Siegfried Lüdden

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 36)


Successes
8 ships sunk, total tonnage 49,725 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 1,190 tons
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 9,977 GRT

Born  20 May 1916 Neubrandenburg, Stargard
Died  13 Jan 1945(28)Kiel (fire on barracks ship Daressalam)


Kptlt. Siegfried Lüdden

Ranks

3 Apr 1936 Offiziersanwärter
10 Sep 1936 Seekadett
1 May 1937 Fähnrich zur See
1 Jul 1938 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1938 Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1940 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1943 Kapitänleutnant
18 Mar 1945 Korvettenkapitän (posthumous)

Decorations

18 Dec 1941 Iron Cross 2nd Class
29 Dec 1941 U-boat War Badge 1939
8 Apr 1942 Iron Cross 1st Class
11 Feb 1944 Knights Cross
27 Sep 1944 U-boat Front Clasp

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-188 5 Aug 1942 9 Aug 1944   3 patrols (356 days) 

Leutnant zur See Siegfried Lüdden was transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1938 and began the war serving in East Baltic Coastal Command, but in April 1940 he returned to start U-boat officer training. Following a short term on the school boat U-141, he served as an adjutant in various U-boat flotillas for ten months.

On 11 April 1943, on his first patrol commanding the newly-commissioned U-188, he sank the British destroyer HMS Beverley (Rohwer, 1998). His second patrol took him to Penang, and then Singapore, where he loaded 100 tons of tin and other badly-needed materials for the German war industry and transported them to his French base in June 1944. He later served in staff positions in Lorient, Plön, and Kiel.

Fire aboard the barracks ship Daressalam
On 13 Jan. 1945 a fire broke out on the naval Wohnschiffes (accommodation ship) Daressalam in Kiel harbour. Three U-boat commanders died In the fire: Oblt. Georg von Bitter and the Knights Cross winners KrvKpt. Wilhelm Franken and Kptlt. Siegfried Lüdden (Busch & Röll, 1999).

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Siegfried Lüdden

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-188 4 Mar 1943  Kiel  4 May 1943  Lorient  Patrol 1,62 days
2. U-188 30 Jun 1943  Lorient  30 Oct 1943  Penang  Patrol 2,123 days
3. U-188 1 Jan 1944  Penang  19 Jun 1944  Bordeaux  Patrol 3,171 days
3 patrols, 356 days at sea

Ships hit by Siegfried Lüdden

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
11 Apr 1943U-188 HMS Beverley (H 64)1,190brON-176
21 Sep 1943U-188 Cornelia P. Spencer7,176am
5 Oct 1943U-188 Britannia (d.)9,977nw
 
20 Jan 1944U-188 Fort Buckingham7,122br
25 Jan 1944U-188 Fort la Maune7,130br
26 Jan 1944U-188 Samouri7,219br
26 Jan 1944U-188 Surada5,427br
29 Jan 1944U-188 Olga E. Embiricos4,677grCB-7
3 Feb 1944U-188 Chung Cheng7,176ch
9 Feb 1944U-188 Viva3,798nw
 60,892

9 ships sunk (50,915 tons) and 1 ship damaged (9,977 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.
(d.) means the ship was damaged.


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-188

Klaus Willmann


amazon.co.uk
(£ 17.99)


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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