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Adolf Cornelius Piening
Korvettenkapitän (Crew 30)
Successes 25 ships sunk, total tonnage 126,664 GRT 1 warship sunk, total tonnage 13,785 tons 1 auxiliary warship damaged, total tonnage 6,736 GRT |
Born | 16 Sep 1910 | Süderende, Tondem | |
Died | 15 May 1984 | (73) | Kiel, Germany |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
U-boat | From | To | |
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U-155 | 23 Aug 1941 | Feb, 1944 | 8 patrols (459 days) |
Adolf Piening began his navy career on the famous 'Pocket Battleship' Deutschland, then spent a few years on torpedo boats and minesweepers before transferring to the U-bootwaffe (U-boat arm) in October 1940. Following standard training he made one patrol on U-48 as Kommandantenschüler (commandant in training) in June 1941, and in August took command of U-155. This command was very successful, most notably for the sinking of the British escort carrier HMS Avenger (13,875 tons) on 15 November 1942.
In March 1944 he became leader of the 7th Flotilla. On 30 April 1945 he laid mines outside St. Nazaire in U-255. After the war he spent more than two years in Allied captivity. In 1956 Adolf Piening joined the Bundesmarine, serving for 13 years and retiring as Kapitän zur See.
Piening is famous for the Piening Route, which he devised as a means to escape Allied aircraft in the Bay of Biscay.
Sources
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.
Patrol info for Adolf Cornelius Piening
U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
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1. | U-155 | 7 Feb 1942 | Kiel | 27 Mar 1942 | Lorient | Patrol 1, | 49 days | |
2. | U-155 | 24 Apr 1942 | Lorient | 14 Jun 1942 | Lorient | Patrol 2, | 52 days | |
3. | U-155 | 9 Jul 1942 | Lorient | 15 Sep 1942 | Lorient | Patrol 3, | 69 days | |
4. | U-155 | 7 Nov 1942 | Lorient | 30 Dec 1942 | Lorient | Patrol 4, | 54 days | |
5. | U-155 | 8 Feb 1943 | Lorient | 30 Apr 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 5, | 82 days | |
6. | U-155 | 10 Jun 1943 | Lorient | 16 Jun 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 6, | 7 days | |
7. | U-155 | 30 Jun 1943 | Lorient | 11 Aug 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 7, | 43 days | |
8. | U-155 | 18 Sep 1943 | Lorient | 19 Sep 1943 | Brest | 2 days | ||
9. | U-155 | 21 Sep 1943 | Brest | 1 Jan 1944 | Lorient | Patrol 8, | 103 days | |
10. | U-255 | 28 Apr 1945 | La Pallice | 30 Apr 1945 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 9, | 3 days | |
9 patrols, 462 days at sea |
Ships hit by Adolf Cornelius Piening
About ranks and decorations
Ranks shown in italics are our database inserts based on the rank dates of his crew comrades. The officers of each crew would normally have progressed through the lower ranks at the same rate.
Media links
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