Adolf Piening
German naval officer
title: "Adolf Piening" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1910-births", "1984-deaths", "u-boat-commanders-(kriegsmarine)", "german-military-personnel-of-the-spanish-civil-war", "recipients-of-the-knight's-cross-of-the-iron-cross", "german-navy-personnel", "reichsmarine-personnel", "german-prisoners-of-war-in-world-war-ii", "people-from-nordfriesland", "military-personnel-from-schleswig-holstein"] description: "German naval officer" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Piening" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary German naval officer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox military person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Adolf Piening |
| birth_date | |
| death_date | |
| birth_place | Süderende on Föhr, German Empire |
| death_place | Kiel, West Germany |
| image | Cornelius Piening.jpg |
| allegiance | Nazi Germany (to 1945) |
| West Germany | |
| branch |
| | serviceyears | 1930–45 1956–69 | | rank | Kapitänleutnant (Kriegsmarine) Kapitän zur See | | commands | | | battles | World War II | | awards | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | ::
|name=Adolf Piening |birth_date= |death_date= |birth_place=Süderende on Föhr, German Empire |death_place=Kiel, West Germany |image=Cornelius Piening.jpg |caption= |nickname= |allegiance=Nazi Germany (to 1945) West Germany |branch=
|serviceyears=1930–45 1956–69 |rank=Kapitänleutnant (Kriegsmarine) Kapitän zur See |commands= |unit= |battles=World War II
- Battle of the Atlantic |awards=Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross |laterwork=}}
Adolf Cornelius Piening (16 September 1910 – 15 May 1984) was a German naval officer. During World War II, he served in the Kriegsmarine and commanded the Type IXC U-boat , sinking twenty-six ships on nine patrols, for a total of of Allied shipping. Piening was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
Piening spent two years as a prisoner of war and was released in 1947. He joined the new German Navy (the Bundesmarine), which was established in 1956, serving until becoming team leader at the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College. He retired in 1969 with the rank of Captain at sea.
Career
Piening joined the Reichsmarine in 1930; the service was renamed as Kriegsmarine in 1935. His first assignment was to the armoured cruiser , 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).{{Cite web |url= http://www.uboat.net/men/piening.htm |title=Korvettenkapitän Adolf Cornelius Piening |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |website=German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net |access-date=18 March 2012
In May–June 1941 he carried out a single patrol out of Saint-Nazaire aboard (commanded by Herbert Schultze) as Kommandantenschüler or "Commander-in-Training".{{cite web |title=Patrols by U-48 |url=http://www.uboat.net/boats/patrols/u48.html |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |website=German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net |access-date=18 March 2012 |title = The Type IXC boat U-155 |url = http://www.uboat.net/boats/u155.htm |last = Helgason |first = Guðmundur |website = German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net |access-date = 18 March 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101125070232/http://www.uboat.net/boats/u155.htm |archive-date = 2010-11-25 |url-status = dead |title=Patrol of German U-boat U-155 from 7 February 1942 to 27 March 1942 |url=http://www.uboat.net/boats/patrols/patrol_3950.html |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |website=German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net |access-date=18 March 2012
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Piening_Route.png" caption="The "Piening Route" in red."] ::
Piening carried out a further seven patrols in command of U-155, sinking 26 ships for a total of , including the escort carrier , and also badly damaged the attack cargo ship .{{cite web |url=http://www.uboat.net/boats/patrols/u155.html |title=War Patrols by German U-boat U-155 |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |website=German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net |access-date=18 March 2012 |url= http://www.uboat.net/maps/piening-route.htm |first=Guðmundur |last=Helgason |title=The Piening-Route|website=German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net |access-date=18 April 2010}} 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 . At the end of the war, he was taken prisoner of war.
Postwar
Piening was released after two years of Allied imprisonment in 1947.
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.
Awards
- Wehrmacht Long Service Award 4th Class (2 October 1936)
- Spanish Cross in Bronze with Swords (6 June 1939)
- Iron Cross (1939)
- 2nd Class (22 November 1939)
- 1st Class (27 June 1940)
- U-boat War Badge (1939) (28 March 1942)
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 13 August 1942 as Kapitänleutnant and commander of U-155.
References
Notes
Bibliography
- {{cite book |last=Blair |first=Clay |author-link=Clay Blair |year=2000 |title=Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters 1939–1942 |location=London |publisher=Cassell |isbn=0-304-35260-8
- {{Cite book |last1=Busch |first1=Rainer |last2=Röll |first2=Hans-Joachim |year=2003 |title=Der U-Boot-Krieg 1939–1945 — Die Ritterkreuzträger der U-Boot-Waffe von September 1939 bis Mai 1945 |trans-title=The U-Boat War 1939–1945 — The Knight's Cross Bearers of the U-Boat Force from September 1939 to May 1945 |language=German |location=Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn Germany |publisher=Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn |isbn=978-3-8132-0515-2
- {{Cite book |last=Fellgiebel |first=Walther-Peer |year=2000 |orig-year=1986 |title=Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile |trans-title=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 |language=German |location=Friedberg, Germany |publisher=Podzun-Pallas |isbn=978-3-7909-0284-6
- {{Cite book |last=Scherzer |first=Veit |year=2007 |title=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 |trans-title=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 |language=German |location=Jena, Germany |publisher=Scherzers Militaer-Verlag |isbn=978-3-938845-17-2
before=Kapitänleutnant Herbert Sohler| after=disbanded| title= Commander of 7th U-boat Flotilla| years=March 1944 – May 1945
| portal1=Biography
References
- Busch & Röll 2003, p. 242.
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