Hartwig Looks

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 36)


Successes
3 ships sunk, total tonnage 16,843 GRT

Born  27 Jun 1917 Flensburg
Died  8 Oct 2005(88)Glücksburg, Germany


Ranks

3 Apr 1936 Offiziersanwärter
10 Sep 1936 Seekadett
1 May 1937 Fähnrich zur See
1 Jul 1938 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1938 Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1940 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Mar 1943 Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

  Iron Cross 2nd Class
  Iron Cross 1st Class
29 Mar 1944 German Cross in Gold

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-264 22 May 1942 19 Feb 1944   5 patrols (181 days) 

Hartwig Looks joined the Kriegsmarine in 1936, and was part of the Olympia Crew. He served with the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla Sept 1939 - April 1940, then joined the staff of Admiral Norwegian North Coast until Dec 1940 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

From Jan - May 1941 Looks received U-boat training and then went for U-boat construction familiarization (Baubelehrung) at Kiel where U-375 was being built. The boat was commissioned on 19 July 1941 by Kptlt. Jürgen Könenkamp with Looks as 1st Watch Officer (I WO) (Busch & Röll, 1999).

After working up, U-375 went on her first patrol on 12 Nov 1941, and on 9 Dec broke into the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar. Looks went on two more patrols in the boat in the Mediterranean, spending a total of 65 days at sea (Busch & Röll, 1997).

In March 1942 Hartwig was sent to the 24th (Training) Flotilla for his U-Boat Commander's course. When he graduated he began another Baubelehrung, this time at Bremen where his first command, the type VIIC U-boat U-264 was being built (Busch & Röll, 1999).

On 22 May 1942 Oblt. Hartwig Looks commissioned U-264. After training in the Baltic the boat sailed in the first combat patrol from Kiel on 3 Nov 1942. Hartwig commanded the boat on five patrols in the North Atlantic, 181 days at sea, before the boat was sunk on 19 Feb 1944 by depth charges from the British sloops HMS Woodpecker and HMS Starling. Somewhat unusually for the time the entire crew of 52 survived. (Niestlé, 1998).

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.

Patrol info for Hartwig Looks

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-264 3 Nov 1942  Kiel  4 Dec 1942  St. Nazaire  Patrol 1,32 days
2. U-264 10 Jan 1943  St. Nazaire  5 Mar 1943  St. Nazaire  Patrol 2,55 days
3. U-264 8 Apr 1943  St. Nazaire  1 Jun 1943  Lorient  Patrol 3,55 days
4. U-264 4 Aug 1943  Lorient  4 Aug 1943  St. Nazaire   1 days
5. U-264 15 Sep 1943  St. Nazaire  16 Sep 1943  St. Nazaire   2 days
6. U-264 22 Sep 1943  St. Nazaire  15 Oct 1943  St. Nazaire  Patrol 4,24 days
7. U-264 5 Feb 1944  St. Nazaire  19 Feb 1944  Sunk  Patrol 5,15 days
5 patrols, 181 days at sea

Ships hit by Hartwig Looks

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
17 Nov 1942U-264 Mount Taurus6,696grONS-144
 
5 May 1943U-264 West Maximus5,561amONS-5
5 May 1943U-264 Harperley4,586brONS-5
 16,843

3 ships sunk (16,843 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.


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


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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