Werner Witte
Korvettenkapitän (Crew 35)
| Successes 5 ships sunk, total tonnage 29,091 GRT 3 ships damaged, total tonnage 20,014 GRT 1 ship a total loss, total tonnage 7,129 GRT |
| Born | 5 Jan 1915 | Berlin-Friedenau | |
| Died | 15 Jul 1943 | (28) | north-west of Madeira |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-509 | Sep, 1942 | 15 Jul 1943 (+) | 3 patrols (196 days) |
Werner Witte joined the Kriegsmarine in 35. From March to July 1940 he served as Watch Officer (WO) on the minelayer Hansestadt Danzig and then joined the 15th minesweeping flotilla until Sept 1941.
From Sept 1941 to Feb 1942 Werner Witte went through U-boat training and then he served as the First Watch officer (1WO) on the successful U-109 from March to June 1942.
Witte went through U-boat Commander training with the 24th Flotilla from July to Aug 1942 when he took command of the Type IXC boat U-509 in Sept.
He commanded the boat on 3 patrols for almost 200 days at sea, sinking or destroying 6 ships for over 36,000 tons and damaging 3 more ships for over 20,000 tons. On his first patrol he sank 4 ships and damaged 3, all from convoy SL-125 west of Africa in late Oct 1942.
On 15 July 1943 during his third patrol Witte's U-509 was destroyed with all hands, 54 men, in the Mid-Atlantic by Fido homing torpedoes from "Avenger" aircraft (VC-29) of the US escort carrier USS Santee (Niestlé, 1998).
Sources
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Niestle, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.
Patrol info for Werner Witte
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-509 | 15 Oct 1942 | Lorient | 26 Nov 1942 | Lorient | Patrol 1, | 43 days | |
| 2. | U-509 | 23 Dec 1942 | Lorient | 11 May 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 2, | 140 days | |
| 3. | U-509 | 3 Jul 1943 | Lorient | 15 Jul 1943 | Sunk | Patrol 3, | 13 days | |
| 3 patrols, 196 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Werner Witte
| Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Oct 1942 | U-509 |  | Anglo Mærsk (d.) | 7,705 |  | br | SL-125 |
| 27 Oct 1942 | U-509 | | Pacific Star | 7,951 | | br | SL-125 |
| 27 Oct 1942 | U-509 | | Stentor | 6,148 | | br | SL-125 |
| 28 Oct 1942 | U-509 | Nagpore | 5,283 | | br | SL-125 | |
| 28 Oct 1942 | U-509 | | Hopecastle (d.) | 5,178 | | br | SL-125 |
| 29 Oct 1942 | U-509 | | Corinaldo (d.) | 7,131 | | br | SL-125 |
| 30 Oct 1942 | U-509 | | Brittany | 4,772 | | br | SL-125 |
| 10 Feb 1943 | U-509 | Queen Anne | 4,937 | | br | CA-11 | |
| 2 Apr 1943 | U-509 | | City of Baroda (t.) | 7,129 | | br | NC-9 |
| 56,234 | |||||||
6 ships sunk (36,220 tons) and 3 ships damaged (20,014 tons). Legend | |||||||
About ranks and decorations
Ranks shown in italics are our database inserts based on the rank dates of his crew comrades. The officers of each crew would normally have progressed through the lower ranks at the same rate.
Media links
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