Adolf Cornelius Piening

Adolf Piening (* 16th September 1910 in Süderende , Fohr ; † 15. May 1984 in Kiel ) was a German U-boat - commander in World War II and an officer in the German Navy .

Life

Pienings career with the Navy began on the ironclad Germany . He then spent a few years on torpedo and minesweepers before switching to submarine weapons in October 1940.

After the usual training, he completed a patrol as a commanding student on U 48 in June 1941 . In August of the same year he was given command of U 155 . He was very successful with this boat and was able to sink the British escort carrier HMS Avenger (tonnage: 13,875 GRT ) on November 15, 1942 .

On March 10, 1944 he became chief of the 7th U-Flotilla in St. Nazaire . On April 30, 1945 he was tasked with laying sea mines off St. Nazaire on board U 255 . After the end of the war, Piening was taken prisoner by the Allies , from which he was released in January 1948.

Piening joined the newly formed Federal Navy on April 23, 1956 and was active in the naval command staff in the Federal Ministry of Defense until March 31, 1959 . He was then promoted to commander of the 1st escort squadron for a year before he was deployed as a planning officer at NATO in the COMNAVNORCENT (Commander Allied Naval Forces Northern Area Central Europe). Within this organization he was head of the organization department from April 1, 1962 to September 30, 1963. With effect from October 1, 1963, Piening became commander of the amphibious armed forces command of the German Navy. After two years he switched to the command academy of the Bundeswehr , where he was head of the study group. After teaching for six months, he was transferred to London, where he was head of the German delegation at the Military Agency for Standardization. On March 31, 1969, Adolf Cornelius Piening retired.

The so-called Piening Route , created in 1943, was named after him, which served to enable German submarines to travel safely from the Spanish Atlantic along the French west coast.

Awards

Spanish cross in bronze with swords on June 6, 1939
Iron Cross (1939) 2nd class on November 21, 1939
Iron Cross (1939) 1st Class on June 27, 1940
Submarine War Badge (1939) on March 28, 1942
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on August 13, 1942

Military background

Ranks

October 9, 1930: Naval Cadet
January 1, 1932: Ensign at sea
April 1, 1934: Oberfähnrich at sea
October 1, 1934: Lieutenant at sea
June 1, 1936: First lieutenant at sea
April 1, 1939: Lieutenant Commander
April 1, 1943: Corvette Captain
April 23, 1956: Frigate captain
April 1, 1960: sea captain

Commands

23 August 1941 - February 1944: U 155 (8 patrols )

Use statistics

26 sinkings (140,449 GRT )
1 damage (6,736 GRT)

literature

Rainer Busch, Hans-Joachim Röll: The submarine war 1939-1945. Volume 5: The knight's cross bearers of the submarine weapon from September 1939 to May 1945 . Verlag ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg et al. 2003, ISBN 3-8132-0515-0 , pp. 241–244.

Individual evidence

↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939-1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 594.

personal data
SURNAME	Piening, Adolf Cornelius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German submarine commander in World War II and officer in the German Navy
DATE OF BIRTH	September 16, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH	South end
DATE OF DEATH	May 15, 1984
Place of death	Kiel

[1] Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939-1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 594.