Waldemar Mehl
Korvettenkapitän (Crew 33)
| Successes 4 ships sunk, total tonnage 26,279 GRT 1 auxiliary warship sunk, total tonnage 545 GRT 2 warships sunk, total tonnage 2,286 tons 4 ships damaged, total tonnage 28,072 GRT 2 ships a total loss, total tonnage 13,341 GRT |
| Born | 7 Sep 1914 | Grävenwiesbach, Usingen, Taunus | |
| Died | 29 Mar 1996 | (81) |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-62 | 5 Nov 1941 | 19 Nov 1941 | No war patrols |
| U-72 | 2 Dec 1941 | 6 May 1942 | No war patrols |
| U-371 | 25 May 1942 | 4 Apr 1944 | 12 patrols (227 days) |
Kapitänleutnant Waldemar Mehl |
Waldemar Mehl joined the Navy in April 1933. Before the war he served on the light cruisers Köln and Nürnberg and on the line ship Schleswig-Holstein. Starting in December 1939 he served in several positions on shore before transferring in April 1941 to the U-boat force.
After the usual training he spent a few months as commander-in-training (Kommandantenschüler) on U-371 before taking over command of U-62 and U-72.
In May 1942 he became commander of U-371 which fought in the Mediterranean. He took the boat on 13 successful patrols during the next two years and sank, among other vessels, three Allied warships.
He left U-371 in April 1944 and became an officer in the FdU Mittelmeer staff, and also held two other staff positions. After the war he served for three months in a minesweeper unit.
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).
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.
Patrol info for Waldemar Mehl
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-371 | 1 Jul 1942 | Salamis | 7 Jul 1942 | Pola | 7 days | ||
| 2. | U-371 | 5 Sep 1942 | Pola | 18 Sep 1942 | Salamis | Patrol 1, | 14 days | |
| 3. | U-371 | 12 Oct 1942 | Salamis | 16 Oct 1942 | Pola | 5 days | ||
| 4. | U-371 | 1 Dec 1942 | Pola | 4 Dec 1942 | Messina | Patrol 2, | 4 days | |
| 5. | U-371 | 7 Dec 1942 | Messina | 10 Jan 1943 | La Spezia | Patrol 3, | 35 days | |
| 6. | U-371 | 14 Feb 1943 | La Spezia | 3 Mar 1943 | La Spezia | Patrol 4, | 18 days | |
| 7. | U-371 | 7 Apr 1943 | La Spezia | 11 May 1943 | Toulon | Patrol 5, | 35 days | |
| 8. | U-371 | 3 Jul 1943 | Toulon | 12 Jul 1943 | Toulon | Patrol 6, | 10 days | |
| 9. | U-371 | 22 Jul 1943 | Toulon | 11 Aug 1943 | Toulon | Patrol 7, | 21 days | |
| 10. | U-371 | 21 Aug 1943 | Toulon | 3 Sep 1943 | Toulon | Patrol 8, | 14 days | |
| 11. | U-371 | 7 Oct 1943 | Toulon | 28 Oct 1943 | Toulon | Patrol 9, | 22 days | |
| 12. | U-371 | 15 Nov 1943 | Toulon | 23 Nov 1943 | Toulon | Patrol 10, | 9 days | |
| 13. | U-371 | 22 Jan 1944 | Toulon | 13 Feb 1944 | Toulon | Patrol 11, | 23 days | |
| 14. | U-371 | 4 Mar 1944 | Toulon | 25 Mar 1944 | Toulon | Patrol 12, | 22 days | |
| 12 patrols, 227 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Waldemar Mehl
| Date | U-boat | Commander | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Jan 1943 | U-371 | Waldemar Mehl | HMS Jura (T 169) | 545 |  | br | ||
| 7 Jan 1943 | U-371 | Waldemar Mehl |  | Ville de Strasbourg (d.) | 7,159 | | br | MKS-5 |
| 23 Feb 1943 | U-371 | Waldemar Mehl | | Fintra | 2,089 | | br | Ropsley |
| 28 Feb 1943 | U-371 | Waldemar Mehl | | Daniel Carroll (d.) | 7,176 |  | am | TE-16 |
| 27 Apr 1943 | U-371 | Waldemar Mehl | | Merope | 1,162 |  | nl | |
| 10 Jul 1943 | U-371 | Waldemar Mehl | | Gulfprince (d.) | 6,561 | | am | ET-22A |
| 10 Jul 1943 | U-371 | Waldemar Mehl | Matthew Maury (d.) | 7,176 | | am | ET-22A | |
| 7 Aug 1943 | U-371 | Waldemar Mehl | | Contractor | 6,004 | | br | GTX-5 |
| 11 Oct 1943 | U-371 | Waldemar Mehl | | HMS Hythe (J 194) | 656 | | br | MKS-27 |
| 13 Oct 1943 | U-371 | Waldemar Mehl | | USS Bristol (DD 453) | 1,630 | | am | |
| 15 Oct 1943 | U-371 | Waldemar Mehl | | James Russell Lowell (t.) | 7,176 | | am | GUS-18 |
| 17 Mar 1944 | U-371 | Waldemar Mehl | | Dempo | 17,024 | | nl | SNF-17 |
| 17 Mar 1944 | U-371 | Waldemar Mehl | | Maiden Creek (t.) | 6,165 | | am | SNF-17 |
| 70,523 | ||||||||
9 ships sunk (42,451 tons) and 4 ships damaged (28,072 tons). Legend | ||||||||
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.
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