Reiner Dierksen

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.

Naval career 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 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 and one 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 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.

Summary of Career

Ships attacked DateShipNationalityTonnageFate 4 August 1942 Richmond Castle7,798 Sunk 8 August 1942 Kelso 3,956 Sunk 8 August 1942 Mount Kassion 7,914 Sunk 8 August 1942 Trehata 4,817 Sunk 9 August 1942 Radchurch 3,701 Sunk 25 August 1942 Empire Breeze 7,457 Sunk 27 November 1942 Polydorus 5,922 Sunk 13 December 1942 Scania 1,629 Sunk 16 December 1942 Observer 5,881 Sunk 13 May 1943 Mambí 1,983 Sunk 13 May 1943 Nickeliner 2,249 Sunk

Awards Iron Cross 2nd Class Minesweeper War Badge Iron Cross 1st Class U-boat War Badge 1939 German Cross in Gold (posthumous)