Lowering of the Tariff for the Iron Cross

[magicdragon]

While looking up the career of Heinrich Timm commander of U-251 and U-862.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Timm

A fascinating story involving the same commander and basically the same crew transferring from an Type VIIC to a Type IXD2 U-Boat while surviving in combat from April 1942 to May 1945 largely intact as a group and surviving the trip to the Far East as one of the Monsoon U Boats plus incarceration by the Japanese when the Nazis surrendered - takes some doing!

While looking at Timm's record I noticed his role as a commander of the minesweeper M-7 in January 1940 in the destruction of the Royal Navy's S Class submarine HMS Starfish with depth charges forcing her to the surface which led to her being scuttled. The award of an Iron Cross 2nd Class (10 January 1940) seems to undervalue such an act, even if Timm’s boat was just one of several others involved in the sinking for HMS Starfish?

Do others think that this level of award was about right for such a victory? Did the tariff/threshold for getting medals decrease dramatically during the war?