Karl-Friedrich Merten
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Karl-Friedrich Merten (15 August 1905 - 2 May 1993) was a German U-boat commander during World War II.
Born in Posen, he joined the German Navy in 1926. After training he spent many years on surface ships. He joined the U-Boat service on the 1st May 1940. From October 1940 until January 1941 he joined U-38 as a trainee Captain with the experienced Heinrich Liebe.
On the 11th February 1941, Merten commissioned U-68 and lead 5 successful patrols. He operated all over the world, patrolling in the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Indian Oceans. U-68 was in the U-boat wolfpack "Gruppe Eisbär" (Polar Bear Group), consisting of four submarines, U-68 (Merten), U-156 (Hartenstein), U-172 (Emmermann), U-504 (Poske) a fifth U-boat, U-159 (Witte) joined the group later, which in the course of a few weeks during September/October 1942, sank more than 100,000 tons of shipping off South Africa.
On the 22nd September 1941 Merten torpedoed his first ship the 5,302 ton British Steamer SS Silverbelle sailing in convoy SL87 and on the November 6, 1942 he sunk his last ship the 8,034 ton British Steamer SS City of Cairo. His total was 29 ships sunk at a tonnage of 170,151.
After this patrol Merten was appointed to the U-boat Flotilla in Pillau, and this and other training appointments curtailed his operational career. Nevertheless, when the war ended he stood seventh in the table of U-Boat commanders in terms of tonnage sunk. After the war he made a new career in shipbuilding, retiring in 1974.
Long after the sinking of the SS City of Cairo he was invited to a post-war reunion of survivors where one observed: "We couldn't have been sunk by a nicer man".
[edit] Awards
- Iron Cross 2. und 1. class
- Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves
- Knight's Cross (13 June 1942)
- Oak Leaves (16 November 1942)
