The Men - The Commander listing

Otto Hartmann

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 36)

Successes
3 ships sunk for a total of 13.760 GRT
1 ship damaged for a total of 5.229 GRT
1 warship damaged for a total of 1.190 tons
1 ship a total loss for a total of 5.222 GRT

Born	18 Apr, 1917	Stuttgart
Died	28 Mar, 1943	Mediterranean

Ranks

1 Oct, 1940	Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr, 1943	Kapitänleutnant (posthumous)

U-boat Commands

U-77

2 Sep, 1942

28 Mar, 1943 (+)

4 patrols (96 days)

Personal information

Otto Hartmann was born in Stuttgart, the youngest of 4 children. After the secondary education he intended to become a medical doctor but money was short during the depression so instead he chose the path of a career officer to obtain a university education. Of the 85 high school graduates applying in Stuttgart he was one of the three selected to attend the Navy Cadet School in Kiel. His training to become a commander included a trip to Japan in 1936 on the sailing school ship Gorch Fock I.

His first navy positions in 1938 - 1941 were as Navy News Officer (M.N.O) first in Wilhelmshaven Germany and then Kristiansand-South in Norway. In the first 5 months of 1941 he received U-boat training and then acted as auxiliary teacher at the Navy school Mürwik. He joined U 97 as First Watch Officer under Kdt. Udo Heilmann for 4 patrols including the run through Gibraltar on 26. 09. 41. After a 3-month attachment to the 24th U-Flotilla he took command of type VIIC boat U-77 in the Mediterranean. There were 4 patrols under his command to the eastern Mediterranean, the waters off Tobruk, off Algiers and the area of f Gibraltar. Under Hartmann's command U-77 is credited with damaging the British sloop HMS Stork 1190 tons, badly damaging British SS Empire Banner 6699 tons which was then sunk by Allied gunfire, sinking the British SS Empire Webster 7043 tons, sinking the British SS Hadleigh 5222 tons and damaging the British MV Merchant Prince 5229 tons.

Up to March 28, 1943 U-77 managed to escape dangerous situations, but on that fateful day they were attacked by one plane which after some hours was joined by another. The first attack did not score a direct hit but the pressure wave from water bombs caused a serious water leak in the rear of the boat. It rendered the engines inoperable and after some repeat emergency dives the battery power declined and the pumps could not keep up with water ingress. The boat was left to defend itself on the surface but was immobile and gradually went lower in the water. The whole crew got out of the boat and all had life preserver vests. Around midnight U-77 slipped away under a last salute. The crew was in the cold water, trying to survive. After a couple of hours some of them had fallen asleep and died of exposure. Around 4 am those that had managed to stay on top of a life raft heard the engine sound of a Spanish fishing boat which rescued 9 survivors. Otto Hartman was among the dead and was buried together with 4 other crew first in the cemetery of Altea and later re-interred in Cuacos de Yuste, Spain near the Portuguese border.

The fact that there had been survivors provided descriptions of U-77’s last hours. The men were repatriated back to Germany and some found placements on other U-boats. In the 1980s after retiring from their civilian jobs four of these men found each other and met annually. Lately, through the Internet, one of Otto Hartmann’s relatives has made contact with a U-77 survivor.

Patrol info

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-77	12 Oct, 1942	Pola	1 Nov, 1942	La Spezia	Patrol	21 days
2.	U-77	3 Nov, 1942	La Spezia	5 Dec, 1942	La Spezia	Patrol	33 days
3.	U-77	26 Jan, 1943	La Spezia	10 Feb, 1943	La Spezia	Patrol	16 days
4.	U-77	3 Mar, 1943	La Spezia	28 Mar, 1943	Sunk	Patrol	26 days

Ships hit by Otto Hartmann

Date	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
20 Oct, 1942	U-77	Mahrous	18		sy
12 Nov, 1942	U-77	HMS Stork (L 81)	1.190		br		damaged

7 Feb, 1943	U-77	Empire Banner	6.699		br	KMS-8
7 Feb, 1943	U-77	Empire Webster	7.043		br	KMS-8
16 Mar, 1943	U-77	Hadleigh	5.222		br	ET-14	total loss
16 Mar, 1943	U-77	Merchant Prince	5.229		br	ET-14	damaged
			25.401
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk.