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Biography of Korvettenkapitian Kurt Steiner

KvtKpt. Kurt Steiner was born in Dresden in 1914, to a simple family, his father being a carpenter and his mother a nurse.  His father went on to serve in the Great War with the Engineers and was killed on the Western Front in 1917.  Steiner hated school but showed an aptitude for mathematics and excelled in this subject while barely passing others preferring to pursue his own areas of interest.  It was not uncommon for his mother to receive a weekly letter from Kurt's schoolmaster complaining of his failure to apply himself to traditional subjects and constant daydreaming.  In 1928, Kurt's mother became so exasperated at his self established independence that she sent him to live with his uncle in Todendorf near Kieler Hafen where his uncle operated a tug boat and general marine repair service.  It was here Kurt developed a love for the sea and found his calling on the ocean.  He joined the Kriegsmarine in 1934 and served on various coastal ships in the
Baltic Sea.  He found celestial navigation particularly interesting and made it his area of personal study.   In 1936 he applied for and was admitted to Officer and U-boat School.  Between 1936 and 1939 he served on various boats as IWO and IIWO.  He quickly developed a reputation for unorthodox tactics almost to the point of "reckless abandon".  In spite of this questionable qualification, when war broke out in Sept. 1939, Steiner's Commanding Officer recommended him for immediate Command.  From Oct. 1939 to March 1942 Steiner
commanded 3 different boats and completed 17 patrols.  His crews sank over 850000 tons of enemy shipping, 2 destroyers, 3 corvettes and shot down 6 enemy aircraft.  He was promoted to KvtKpt. 31 March 1942 as served as second in Command at Bergen.  KvtKpt. Steiner took command of the 13th Flotilla, Trondheim on 17 Nov. 1942.  Through out his naval career Steiner has shown a complete and total disdain of politics and political issues. As a boat Commander, he forbid the crew to discuss political issues while at sea, insisting they concentrate their mental energies to the job at hand.  While assigned to Bergen, he transferred a captured British mini-sub to Kieler Hafen under the very eyes of the Gestapo by preparing a set of false documents listing the cargo as defective torpedoes.  He raised such a fuss about the dud torpedo problem that the secret cargo was quickly passed just to get him on his way.  Steiner has steadfastly held to the traditional naval salute, refusing to use the party salute when dealing with the High Command.
This "maverick" attitude has frequently brought him into disfavor with
Berlin, but his success and dedication have thus far shielded him from
political retribution.  Steiner has one older brother, Sturmbannfuhrer Otto Steiner, serving with the 502nd Waffen SS Heavy Tank Battalion.  When the Americans entered the war, Kurt insisted his mother leave Dresden and she now resides on a small farm near Bad Hersfeld where she cares for soldiers crippled in battle.  KvtKpt. Steiner is a holder of the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.