitänleutnant
1 Nov 1943	Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

1939	Iron Cross 2nd Class
Nov, 1941	Fleet War Badge
23 Sep 1942	U-boat War Badge 1939
Dec, 1942	Iron Cross 1st Class
27 Feb 1943	German Cross in Gold

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-600	11 Dec 1941	25 Nov 1943 (+)	6 patrols (278 days)

Bernhard Zurmühlen joined the Reichsmarine in 1933. He served as a Radio Technical Officer on the old training battleship Schleswig-Holstein from Aug 1939 to Aug 1940. From Aug to Nov 1940 he served at Bruges after which he became an instructor at the Signals School at Mürwik until March 1941 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

He went through U-boat training from March to July 1941 when he began his U-boat Commander training with the 24th Flotilla. In Sept 1941 Bernhard Zurmühlen graduated and was assigned as a supernumerary Watch Officer (WO) on the U-331 (Kptlt. Freiherr Hans-Diedrich von Tiesenhausen). He went out on two patrols with the boat; on the first they broke into the Mediterranean and on the second they sank the British battleship HMS Barham on 25 Nov 1941 (Rohwer, 1998).

After returning from the U-331 after the successful patrol Bernhard Zurmühlen was sent to an U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) to prepare for his own command. On 11 Dec 1941 he commissioned the brand new type VIIC boat U-600. After training in the Baltic during the winter the boat left for its first war patrol on 14 July 1942 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

Kptlt. Bernhard Zurmühlen commanded the U-600 on 5 patrols, sinking 5 ships (28,600 tons) and damaging 3 more (19,230 tons). In March 1943 he fought in one of the largest convoy battles of the war when his boat, as part of Wolfpack Raubgraf, operated against convoy HX-229. U-600 was one of the most successful boats during this operation with 1 large ship sunk and 2 damaged (Rohwer, 1998).

The just promoted KrvKpt. Bernhard Zurmühlen was lost with his entire crew of 54 men when his U-600 was sunk on 25 Nov 1943 in the North Atlantic north of Ponta Delgada by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Bazely and HMS Blackwood (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 Bernhard Zurmühlen

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-600	14 Jul 1942	Kiel	22 Sep 1942	La Pallice	Patrol 1,	71 days
2.	U-600	22 Nov 1942	La Pallice	27 Dec 1942	La Pallice	Patrol 2,	36 days
3.	U-600	11 Feb 1943	La Pallice	26 Mar 1943	La Pallice	Patrol 3,	44 days
4.	U-600	25 Apr 1943	La Pallice	11 May 1943	La Pallice	Patrol 4,	17 days
5.	U-600	12 Jun 1943	La Pallice	10 Sep 1943	Brest	Patrol 5,	91 days
6.	U-600	7 Nov 1943	Brest	25 Nov 1943	Sunk	Patrol 6,	19 days
6 patrols, 278 days at sea

Ships hit by Bernhard Zurmühlen

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
10 Aug 1942	U-600	Vivian P. Smith	130	br
13 Aug 1942	U-600	Delmundo	5,032	am	TAW-12
13 Aug 1942	U-600	Everelza	4,520	le	TAW-12
8 Dec 1942	U-600	James McKay	6,762	am	HX-217

24 Feb 1943	U-600	Ingria (d.)	4,391	nw	ON-166
17 Mar 1943	U-600	Irénée Du Pont (d.)	6,125	am	HX-229
17 Mar 1943	U-600	Nariva (d.)	8,714	br	HX-229
17 Mar 1943	U-600	Southern Princess	12,156	br	HX-229
			47,830
5 ships sunk (28,600 tons) and 3 ships damaged (19,230 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (d.) means the ship was damaged.