Favorite Sub Commander

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Collin Dougherty

U-99 right?
Why wasent he imprisoned?
He continued to serve after WWII right?
And even before?

Kretschmer commanded U-99 for almost a year, from April 1940 until he and most of his crew were captured in March 1941 (from late 1937 until April 1940 he'd been in command of U-23).

He was indeed imprisoned, serving out the remainder of the war as a British POW in England and then Canada. He was not allowed to return to Germany a free man until late in 1947 and joined the post-war German navy in the mid-1950s. He retired as a Flotillenadmiral.

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Collin Dougherty

I like Hardagen Because he was an anti-nazi (Im a communist what do you expect :p)
Who served for germany, and not for hitler.
How brave

Luth was a true believer. I'd be interested to know if he knew about the Holocaust?

[Collin Dougherty]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

Yeah, he was lucky. Prien and Schepke were lost around the same time period.

Same month even

[Raptor1]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

For WWI, I'll say Weddigen

Otto Weddigen would be my second choice, he was involved in some of the most successful submarine actions in the war. His boat was also sunk in quite a peculiar manner.

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

Kretschmer commanded U-99 for almost a year, from April 1940 until he and most of his crew were captured in March 1941 (from late 1937 until April 1940 he'd been in command of U-23).

He was indeed imprisoned, serving out the remainder of the war as a British POW in England and then Canada. He was not allowed to return to Germany a free man until late in 1947 and joined the post-war German navy in the mid-1950s. He retired as a Flotillenadmiral.

It's funny, coz, there was this girl in highschool who had the same last name (Kretschmer), so I always bugged her if she was related to him. She had never heard of him and no, not related.

[Collin Dougherty]

For WWI i would say Walther Forstman.

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Raptor1

Otto Weddigen would be my second choice, he was involved in some of the most successful submarine actions in the war. His boat was also sunk in quite a peculiar manner.

Anybody that sailed in those early U-boats and survived is okay in my book.

[Collin Dougherty]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

Anybody that sailed in those early U-boats and survived is okay in my book.

I completly agree

[nikimcbee]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudley_W._Morton

[Collin Dougherty]

Bah, I still like Prien the most

[TLAM Strike]

Three I've always admired
Commander Chester M. "Whitey" Mack
Captain Second Rank Igor Anatolievich Britanov
Rear Admiral Eugene Bennett Fluckey (not just for his WWII service, his post war service was also exemplary)

[razark]

Howard Gilmore


And toss in Morton and his XO O'Kane.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Raptor1

Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière

Gets my vote as well. Among his many exploits was surviving hiding under a freighter he had torpedoed, only to have it sink on top of him. Pure luck, that escape was.

Originally Posted by Feuer Frei!

Otto Kretschmer, without a doubt:
In all, he sank 56 ships to become the tonnage king of the German U-Boat service, with a total tonnage of 313,611 tons.

Only for World War 2.

[Penguin]

Mine is definetely Reinhard "Teddy" Suhren. I've read some stuff about him and think he was a cool and honourable guy, he stayed "Mensch" during hard times. Other ex-crewmembers of him confirm the truth about his book.
He served as 1.WO on U48, the most successfull u-bot in WW2, later became the youngest guy in the rank of a Korvettenkapitän.
http://www.uboat.net/men/suhren.htm

Originally Posted by Collin Dougherty

I like Hardagen Because he was an anti-nazi (Im a communist what do you expect :p)
Who served for germany, and not for hitler.
How brave

There were quite a few who saw their country first, not the Nazi ideology, but you might want to check out the fate of Oskar Kusch.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...87&postcount=1
http://www.ijnhonline.org/volume1_nu..._uboat.doc.htm

I don't know if Buchheim got his inspiration of the 1.WO from the officer who ratted on him, Ulrich Abel, but Kusch's fate didn't become public untill recent years.
Abel died 3 weeks before Kusch was executed, sometimes karma is a bitch. I feel compassion only for the others who were on his boat.

[MaddogK]

+1 for Gunther