Adolf Piening

Adolf Cornelius Piening (16 September 1910 – 15 May 1984) was a Kapitänleutnant with the Kriegsmarine during World War II. He commanded the Type IXC U-boat U-155, sinking twenty-six ships on nine patrols, for a total of 140,449 gross register tons (GRT) of Allied shipping, to become the nineteenth highest scoring U-Boat ace of World War II, and receiving the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.

Adolf Piening
Born	(1910-09-16)16 September 1910 Süderende on Föhr, German Empire
Died	15 May 1984(1984-05-15) (aged 73) Kiel, West Germany
Allegiance	Nazi Germany (to 1945)  West Germany
Service/branch	Kriegsmarine  German Navy
Years of service	1930–45 1956–69
Rank	Kapitänleutnant (Kriegsmarine) Kapitän zur See
Commands held	U-155
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of the Atlantic
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Career

Piening joined the Reichsmarine in 1930.[Notes 1] His first assignment was to the armoured cruiser Deutschland, after which he served on torpedo boats and minesweepers, reaching the rank of Kapitänleutnant by April 1939. In October 1940 he moved from the surface fleet to the U-boat arm (U-Bootwaffe).[1]

In May–June 1941 he carried out a single patrol out of Saint-Nazaire aboard U-48 (commanded by Herbert Schultze) as Kommandantenschüler or "Commander-in-Training".[1][2] Following this, he was appointed commander of the newly built Type IX submarine U-155 on 23 August 1941.[3] After training the boat's crew for several month, Piening set out from Kiel on his first patrol in command of U-155 in February 1942, with the intention of attacking shipping in American waters. On the journey across the Atlantic, U-155 encountered the westbound convoy ON 67, and after sending out a contact report that allowed several more U-boats to be directed against the convoy, carried out an attack that sank an 8,000 ton tanker and a 1,800 ton freighter. U-155 sank another ship off the coast of the United States re-crossing the Atlantic to the submarine's new base at Lorient, as part of the 10th U-boat Flotilla.[3][4][5]

The "Piening Route" in red.

Piening carried out a further seven patrols in command of U-155, sinking 26 ships for a total of 140,449 gross register tons (GRT), including the escort carrier HMS Avenger, and also badly damaged the attack cargo ship USS Almaack.[1][6] He also became well known for developing the "Piening Route" in 1943, hugging the coast of France and northern Spain, to evade Allied patrol aircraft in the Bay of Biscay.[1][7] U-155 attacked and sank MS Siranger, sailing from New York to West-Africa, on 24 October 1943. There were no deaths, and all on board reached the lifeboats. The "U-155" later surfaced and Piening apologized to the survivors for the act, claiming he was only carrying out orders. Dokumentary by NRK

In March 1944 Piening left U-155 and was appointed commander of the 7th U-boat Flotilla at Saint-Nazaire. In April 1945 Piening made one last patrol, laying mines off Saint-Nazaire in U-255. At the end of the war, he was taken prisoner of war.[1]

Postwar

Piening was released after two years of Allied imprisonment in 1947.[1]

In 1956, West Germany established its navy, the Bundesmarine, and Piening joined the new navy. In 1959 he was appointed commanding officer of the 1. Geleitgeschwader (1st Escort Squadron). He then held the position of Planning officer on the staff of COMNAVNORCENT (Commander Allied Naval Forces North Norway) and Chief of the Operations Division on the staff of COMNAVBALTAP (Commander of Allied Forces Baltic Approaches). On 1 October 1965 he became team leader at the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr, serving until 1969, retiring with the rank of Kapitän zur See. He died in Kiel on 15 May 1984.[1][8]

Summary of career

Ships attacked

As commander of U-155 Adolf Piening is credited with the sinking of 25 ships for a total of 126,664 gross register tons (GRT), one warship, HMS Avenger, of 13,785 long tons (14,006 tonnes) and damaging one auxiliary warship, the USS Almaack, of 6,736 long tons (6,844 tonnes).

Date	Ship Name	Flag	Tonnage	Fate
22 February 1942	Adellen	United Kingdom	7,984	Sunk
22 February 1942	Sama	Norway	1,799	Sunk
7 March 1942	Arabutan	Brazil	7,874	Sunk
14 May 1942	Brabant	Belgium	2,483	Sunk
17 May 1942	USS Challenger	United States Navy	7,667	Sunk
17 May 1942	San Victorio	United Kingdom	8,136	Sunk
20 May 1942	Sylvan Arrow	Panama	7,797	Sunk
23 May 1942	Watsonville	Panama	2,220	Sunk
28 May 1942	Poseidon	Netherlands	1,928	Sunk
30 May 1942	Baghdad	Norway	2,161	Sunk
28 July 1942	Barbacena	Brazil	4,772	Sunk
28 July 1942	Piave	Brazil	2,347	Sunk
28 July 1942	Bill	Norway	2,445	Sunk
30 July 1942	Cranford	United States	6,096	Sunk
1 August 1942	Clan Macnaughton	United Kingdom	8,088	Sunk
1 August 1942	Kentaur	Netherlands	5,878	Sunk
4 August 1942	Empire Arnold	United Kingdom	7,045	Sunk
5 August 1942	Draco	Netherlands	389	Sunk
9 August 1942	San Emiliano	United Kingdom	8,071	Sunk
10 August 1942	Strabo	Netherlands	383	Sunk
15 August 1942	Ettrick	United Kingdom	11,279	Sunk
15 August 1942	HMS Avenger	Royal Navy	13,785	Sunk
15 August 1942	USS Almaack	United States Navy	6,736	Damaged
6 December 1942	Serooskerk	Netherlands	8,456	Sunk
2 April 1943	Lysefjord	Norway	1,091	Sunk
3 April 1943	Gulfstate	United States	6,882	Sunk
24 October 1943	Siranger	Norway	5,393	Sunk

Awards

• Wehrmacht Long Service Award 4th Class (2 October 1936)[9]
• Spanish Cross in Bronze with Swords (6 June 1939)[9]
• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (22 November 1939)[9]
  • 1st Class (27 June 1940)[9]
• U-boat War Badge (1939) (28 March 1942)[9]
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 13 August 1942 as Kapitänleutnant and commander of U-155.[10]

[11]

Notes

1. The German Reichsmarine was renamed to Kriegsmarine on 1 June 1935.

References

Notes

1. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Korvettenkapitän Adolf Cornelius Piening". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
2. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrols by U-48". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
3. Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Type IXC boat U-155". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Archived from the original on 2012-03-11. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
4. Blair 2000, pp. 509–510.
5. Helgason, Guðmundur. "Patrol of German U-boat U-155 from 7 February 1942 to 27 March 1942". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
6. Helgason, Guðmundur. "War Patrols by German U-boat U-155". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
7. Helgason, Guðmundur. "The Piening-Route". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
8. Ross & Bishop 2016, p. 189. sfn error: no target: CITEREFRossBishop2016 (help)
9. Busch & Röll 2003, p. 242.
10. Scherzer 2007, p. 594.
11. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 339.

Bibliography

• Blair, Clay (2000). Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters 1939–1942. London: Cassell. ISBN 0-304-35260-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (2003). Der U-Boot-Krieg 1939–1945 — Die Ritterkreuzträger der U-Boot-Waffe von September 1939 bis Mai 1945 [The U-Boat War 1939–1945 — The Knight's Cross Bearers of the U-Boat Force from September 1939 to May 1945] (in German). Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn Germany: Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn. ISBN 978-3-8132-0515-2.
• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
• David Ross and Chris Bishop. Submarines: WWI to the Present. New York City: Chartwell Books. ISBN 978-0-7858-3446-5.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)

External links

• Helgason, Guðmundur. "Adolf Piening". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
• "Adolf Piening". Lexikon der Wehrmacht (in German). Retrieved 27 May 2013.

Military offices
Preceded by Kapitänleutnant Herbert Sohler	Commander of 7th U-boat Flotilla March 1944 – May 1945	Succeeded by disbanded