Adolf Piening
| Adolf Piening | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
16 September 1910 Süderende on Föhr |
| Died | 15 May 1984 (aged 73) Kiel |
| Allegiance |
 Nazi Germany (to 1945) West Germany
|
| Service/ |
 Kriegsmarine German Navy
|
| Years of service | 1930–45 1956–69 |
| Rank |
Kapitänleutnant (Kriegsmarine) Kapitän zur See |
| Commands held | U-155 |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross |
Adolf Cornelius Piening (16 September 1910 in Süderende on Föhr – 15 May 1984 in Kiel) 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.
Piening joined the Reichsmarine in 1930. 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 submarine arm or U-Bootwaffe.
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". Following this, he was appointed commander of the newly built Type IX submarine U-155 on 23 August 1941. 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.
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