Gustav Poel
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 36)
| Successes 4 ships sunk, total tonnage 34,525 GRT 1 warship sunk, total tonnage 1,100 tons |
| Born | 2 Aug 1917 | Hamburg | |
| Died | 16 Jan 2009 | (91) | Hamburg |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-413 | 3 Jun 1942 | 19 Apr 1944 | 5 patrols (290 days) |
 Kapitänleutnant Gustav Poel |
Gustav Poel began his naval career in April 1936. After six months on the torpedo boat Tiger, he transferred to the U-boat force in October 1938. After the usual training and a few weeks on U-27, he became II WO on U-37 in May 1939. He made patrols with this U-boat before spending a year in several staff positions starting in June 1940.
In June 1941 he became a tactical instructor in the 25th (training) flotilla, and in January 1942 became a staff member of this flotilla.
On 3 June, 1942 he commissioned the Type VIIC U-boat U-413. He then made five patrols, mostly in the North Atlantic. An especially notable achievement was the sinking of the British destroyer Warwick in February 1944 off the Scilly Islands (Rohwer, 1998).
He left the U-boat in April 1944 and became a unit leader in the Marineschule Mürwik (navy school). From January 1945 to the end of the war he served in the BdU org staff.
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 Gustav Poel
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-413 | 22 Oct 1942 | Kiel | 24 Oct 1942 | Marviken | Patrol 1, | 3 days | |
| 2. | U-413 | 28 Oct 1942 | Marviken | 25 Nov 1942 | Brest | Patrol 1, | 29 days | |
| 3. | U-413 | 27 Dec 1942 | Brest | 17 Feb 1943 | Brest | Patrol 2, | 53 days | |
| 4. | U-413 | 29 Mar 1943 | Brest | 13 Jun 1943 | Brest | Patrol 3, | 77 days | |
| 5. | U-413 | 4 Sep 1943 | Brest | 5 Sep 1943 | Brest | Patrol 4, | 2 days | |
| 6. | U-413 | 8 Sep 1943 | Brest | 18 Sep 1943 | Brest | Patrol 4, | 11 days | |
| 7. | U-413 | 27 Sep 1943 | Brest | 28 Sep 1943 | Brest | Patrol 4, | 2 days | |
| 8. | U-413 | 2 Oct 1943 | Brest | 21 Nov 1943 | Brest | Patrol 4, | 51 days | |
| 9. | U-413 | 26 Jan 1944 | Brest | 27 Mar 1944 | Brest | Patrol 5, | 62 days | |
| 5 patrols, 290 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Gustav Poel
| Date | U-boat | Commander | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Nov 1942 | U-413 | Gustav Poel |  | Warwick Castle | 20,107 |  | br | MKF-1X |
| 22 Jan 1943 | U-413 | Gustav Poel | | Mount Mycale | 3,556 |  | gr | SC-117 |
| 5 Feb 1943 | U-413 | Gustav Poel | | West Portal | 5,376 |  | am | SC-118 |
| 21 Apr 1943 | U-413 | Gustav Poel | | Wanstead | 5,486 | | br | ONS-3 |
| 20 Feb 1944 | U-413 | Gustav Poel | | HMS Warwick (D 25) | 1,100 | | br | |
| 35,625 | ||||||||
5 ships sunk (35,625 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.
Media links
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