[Venatore]

Information extracted fro U-Boat net:

Who was the youngest commander?

The youngest commander was Leutnant zur See Ludwig-Ferdinand von Friedeburg . He took over the command of U-155 on 15 August 1944. He was then 20 years and 3 months old. There were 3 others Leutnants who took over a boat while only 20 years old: Hans-Eckart Augustin (U-62), Gerhard Ady (U-704) and Hans-Joachim Dierks (U-14). They were all training U-boats.
The youngest combat U-boat commander is often considered to be Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Georg Hess of 21 years. He won later with his U-995 the Knights Cross. But von Friedeburg was still younger and certainly qualifies.
During the first years of the war there was a strict rule, that a commander had to be at least 25 years old. So "Teddy" Suhren, then already a Knights Cross owner, had to wait for a few months in a training unit until he was old enough.

Who was the oldest commander?

The oldest Commander was Fregattenkapitän Wilhelm Kiesewetter . He took over the command of UC 1 on 20 November, 1940. He was at that time 62 years old! That was a former Norwegian boat and only used in training units. In WWI Wilhelm Kiesewetter was Commander of SM UC-56.

The oldest Commander on patrol during WWII was Korvettenkapitän Georg von Willamowitz-Moellendorf, the well known commander of U-459, one of the Milk-Cows. He died in 1943 at the age of 49 years.
The usual limit for combat-commanders was 40 years.