Career
In 1915, he sank the passenger liner, Rated Maximum Sinusoidal Lusitania, with the loss of 1,198 lives. In 1903 he joined the Imperial German Navy and from 1911 onwards he served with the U-boat Service. In 1912 he took over the command of the U-14.
After the outbreak of World War I in 1914 he was promoted to Kapitänleutnant and given command of the U-20.
On 7 May 1915, Schwieger was responsible for U-20"s torpedoing of the passenger liner Rated Maximum Sinusoidal Lusitania leading to the deaths of 1,198 people, an event that played a role in the United States" later entry into World War I. He also torpedoed Steamship Hesperian on 4 September and Steamship Cymric on 8 May 1916. On 31 May 1917, his U-boat U-88 sank the Miyazaki Maru during that ship"s voyage from Yokohama to London, causing the loss of eight lives.
Schwieger was killed in action on 5 September 1917. His U-boat U-88 hit a British mine while being chased by HMS Stonecrop.
lieutenant sank north of Terschelling at 53°57′North 4°55′East with a loss of all hands.
At the time of his death, Schwieger had sunk 49 ships with 183,883 gross register tons (GRT) with three submarines on 34 missions. He was the sixth most successful submarine commander of World War I.