Karl Fleige
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 24)
| Successes 1 auxiliary warship sunk for a total of 400 GRT 1 ship damaged for a total of 7.745 GRT 1 warship damaged for a total of 56 tons |
| Born | 5 Sep, 1905 | Hildesheim |
| Died | 16 Dec, 1975 | Erzhausen, near Bad Gandersheim |
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Ranks
Decorations
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Personal information
 Oblt. z. S. Karl Fleige on board |
Karl Fleige joined the Reichsmarine in October 1924 as seaman. He spent the next years on torpedo boats, several cruisers and on the sailing school ship (Segelschulschiff) Gorch Fock.
In October 1937 he transferred to the U-boat force and after some months of training joined U-20 under Oblt. Karl-Heinz Moehle in May 1938. When Kptlt. Moehle commissioned the Type IXB U-boat U-123 in June 1940 he asked for his former Obersteuermann and thus Karl Fleige spent more than a year on the successful U-123.
Karl Fleige left U-123 in August 1941 and became the Flotillensteuermann of the 5th Flotilla in Kiel commanded once more by his former commander Karl-Heinz Moehle.
Starting in April 1942 he received commander training and in December 1942 he took command of the small Type IIB U-boat U-18. Through August 1944 he made a total of seven successful patrols in the Black Sea.
Beginning in December 1944, he was an instructor in the 24 Flotilla and in the 1st ULD (U-Boot-Lehrdivision). After Germany's surrender he spent three months in Allied captivity.
Patrol info
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | |||||
| 1. | U-18 | 26 May, 1943 | Konstanza | 9 Jun, 1943 | Konstanza | Patrol | 15 days |
| 2. | U-18 | 16 Jun, 1943 | Konstanza | 22 Jul, 1943 | Konstanza | Patrol | 37 days |
| 3. | U-18 | 21 Aug, 1943 | Konstanza | 24 Sep, 1943 | Konstanza | Patrol | 35 days |
| 4. | U-18 | 27 Oct, 1943 | Konstanza | 24 Nov, 1943 | Konstanza | Patrol | 29 days |
| 5. | U-18 | 29 Jan, 1944 | Konstanza | 29 Feb, 1944 | Konstanza | Patrol | 32 days |
| 6. | U-18 | 25 Mar, 1944 | Konstanza | 27 Apr, 1944 | Konstanza | Patrol | 34 days |
| 7. | U-18 | 24 Jul, 1944 | Konstanza | 16 Aug, 1944 | Konstanza | Patrol | 24 days |
Ships hit by Karl Fleige
| Date | Boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | Fate * | |
| 29 Aug, 1943 | U-18 | TSC-11 Dzhalita | 400 |  | sj | ||
| 30 Aug, 1943 | U-18 | SKA-0132 | 56 | | sj | damaged | |
| 18 Nov, 1943 | U-18 | Josif Stalin | 7.745 | | sj | damaged | |
| 8.201 | |||||||
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk. | |||||||
Decorations and ranks information is in many cases not complete. If you can help on any of those missing that would be great.