Well to be realistic in 90% of u boats casulties they were lost with all hands ,including skipper,just becose they were submerged deep so there was no way of abandoning the ship.On the other hand if they were catched on surface by DD or aircraft and there was no way of escaping ,or they surfaced in order to try to control flooding or abandon the ship then it is same again(my humble opinion) captain is in charge to the last minute..he has to stay at command post and issue orderst to crew...so If u boats sink before (very often) all mans are at safe then i guess he goes down with his ship.There was however a not so small number of stories where the captains was the first to leave ship leaving crew and often passingers to their il fate... :down:
Im not saying that they shud go down with the ship but they shud stay and control the situation and give the exmple to their crew...

They don't. My Grandad was a naval captain, He said the captains were the last person off to see their crews off. Only problem is that often the ship went down before then...

so yea, what BigBadVuk said.

Re: Dont forget TITANIC
 

Oh no he didn't! Captain Smith did leave the ship and was last seen in the water when he handed a small child up into a lifeboat. He then swam off looking for others who needed help. He was never seen again. Remember movies are not always true.

Err...i hate to say this but that with childa and swimming away from full saving boat was ALSO MYTH....He wasnt on bridge either...
At least that is what i saw and read .....He just died from hypothermia in cold water but when he left there was stil a LOT of ppl on ship.
The reason for this aftermath stories about him was becose White Star company started a propaganda about bravery of her sailors and captains in attempt to dampen the catastrophic proportions of accident,and his mistake to try to zig-zag icebergs in pitch darknes with maximum speed.They also created a main person to blame:Sir Bruce Ismay,the ovner of the ship,....But that is off topic i think...

My source is Walter Lord's "A Night to Remember" and "The Night Lives On." However, the point is, he didn't go down with the ship.

YEP i agree...he left the ship whilw still there was a LOT of ppl onboard :( :down:

Incidentally :- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4983334.stm

It's about time they made a movie about the sinking of the "Morro Castle". In her case the crew abandoned ship before the passengers. :down:

...I forget the name of an American Captain I read of who got caught on the bridge during a battle, and ordered his boat to dive with him still on the bridge....cant recall what happened to the boat, either.. :nope:

Howard Gilmore and Growler, which collided with a Japanese ship on Feb. 7, 1943, while charging batteries. Enemy machine gunners killed two of the bridge party and wounded Gilmore. He ordered the bridge cleared and then famously shouted down to his exec, "Take her down!" The XO obeyed, leaving the wounded Gilmore topside (Gilmore was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor - the first submariner to receive it).

Growler survived this encounter but was later lost - probably to depth charging on November 7, 1944.

Thats not why Peter Zschech shot himself. Theres an excerpt from the book "Steel boats, Iron Hearts" somewhere no the net that relates the incident. The guy was a fatalist, and i guess he was stressed out and couldnt take it anymore. He is the ONLY uboat skipper who committed suicide as far as i know. U505 got away, and the XO took command and got the boat home.

Yeah that a creepy story, I read a version that was quite detailed and it must have been really hard on the crew.

Well if I had skippered a ship you can bet there would have been a lot of evacuation drills.