The Men - The Commander listing

Kurt Dobratz

Kapitän zur See (Crew 22)

Successes
3 ships sunk for a total of 17.355 GRT
1 ship damaged for a total of 2.373 GRT
1 ship a total loss for a total of 7.176 GRT

Born	9 Apr, 1904	Stettin
Died	21 Dec, 1996	Bremen

Kapitän zur See Kurt Dobratz

Ranks

30 Mar, 1922	Offiziersanwärter
1 Apr, 1924	Fähnrich zur See
1 Apr, 1926	Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct, 1926	Leutnant zur See
1 Jul, 1928	Oberleutnant zur See
1 Jul, 1934	Kapitänleutnant
1 Oct, 1935	Hauptmann der Luftwaffe
1 Apr, 1937	Major der Luftwaffe
1 Dec, 1940	Oberstleutnant der Luftwaffe
1 Jun, 1942	Oberst der Luftwaffe
1 Jun, 1943	Kapitän zur See

Decorations

15 Jun, 1941	Combatclasp for Bombers in Bronze
18 Aug, 1941	Iron Cross 2nd Class
18 Aug, 1941	Iron Cross 1st Class
23 Jan, 1945	Knights Cross
15 Feb, 1945	U-boat War Badge 1939

U-boat Commands

U-1232

8 Mar, 1944

31 Mar, 1945

1 patrol (97 days)

Personal information

Kurt Dobratz after his patrol

Kurt Dobratz began his naval career in March 1922. He served for more than 10 years on the cruisers Hamburg and Leipzig and on the line ships Schleswig-Holstein and Hannover. In September 1935 he left the Kriegsmarine and was attached for the next 8 years to the Luftwaffe. There he was in some staff positions, but he also commanded combat units and flew 11 sorties in 1941.

In April 1943 he rejoined the Kriegsmarine and completed 8 months of U-boat training before commissioning the Type IXC40 U-boat U-1232 in March 1944.

In November 1944 he left the base at Horten, Norway for his first and only patrol, which was to become one of the most successful patrols in the last year of the war. In January 1945 he sank four ships in Canadian waters for a total of 24,531 tons.

After his return in February 1945, he left U-1232 and became the chief of the BdU-org staff. During the final days of the war he was the last Kommandierender Admiral der U-Boote (Commanding Admiral of the U-boats). He spent 9 months in captivity after the war's end. When he returned to Germany he began to study law and later earned a doctorate.

Kapitän zur See Kurt Dobratz amidst his crew.

(When you look at faces of the crew members, don't forget that
the photo was taken mere 10 weeks before Germany was forced to surrender. This speaks volumes of the morale in the U-bootwaffe.)

Patrol info

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-1232	28 Oct, 1944	Kiel	31 Oct, 1944	Horten		4 days
2.	U-1232	10 Nov, 1944	Horten	14 Feb, 1945	Marviken	Patrol,	97 days

Ships hit by Kurt Dobratz

Date	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
4 Jan, 1945	U-1232	Nipiwan Park	2.373		ca	SH-194	damaged
4 Jan, 1945	U-1232	Polarland	1.591		nw	SH-194
14 Jan, 1945	U-1232	Athelviking	8.779		br	BX-141
14 Jan, 1945	U-1232	British Freedom	6.985		br	BX-141
14 Jan, 1945	U-1232	Martin Van Buren	7.176		am	BX-141	total loss
			26.904
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk.