Helmuth Brinkmann

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Helmuth Brinkmann
Vizeadmiral Helmuth Brinkmann II.jpg
Birth date 12 March 1895 (1895-03-12)
Place of birth Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck, German Empire
Death date 26 September 1983 (1983-09-27) (aged 88)
Place of death Dießen am Ammersee, Bavaria, West Germany
Allegiance  German Empire
 Weimar Republic
 National Socialist Germany
Service/branch  Kaiserliche Marine
 Reichsmarine
 Kriegsmarine
Years of service 1913–45
Rank Vizeadmiral
Commands held Aviso Grille
Heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen
Battles/wars World War I
World War II
Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Relations ∞ Else Brinkmann

Helmuth Brinkmann (12 March 1895 – 26 September 1983) was a German naval officer, finally Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) of the Kriegsmarine and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in World War Two.

Military career

Kapitän z. S. Helmuth Brinkmann with the old k.u.k. Linienschiffskapitän Adolf Schmidt, the last Commandant of the Austro-Hungarian Battleship SMS Prinz Eugen (1914–1922), in Brest, France, 1941
Admiral Günther Lütjens, behind him Kapitän z. S. Helmuth Brinkmann on the new Prinz Eugen
The Prinz Eugen during Operation "Rheinübung", behind her the mighty Bismarck
Vizeadmiral Brinkmann
  • 1 April 1913: Entered the Imperial German Navy as a Sea Cadet
  • 1 April 1913-2 August 1914: Initial training and training aboard the protected cruiser Vineta
  • 1 April 1914-2 August 1914: Naval School Mürwik
  • 7 August 1914-6 January 1915: Assigned to the pre-dreadnought battleship Kaiser Friedrich III
  • 7 January 1915-5 March 1915: Assigned to the pre-dreadnought battleship Kaiser Karl der Große
  • 6 March 1915-28 October 1915: Radio Officer aboard the light cruiser Regensburg
  • 29 October 1915-31 July 1918: Assigned to various torpedo boats in the 2nd Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla
  • 29 October 1915-3 June 1917: Watch Officer (Wachoffizier) aboard the torpedo boat G 196
  • 19 August 1917-29 September 1917: Watch Officer aboard the torpedo boat G 192
  • 30 September 1917-12 November 1917: Watch Officer aboard the torpedo boat V 190
  • 8 June 1918-31 July 1918: Watch Officer aboard the torpedo boat S 133
  • 1 August 1918-20 September 1918: Attended the Navigation Course
  • 21 September 1918-30 November 1918: Watch Officer aboard the torpedo boat G 86 in the 1st Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla
  • 1 December 1918-16 May 1920: Watch Officer and Adjutant of the torpedo boat V 130 in the 2nd Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla and then the 2nd Iron Flotilla

Between wars

  • 31 July 1920-29 September 1922: Kommandant of the tender T 144
  • 30 September 1922-10 February 1925: Kommandant of the torpedo boats G 7, G 10 and S 18 in the I. Torpedo Boat Flotilla
  • 12 February 1925-17 September 1926: Company Commander in the Baltic Sea Ship Cadre Division
  • 18 September 1926-2 October 1928: Consultant in the Baltic Sea Ship Cadre Division
  • 3 October 1928-5 November 1930: Second Adjutant on the staff of the Command of the Baltic Sea Naval Station
  • 6 November 1930-21 December 1932: Navigation Officer of the light cruiser Königsberg
  • 10 January 1933-31 March 1935: Consultant in the Reich Defense Ministry
  • 20 May 1935-6 May 1938: Kommandant of the state yacht and fleet tender Grille [this ship served as Adolf Hitler’s state yacht]
  • 9 May 1938-26 October 1938: Consultant in the Marinewehrabteilung in the Kriegsmarine High Command
  • 27 October 1938-24 July 1940: Chief of the Marinewehrabteilung in the Kriegsmarine High Command

World War II

  • 1 August 1940-4 August 1942: Kommandant of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen
    • As the first Kommandant of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, Hellmuth Brinkmann took part in two of the most notable surface actions fought by the German Navy during World War II. On 18 May 1941, Brinkmann’s Prinz Eugen sortied from Gotenhafen with the new battleship Bismarck during Unternehmen „Rheinübung“ (Rhine Exercise), a breakout into the Atlantic to conduct commerce raiding. On 24 May 1941, the German ships were intercepted in the Denmark Straight off Greenland by the British battlecruiser HMS Hood and battleship HMS Prince of Wales of the Royal Navy. In the action that followed, the Bismarck destroyed the Hood (1,338 killed, 3 survivors) and damaged the Prince of Wales. Shortly after the battle, Admiral Günther Lütjens, the Fleet Chief aboard the Bismarck, ordered the Prinz Eugen to break away from the battleship and operate independently. On 27 May 1941, the Royal Navy finally caught and sank the Bismarck by battleship gunfire and cruiser-launched torpedoes. The Prinz Eugen arrived safely at Brest, France on 1 June 1941. By early 1942, the powerful German naval squadron based at Brest found itself increasingly vulnerable in the face of escalating British air attacks. To preserve the fleet for further operations in Norwegian waters, the German High Command ordered the squadron to return to Germany via the closest route: straight through the English Channel. On the night of 11 February 1942, Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax, Commander of Battleships, led the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst (Kapitän zur See Kurt Caesar Hoffmann – with Ciliax aboard) and Gneisenau (Kapitän zur See Otto Fein), the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen (Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann), six destroyers, 14 torpedo boats and numerous smaller craft from Brest to begin their daring daylight dash— codenamed Operation “Cerebus”—through the English Channel. Protected by a heavy Luftwaffe fighter umbrella directed by Oberst Adolf Galland, the German ships successfully warded off determined British air and destroyer attacks. Although both the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were mined along the way, the squadron arrived in German waters on 13 February 1942. On 21 February 1942, the heavy cruisers Prinz Eugen (with Vizeadmiral Ciliax aboard) and Admiral Scheer (Kapitän zur See Wilhelm Meendsen-Bohlken) and five destroyers departed Germany for Operation “Sportpalast” (Sport Palace), a transfer of naval surface forces to Norway. On 23 February 1942, the British submarine HMS Trident torpedoed the Prinz Eugen off Norway nearly severing her stern. Brinkmann managed to get his badly damaged ship to Trondheim where she remained under temporary repair until May 1942. For this, Brinckmann received the German Cross in Gold. The Prinz Eugen then returned to Kiel where she remained under further repair until October 1942.
  • 5 August 1942-21 November 1943: Chief of Staff of Navy Group Command South
  • 22 November 1943-9 November 1944: Commanding Admiral Black Sea
  • 10 October 1944-21 December 1944: Naval Liaison Officer to the 20th Mountain Army in Norway
  • 6 January 1945 1945-31 May 1945: Deputy Commanding Admiral Baltic Sea
  • 20 April 1945-31 May 1945: At the same time, Deputy Commanding Admiral North Sea
    • until 23 May 1945 with the Dönitz government (Regierung Dönitz), afterwards under the order of the British occupying forces

POW

  • 31 May 1945-29 November 1947: Prisoner of war in British captivity
    • 9 January 1946 transferred to Island Farm Special Camp 11 from Camp 1
    • 9 May 1946 transferred to Camp 99 from Island Farm Special Camp 11
    • 2 November 1946 transferred to Island Farm Special Camp 11 from 99
    • 25 November 1947 Repatriated[1]

Promotions

Helmuth Brinkmann.jpg

Imperial Navy

  • Seekadett: 1 April 1913
  • Fähnrich zur See: 3 April 1914
  • Leutnant zur See: 18 September 1915

Reichsmarine

  • Oberleutnant zur See: 7 January 1920 (Patent pending)
    • 14 May 1921 Patent received with effect from 7 January 1920
  • Kapitänleutnant: 1 May 1925
  • Korvettenkapitän: 1 January 1933

Kriegsmarine

  • Fregattenkapitän: 1 January 1937
  • Kapitän zur See: 1 October 1938
  • Konteradmiral: 1 September 1942
  • Vizeadmiral: 1 February 1944

Awards and decorations

References

  1. ↑ Vizeadmiral Helmuth Brinkmann, specialcamp11.co.uk
  2. ↑ Vizeadmiral Helmuth Brinkmann, oocities.org
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