uboat.net

Wilhelm Franken

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 35)


Successes
3 ships sunk for a total of 11.347 GRT
1 warship sunk for a total of 1.540 tons
2 ships damaged for a total of 17.565 GRT

Born  11 Sep, 1914Schildesche, Bielefeld
Died  13 Jan, 1945Kiel


Kptlt. Wilhelm Franken

Ranks

1 Jul, 1936Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan, 1938Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr, 1938Leutnant zur See
1 Oct, 1939Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr, 1942Kapitänleutnant
1 Jan, 1945Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

14 Apr, 1940Iron Cross 2nd Class
15 Oct, 1941U-boat War Badge 1939
28 Jan, 1942Iron Cross 1st Class
30 Apr, 1943Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-56517 Mar, 1942 - 7 Oct, 1943  11 patrols (274 days) 

Personal information

Wilhelm Franken began his naval career in April 1935. He served as gunnery officer in the Danube flotilla and for a year on the battleship Scharnhorst. In October 1940 he transferred to the U-boat force. His first three patrols he served as IWO on U-331 under Kptlt. Tiesenhausen, where he took part in the sinking of HMS Barham.

He left the boat in January 1942 and in March took over U-565. On his sixth patrol, only operating in the Mediterranean, he sank the British destroyer HMS Partridge (1,540 tons).

Kptlt. Wilhelm Franken left the boat in October 1943 and became a staff member of the BdU org under Admiral Friedeburg. Unfortunately he was killed during a fire aboard the living-quarters ship Daressalam on 13 January, 1945 in Kiel, suffering the same fate as Korvkpt. Siegfried Lüdden.


Patrol info


 U-boatDeparture Arrival  
1. U-565 11 Apr, 1942  La Spezia30 Apr, 1942  SalamisPatrol20 days
2. U-565 7 May, 1942  Salamis10 Jun, 1942  La SpeziaPatrol35 days
3. U-565 9 Jul, 1942  La Spezia4 Aug, 1942  SalamisPatrol27 days
4. U-565 16 Aug, 1942  Salamis25 Aug, 1942  La SpeziaPatrol10 days
5. U-565 31 Aug, 1942  La Spezia4 Sep, 1942  La SpeziaPatrol5 days
6. U-565 25 Oct, 1942  La Spezia13 Nov, 1942  La SpeziaPatrol20 days
7. U-565 23 Nov, 1942  La Spezia1 Jan, 1943  La SpeziaPatrol40 days
8. U-565 14 Feb, 1943  La Spezia5 Mar, 1943  La SpeziaPatrol20 days
9. U-565 8 Apr, 1943  La Spezia12 May, 1943  La SpeziaPatrol35 days
10. U-565 17 Jun, 1943  La Spezia23 Jul, 1943  ToulonPatrol37 days
11. U-565 7 Sep, 1943  Toulon1 Oct, 1943  ToulonPatrol25 days

Ships hit by Wilhelm Franken


DateBoatName of shipTonsNat.ConvoyFate *
23 Apr, 1942 U-565Kirkland1.361 br TA-36 
18 Dec, 1942 U-565HMS Partridge (G 30)1.540 br 
 
24 Feb, 1943 U-565Nathanael Greene7.176 am MKS-8 damaged
27 Feb, 1943 U-565Seminole10.389 br TE-16 damaged
20 Apr, 1943 U-565Michigan5.594 am UGS-7 
20 Apr, 1943 U-565Sidi-Bel-Abbès4.392 fr UGS-7 
 30.452

* 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.

Listing of all U-boat commanders