Portrait Photo of U-Boat Ace Asmus Nikolai "Niko" Clausen

Kapitänleutnant Asmus Nikolai Clausen (2 June 1911 - 16 May 1943) pictured in March 1942. Clausen joined the Reichsmarine in October 1929 as a seaman. He spent the next few years on torpedo boats (T-185 and G-10) and on the Segelschulschiff (sailing school ship) Gorch Fock. In September 1935 he transferred to the new U-boat force and after some months of training, joined U-26 under Kapitänleutnant Werner Hartmann in April 1936. In March 1937 he entered Marineschule (Naval Academy) Mürwik and received several months of officer training. In the next two years he served on the battlecruiser Admiral Graf Spee and the minesweeper M-134. When war broke out in autumn 1939, his former commander Werner Hartmann requested his services, and Niko Clausen became the 1st Watch Officer (I WO) on U-37. He completed three patrols on U-37, mostly in the Atlantic, and on returning from the first patrol received his Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse from Karl Dönitz personally. He left U-37 in summer 1940 and in August commissioned the type IID U-boat U-142. After only two months he returned to U-37 to replace Victor Oehrn as commander. In May 1941 he left U-37, which then became a training boat. Three weeks later he commissioned the type IXC U-boat U-129. The first three patrols on U-129, mostly in the Atlantic, ended without success, but during the fourth patrol, in Caribbean waters, Niko Clausen sank seven ships with a total of 25,613 tons. During this patrol he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 13 March 1942. After returning from this patrol in May 1942 he turned over command of U-129 to Hans-Ludwig Witt. In July 1942 Kapitänleutnant Clausen commissioned U-182, another long range boat. On his first patrol, in the Indian Ocean, he sank five ships totalling 30,071 tons. On the return journey, U-182 was lost with all hands, sunk on 16 May 1943 by the American destroyers USS MacKenzie and Lamb.

This photo was taken in autumn 1941. Clausen, at the time commander of U-129, was on holidays with his crew in the Austrian Alps town of Pörtschach, the god-parent town of U-129. He was then 30 years old.

Source :
https://audiovis.nac.gov.pl/obraz/2734/16681a180a83d321351d3a71c29af66e/
https://uboat.net/men/clausen.htm
http://collectinghistory.net/U-182/