| Born | 25 Jul 1920 | Grönenbach, Allgäu | |
| Died | 5 Aug 1999 | (79) | München, Germany |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-56 | 15 Nov 1942 | 27 Feb 1944 | No war patrols |
| U-3503 | 9 Sep 1944 | 8 May 1945 | No war patrols |
Hugo Deiring was born in Allgäu outside Munich in 1920. His father was a bank manager and his mother managed a greengrocery. In spite of being brought up far from the coast, Deiring was from early age interested in the sea and decided as a young boy to opt for a seaman's career.
After graduation from school Deiring joined the Arbeitsdienst (labour service) for six months - drainage work outside Augsburg and construction work on the Siegfried Line. In October 1938 Deiring started his naval career at Mürwik in Flensburg. He sailed on the school ship Gorch Fock and visited, among other places, Brazil. Just before the outbreak of the war Deiring went to serve on the old battleship SMS Schlesien and eventually took part in the invasion of Poland. During the Polish campaign he participated in the bombardment of the naval base on the peninsula Hela. After completing his officer training in 1940 Deiring served on torpedo boats in Rotterdam before transferring to U-boat training from November 1940 to March 1941. His first front assignment was to serve under Reinhard Reche in U-255, where Deiring took part in the attack on convoy PQ 17.
In the fall of 1942 Deiring underwent commander training and took command of the school boat U-56. He also served as an instructor in tactics and torpedo service.
On September 9 1944 Deiring took command of the type XXI boat U-3503. Fall and winter were needed for training and adjustment to (and of) the new boat and it wasn't until April 21 1945 that U-3503 went to Kiel to be equipped for front duties. In spite of the chaotic times U-3503 was fitted out for a 9 month expedition. Deiring was ordered to leave for Horten in Norway where further orders waited. In Elsinore he joined three other U-boats (U-534, U-3017 and U-3523) also bound for Horten. Underway to Norway the little group was attacked by British aircraft and U-3503 – with slight damage - had to escape to Swedish waters outside Gothenburg, where the U-boat was detained by the Swedish Navy. In those last, confused days of the war Deiring didn't get much assistance from BdU or the German embassy in Stockholm. Finally Deiring scuttled U-3503 before the eyes of the Swedish navy.
However, U-3503 was salvaged by the Swedish navy in 1946 (see U-3503 raised in 1946) and the dismantling of the wreckage gave the Swedish naval shipyards much help in the development of new submarine generations.
Of the four U-boats in the group headed for Norway, only one made it all the way. U-3503 ended up in Sweden, U-3523 and U-534 were sunk. Incidentally, U-534 was also raised, in 1993, and is today on display at Woodside Ferry Terminal in Liverpool (see Gallery).
Deiring and his crew were interned in Sweden for a short period, and Deiring could soon return to Germany. After the war he trained as a journalist and worked for the Süddeutsche Zeitung in Munich.
Sources
Ellsén, Jarl and Westermark, Hans. Främmande ubåt sänks på svenskt vatten
Patrol info for Hugo Deiring
This commander did not go out on patrols with his boats.
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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