Career
The Knight"s Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. He is numbered thirty-one in the list of U-Boat aces of World World War World War II Rostin joined theReichsmarine in 1933 and served eight years on minesweepers. He was transferred to submarine training in 1941.
Rostin sailed for his first combat patrol as commander of U-158 on 7 February 1942, sinking five ships (38,785 tons), including the Steamship Empire Celt, and damaging two (15,264 tons) of the east coast of the United States His second and last patrol (4 May–30 June 1942), took him into the Gulf of Mexico where U-158 sank 12 ships (62,536 tons), one of the most successful patrols in the Kriegsmarine.
However it ended with the sinking of U-158 by a United States Navy PBM Mariner bomber, with all hands lost, at 32°50′North 67°28′West. In five months Rostin sank 17 ships for a total of 101,321 GRT, and damaged two others for a total of 15,264 GRT. Ships Attacked Erwin Rostin as commander of U-158 sank 17 merchant ships totalling 101,321 gross register tons (GRT), and damaged another two of 15,264 GRT.
