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Karl-Friedrich Merten

Kapitän zur See (Crew 26)

Successes 27 ships sunk for a total of 170,151 GRT

Personal information

Korvkpt. Karl-Friedrich Merten

After a ten-year stint on warships and serving on the WWI battleship Schleswig-Holstein during the attack on the Polish "Westerplatte" in September 1939, Merten joined the U-boat arm on 1 May, 1940. He operated all over the world, patrolling in the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Indian Oceans. U-68 was in the U-boat wolfpack "Eisbär" (Polar bear), which in the course of a few weeks during September/October 1942 sank more than 100,000 tons of shipping off South Africa.

In January 1943 Merten became the commander of the 26th U-boat-Flotilla in Pillau. There the new U-boat crews received their final training before going to the front. In March 1943 Merten moved to the 24th U-boat-Flotilla in Memel where he also was the flotilla commander. This was the training flotilla for future Commanders-to-be.

After the war Merten salvaged sunken ships in the Rhine river along with another famous former U-boat commander, Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock. Later he worked in the shipbuilding industry.

Karl-Friedrich Merten during the funeral of Großadmiral Dönitz in 1981,
behind him Oblt. Otto Westphalen (U-968)

Date	U-boat	Commander		Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy
22 Sep 1941	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Silverbelle	5,302		br	SL-87
22 Oct 1941	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Darkdale	8,145		br
28 Oct 1941	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Hazelside	5,297		br
1 Nov 1941	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Bradford City	4,953		br
3 Mar 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Helenus	7,366		br
8 Mar 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Baluchistan	6,992		br
16 Mar 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Baron Newlands	3,386		br
17 Mar 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Allende	5,081		br
17 Mar 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Ile de Batz	5,755		br
17 Mar 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Scottish Prince	4,917		br
30 Mar 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Muncaster Castle	5,853		br	ST-18
5 Jun 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		L.J. Drake	6,693		am
6 Jun 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		C.O. Stillman	13,006		pa
10 Jun 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Ardenvohr	5,025		br
10 Jun 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Port Montreal	5,882		br
10 Jun 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Surrey	8,581		br
15 Jun 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Frimaire	9,242		fr
23 Jun 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Arriaga	2,345		pa
12 Sep 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Trevilley	5,296		br	OS-38
15 Sep 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Breedijk	6,861		nl
8 Oct 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Gaasterkerk	8,679		nl
8 Oct 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Koumoundouros	3,598		gr
8 Oct 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Sarthe	5,271		br
8 Oct 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Swiftsure	8,207		am
9 Oct 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Belgian Fighter	5,403		be
9 Oct 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		Examelia	4,981		am
6 Nov 1942	U-68	Karl-Friedrich Merten		City of Cairo	8,034		br
					170,151
27 ships sunk (170,151 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel.

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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