Reiner Dierksen

Reiner Dierksen
Born (1908-03-24)24 March 1908
Esenshausen, Baden-Württemberg
Died 15 May 1943(1943-05-15) (aged 35)
Cuban waters
Allegiance  Nazi Germany
Service/branch  Reichsmarine
 Kriegsmarine
Years of service 1933–43
Rank Korvettenkapitän
Commands held U-176
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Iron Cross 2nd Class, Minesweeper War Badge, Iron Cross 1st Class, U-boat War Badge 1939, German Cross in Gold

Reiner Dierksen (24 March 1908 – 15 May 1943) was a German U-boat commander in World War II and posthumous recipient of the German Cross in Gold.[1]

Reiner Dierksen joined the Reichsmarine in 1933. From October 1938 to June 1940 he was Commander M 5 of the 1st Mineseweeping flotilla, then he was the Commander of the 32nd Minesweeping flotilla until March 1941. Dierksen began his U-boat training in March 1941, then took his U-boat Commander training and U-boat familiarization until 15 December 1941 when he commissioned the Type IXC U-176 at Bremen. On his second patrol with U-176 Dierksen ran into one of the most stubborn victims of the entire war when he spent almost 48 hours hunting the Dutch steam merchant, Polydorus, before finally sinking her with his 7th and 8th torpedoes.

Korvettenkapitän Reiner Dierksen died when his U-176 was sunk with all hands, 53 men, on its 3 war patrol north of Cuba on 15 May 1943 by Cuban patrol boat CS 13. Dierksen had sunk 10 ships with a total of 45,850 gross register tons (GRT) and one 7,457 GRT ship damaged.

Death

On 15 May 1943, the Cuban merchant ship Camagüey, and the Honduran Hanks, both loaded with sugar, sailed from Sagua La Grande, bound for Havana, escorted by the Cuban submarine chasers CS-11, CS-12, and CS-13. At 17:15 hours, a U.S. Navy Kingfisher aircraft from squadron VS-62 operating from Cuba spotted U-176 at 23°21′N 80°18′W / 23.350°N 80.300°W / 23.350; -80.300Coordinates: 23°21′N 80°18′W / 23.350°N 80.300°W / 23.350; -80.300 and dropped a smoke float to mark her position about one and a half miles astern of the convoy. CS-13 located the U-boat with her sonar, attacked with depth charges and sank U-176.[2]

Summary of Career

Ships attacked

DateShipNationalityTonnageFate[3]
4 August 1942 Richmond Castle United Kingdom7,798 Sunk
8 August 1942 Kelso  United Kingdom3,956 Sunk
8 August 1942 Mount Kassion  Greece 7,914 Sunk
8 August 1942 Trehata  United Kingdom4,817 Sunk
9 August 1942 Radchurch  United Kingdom3,701 Sunk
25 August 1942 Empire Breeze  United Kingdom7,457 Sunk
27 November 1942 Polydorus  Netherlands 5,922 Sunk
13 December 1942 Scania  Sweden 1,629 Sunk
16 December 1942 Observer  United Kingdom5,881 Sunk
13 May 1943 Mambí  Cuba 1,983 Sunk
13 May 1943 Nickeliner  United States2,249 Sunk

Awards

References

  1. ↑ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Korvettenkapitän Reiner Dierksen". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  2. ↑ "Hitler's Sharks". uboat176.webs.com. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
  3. ↑ http://uboat.net/boats/successes/u176.html

Bibliography

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