Siegfried Strelow

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 31)


Successes
9 ships sunk, total tonnage 53,712 GRT
1 auxiliary warship sunk, total tonnage 2,456 GRT
3 warships sunk, total tonnage 855 tons

Born  15 Apr 1911 Kiel
Died  9 Jul 1943(32)North Atlantic


Kapitänleutnant Siegfried Strelow

Ranks

7 Apr 1931 Offiziersanwärter
14 Oct 1931 Seekadett
1 Jan 1933 Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1935 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1935 Leutnant zur See
1 Jan 1937 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Oct 1939 Kapitänleutnant
1 Jul 1943 Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

25 Apr 1940 Iron Cross 2nd Class
25 May 1940 Iron Cross 1st Class
15 Apr 1942 U-boat War Badge 1939
27 Oct 1942 Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-435 30 Aug 1941 9 Jul 1943  (+)  8 patrols (249 days) 


Kapitänleutnant Siegfried Strelow after patrol

Siegfried Strelow began his naval career in April 1931. He served as torpedo officer on the battleships Schleswig-Holstein, Admiral Graf Spee and on the destroyer Richard Beitzen. He spent a year on E-boats (Schnellboot) S-9 and S-11 and then commanded the torpedo boat G-11 for a year.

During the war he commanded the torpedo boats Albatros and Löwe for six months each before serving as torpedo officer on the light cruiser Leipzig.

Having gained experience of almost every type of vessel in the Kriegsmarine, Strelow joined the U-boat force in April 1941.

He commissioned the type VIIC U-boat U-435 in August 1941, and despite lacking prior combat experience on U-boats went on to become one of the most experienced and successful commanders operating in northern and Arctic waters.

During six patrols in action against PQ and QP convoys he sank seven ships totalling some 35,000 GRT, for which he was awarded the Knights Cross. In January 1943 he moved base to Brest, France and was from then on attached to the 1st Flotilla. On her second patrol in the Atlantic U-435 was sunk with all hands by a British Wellington bomber on 9 July 1943. (Niestlé, 1998)

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).
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.

Patrol info for Siegfried Strelow

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-435 20 Jan 1942  Kiel  16 Feb 1942  Kirkenes  Patrol 1,28 days
2. U-435 18 Feb 1942  Kirkenes  22 Feb 1942  Trondheim   5 days
3. U-435 16 Mar 1942  Trondheim  5 Apr 1942  Kirkenes  Patrol 2,21 days
4. U-435 7 Apr 1942  Kirkenes  26 Apr 1942  Kiel  Patrol 3,20 days
5. U-435 18 Jun 1942  Kiel  20 Jun 1942  Hela   3 days
6. U-435 25 Jun 1942  Hela  26 Jun 1942  Kiel   2 days
7. U-435 18 Jul 1942  Kiel  25 Jul 1942  Narvik   8 days
8. U-435 25 Jul 1942  Narvik  31 Aug 1942  Skjomenfjord  Patrol 4,38 days
9. U-435 16 Sep 1942  Skjomenfjord  28 Sep 1942  Skjomenfjord  Patrol 5,13 days
10. U-435 30 Sep 1942  Skjomenfjord  3 Oct 1942  Bergen   4 days
11. U-435 30 Nov 1942  Bergen  10 Jan 1943  Brest  Patrol 6,42 days
12. U-435 18 Feb 1943  Brest  25 Mar 1943  Brest  Patrol 7,36 days
13. U-435 20 May 1943  Brest  9 Jul 1943  Sunk  Patrol 8,51 days
8 patrols, 249 days at sea

Ships hit by Siegfried Strelow

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
30 Mar 1942U-435 Effingham6,421amPQ-13
13 Apr 1942U-435 El Occidente6,008paQP-10
13 Apr 1942U-435 Harpalion5,486brQP-10
20 Sep 1942U-435 HMS Leda (J 93)835brQP-14
22 Sep 1942U-435 Bellingham5,345amQP-14
22 Sep 1942U-435 Grey Ranger3,313brQP-14
22 Sep 1942U-435 Ocean Voice7,174brQP-14
29 Dec 1942U-435 Empire Shackleton7,068brONS-154
29 Dec 1942U-435 Norse King5,701nwONS-154
30 Dec 1942U-435 HMS Fidelity (D 57)2,456brONS-154
30 Dec 1942U-435 HMS LCV-752 [Trans.]10brONS-154
30 Dec 1942U-435 HMS LCV-754 [Trans.]10brONS-154
 
17 Mar 1943U-435 William Eustis7,196amHX-229
 57,023

13 ships sunk (57,023 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.
[Trans.] indicates the vessel was lost while being transported on another 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.

Men who sank over 50,000 tons

Media links


U-Boat Attack Logs

Daniel Morgan and Bruce Taylor


amazon.co.uk
(£ 38.25)


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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