| Born | 6 Mar 1915 | Kiel | |
| Died | 6 May 1943 | (28) | North Atlantic |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
| U-37 | 3 May 1941 | 15 Nov 1941 | No war patrols |
| U-125 | 15 Dec 1941 | 6 May 1943 (+) | 5 patrols (339 days) |
Personal information
 Kptlt. Ulrich Folkers after patrol |
Ulrich Folkers joined the navy in April 1934. He served on the light cruiser Emden and on the destroyer Bruno Heinemann. In April 1940 he was attached to the U-boat force and after training he became the first watch officer on U-37 under the command of Nico Clausen.
In November 1941 he took over U-125 from Güther Kuhnke and was one of the five boats which launched the U-boat war against the USA in January 1942 with Operation Paukenschlag. The BdU was not very happy about Folkers' performance on his first patrol (he only sank one ship), but his second and third patrols were very successful and for them Ulrich Folkers won the Knights Cross.
He was killed along with his whole crew when U-125 was sunk on 6 May, 1943 by British destroyers.
Patrol info for Ulrich Folkers
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-125 | 18 Dec 1941 | Lorient | 23 Feb 1942 | Lorient | Patrol 1, | 68 days | |
| 2. | U-125 | 4 Apr 1942 | Lorient | 13 Jun 1942 | Lorient | Patrol 2, | 71 days | |
| 3. | U-125 | 27 Jul 1942 | Lorient | 6 Nov 1942 | Lorient | Patrol 3, | 103 days | |
| 4. | U-125 | 9 Dec 1942 | Lorient | 19 Feb 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 4, | 73 days | |
| 5. | U-125 | 13 Apr 1943 | Lorient | 6 May 1943 | Sunk | Patrol 5, | 24 days | |
| 5 patrols, 339 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Ulrich Folkers
| Date | U-boat | Commander | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Jan 1942 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers |  | West Ivis | 5,666 |  | am | |
| 23 Apr 1942 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers | | Lammot Du Pont | 5,102 | | am | |
| 3 May 1942 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers | San Rafael | 1,973 |  | do | ||
| 4 May 1942 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers | | Tuscaloosa City | 5,687 | | am | |
| 6 May 1942 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers | | Empire Buffalo | 6,404 |  | br | |
| 6 May 1942 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers | | Green Island | 1,946 | | am | |
| 9 May 1942 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers | | Calgarolite | 11,941 |  | ca | |
| 14 May 1942 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers | Comayagua | 2,493 |  | ho | ||
| 18 May 1942 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers | | Mercury Sun | 8,893 | | am | |
| 18 May 1942 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers | | William J. Salman | 2,616 | | am | |
| 1 Sep 1942 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers | Ilorin | 815 | | br | ||
| 23 Sep 1942 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers | | Bruyère | 5,335 | | br | |
| 29 Sep 1942 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers | | Baron Ogilvy | 3,391 | | br | |
| 30 Sep 1942 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers | Empire Avocet | 6,015 | | br | ||
| 30 Sep 1942 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers | Kumsang | 5,447 | | br | ||
| 8 Oct 1942 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers | | Glendene | 4,412 | | br | |
| 4 May 1943 | U-125 | Ulrich Folkers | Lorient | 4,737 | | br | ONS-5 | |
| 82,873 | ||||||||
17 ships sunk (82,873 tons). Legend | ||||||||
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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.