Engelbert Endrass
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)
| Successes 19 ships sunk for a total of 81,164 GRT 2 auxiliary warships sunk for a total of 35,284 GRT 4 ships damaged for a total of 25,491 GRT 1 ship a total loss for a total of 2,080 GRT |
| Born | 2 Mar 1911 | Bamberg | |
| Died | 21 Dec 1941 | (30) | Northeast of Azores |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
| U-46 | 22 May 1940 | 24 Sep 1941 | 8 patrols (195 days) |
| U-567 | 15 Oct 1941 | 21 Dec 1941 (+) | 2 patrols (37 days) |
Personal information
![]() Oblt. Engelbert Endraß on board |
Engelbert Endraß began his naval career in April 1935. Like Prien and Metzler, he had previously spent some years in the merchant navy.
After some months on the cruiser Deutschland and some escort ships, he was assigned in October 1937 to the U-boat force. He joined U-47 in December 1938 as Leutnant z. See. Endraß was IWO when Günther Prien made his famous Scapa Flow attack and sank the HMS Royal Oak.
It was Endraß who painted the famous snorting bull emblem on U-47's conning tower before they returned.
He remained on U-47 until December 1939, when he left the U-boat and after some training courses took over command of U-46, another type VIIB U-boat, in May 1940 from the luckless commander Herbert Sohler.
His first patrol with U-46 was very successful. Endraß sank five ships for a total of 35,347 tons, including the British auxiliary cruiser Carinthia of 20,277 tons. His second patrol on U-46 was also a great success. Although the main (attack) periscope was damaged, he sank five ships for a total of 27,038 tons, including another British auxiliary cruiser, the Dunvegan Castle of 15,007 tons. After returning from this patrol Engelbert Endraß received the Knights Cross. Five patrols later he received the Oak Leaves. In September 1941 he left U-46 and a month later took over the Type VIIC U-boat U-567.

Engelbert Endraß (left) welcomes his closest friend Erich Topp after patrol in May 1941.
Endraß was killed on 21 December, 1941, when U-567 was sunk with all hands (47 men) by depth charges from the British sloop HMS Deptford and the corvette HMS Samphire northeast of the Azores at 44.02N, 20.10W.
On 31 March, 1942 (three months after his death) the daily Wehrmachtsbericht announced:
Das Unterseeboot unter Führung von Kapitänleutnant Endraß, Träger des Eichen laubes zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, ist von Feindfahrt nicht zurück gekehrt. Ein hervorragender Unterseebootkommandant ist mit seiner tapferen Besatzung vor dem Feind geblieben.
(The U-boat under command of Kapitänleutnant Endraß, recipient of the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, has not returned from patrol. An outstanding U-boat commander is on an eternal patrol with his brave crew.)
Patrol info for Engelbert Endrass
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-46 | 1 Jun 1940 | Kiel | 1 Jul 1940 | Kiel | Patrol 1, | 31 days | |
| 2. | U-46 | 1 Aug 1940 | Kiel | 4 Aug 1940 | Bergen | 4 days | ||
| 3. | U-46 | 8 Aug 1940 | Bergen | 6 Sep 1940 | Lorient | Patrol 2, | 30 days | |
| 4. | U-46 | 20 Sep 1940 | Lorient | 21 Sep 1940 | St. Nazaire | 2 days | ||
| 5. | U-46 | 23 Sep 1940 | St. Nazaire | 29 Sep 1940 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 3, | 7 days | |
| 6. | U-46 | 13 Oct 1940 | St. Nazaire | 29 Oct 1940 | Kiel | Patrol 4, | 17 days | |
| 7. | U-46 | 12 Feb 1941 | Kiel | 4 Mar 1941 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 5, | 21 days | |
| 8. | U-46 | 15 Mar 1941 | St. Nazaire | 10 Apr 1941 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 6, | 27 days | |
| 9. | U-46 | 15 May 1941 | St. Nazaire | 13 Jun 1941 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 7, | 30 days | |
| 10. | U-46 | 26 Jul 1941 | St. Nazaire | 26 Aug 1941 | Kiel | Patrol 8, | 32 days | |
| 11. | U-567 | 25 Oct 1941 | St. Nazaire | 26 Nov 1941 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 9, | 33 days | |
| 12. | U-567 | 18 Dec 1941 | St. Nazaire | 21 Dec 1941 | Sunk | Patrol 10, | 4 days | |
| 10 patrols, 232 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Engelbert Endrass
| Date | Boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | Fate * | |
| 6 Jun, 1940 | U-46 | HMS Carinthia | 20,277 | | br | ||
| 9 Jun, 1940 | U-46 | Margareta | 2,155 | | fi | ||
| 11 Jun, 1940 | U-46 | Athelprince | 8,782 | | br | OG-33F | damaged |
| 12 Jun, 1940 | U-46 | Barbara Marie | 4,223 | | br | SL-34 | |
| 12 Jun, 1940 | U-46 | Willowbank | 5,041 | | br | SL-34 | |
| 17 Jun, 1940 | U-46 | Elpis | 3,651 | | gr | ||
| 16 Aug, 1940 | U-46 | Alcinous | 6,189 | | nl | OB-197 | damaged |
| 20 Aug, 1940 | U-46 | Leonidas M. Valmas | 2,080 | | gr | total loss | |
| 27 Aug, 1940 | U-46 | HMS Dunvegan Castle | 15,007 | | br | SL-43 | |
| 31 Aug, 1940 | U-46 | Ville de Hasselt | 7,461 | | be | ||
| 2 Sep, 1940 | U-46 | Thornlea | 4,261 | | br | OB-206 | |
| 4 Sep, 1940 | U-46 | Luimneach | 1,074 | | ir | ||
| 26 Sep, 1940 | U-46 | Coast Wings | 862 | | br | OG-43 | |
| 26 Sep, 1940 | U-46 | Siljan | 3,058 | | sw | ||
| 18 Oct, 1940 | U-46 | Beatus | 4,885 | | br | SC-7 | |
| 18 Oct, 1940 | U-46 | Convallaria | 1,996 | | sw | SC-7 | |
| 18 Oct, 1940 | U-46 | Gunborg | 1,572 | | sw | SC-7 | |
| 19 Oct, 1940 | U-46 | Ruperra | 4,548 | | br | HX-79 | |
| 20 Oct, 1940 | U-46 | Janus | 9,965 | | sw | HX-79 | |
| 29 Mar, 1941 | U-46 | Liguria | 1,751 | | sw | OB-302 | |
| 31 Mar, 1941 | U-46 | Castor | 8,714 | | sw | ||
| 2 Apr, 1941 | U-46 | British Reliance | 7,000 | | br | SC-26 | |
| 3 Apr, 1941 | U-46 | Alderpool | 4,313 | | br | SC-26 | damaged |
| 8 Jun, 1941 | U-46 | Ensis | 6,207 | | br | damaged | |
| 9 Jun, 1941 | U-46 | Phidias | 5,623 | | br | OB-330 | |
| 21 Dec, 1941 | U-567 | Annavore | 3,324 | | nw | HG-76 | |
| 144,019 | |||||||
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk. | |||||||
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