| Born | 20 Jul, 1912 | Alt-Rahlstedt |
| Died | 8 Aug, 1942 | Cape Farewell |
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Ranks
Decorations |
U-boat Commands
| U-142 | 14 Oct, 1940 | - | 12 Oct, 1941 | 3 patrols (42 days) |
| U-379 | 29 Nov, 1941 | - | 8 Aug, 1942 (+) | 1 patrol (45 days) |
Personal information
Paul-Hugo Kettner joined the navy in 1933. He joined the U-boat force in Oct 1939 and for the next year he went through U-boat and U-boat commander training. He took command of the small type IID boat U-142 on 14 Oct 1940. During the summer of 1941 Kettner took the boat on its 3 war patrols in the Baltic Sea to support the German invasion of Russia (no successes).
In Oct 1941 he left U-142 to prepare for the commission of the larger ocean-going type VIIC boat U-379, taking official command on 29 Nov 1941. After working out in the 8th training flotilla the boat was assigned to the 1st flotilla at Brest, France for combat duties (Busch & Röll, 1998).
On 25 June 1942 Kettner took U-379 for its first and only war patrol heading into the Atlantic south of Iceland. The boat was sunk by depth charges and ramming from the British corvette HMS Dianthus late in the evening on 8 Aug after sinking 2 merchant ships from convoy SC-94 earlier in the day. There were 5 survivors out of a 45 man crew but Kettner was not among them (Blair, 1996).
Sources
Blair, C. (1996). Hitler’s U-boat War. The Hunters, 1939-1942.
Busch, R. & Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Patrol info
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | |||||
| 1. | U-142 | 21 Jun, 1941 | Gotenhafen | 12 Jul, 1941 | Oxhöft | Patrol | 22 days |
| 2. | U-142 | 25 Jul, 1941 | Oxhöft | 9 Aug, 1941 | Stormelö | Patrol | 16 days |
| 3. | U-142 | 28 Aug, 1941 | Stormelö | 31 Aug, 1941 | Gotenhafen | Patrol | 4 days |
| 4. | U-379 | 25 Jun, 1942 | Kiel | 8 Aug, 1942 | Sunk | Patrol | 45 days |
Ships hit by Paul-Hugo Kettner
| Date | Boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | Fate * | |
| 8 Aug, 1942 | U-379 | Anneberg | 2.537 |  | br | SC-94 | |
| 8 Aug, 1942 | U-379 | Kaimoku | 6.367 |  | am | SC-94 | |
| 8.904 | |||||||
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk. | |||||||
Decorations and ranks information is in many cases not complete. If you can help on any of those missing that would be great.