The Men - The Commander listing

Werner Hartenstein

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 28)

Successes
20 ships sunk for a total of 97,504 GRT
3 ships damaged for a total of 18,811 GRT
1 warship damaged for a total of 1,190 tons

Born	27 Feb 1908		Plauen, Vogtland
Died	8 Mar 1943	(35)	Atlantic, east of Barbados

Werner Hartenstein

Ranks

1 Jan 1930	Fähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1932	Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1932	Leutnant zur See
1 Sep 1934	Oberleutnant zur See
1 Jun 1937	Kapitänleutnant
1 Jun 1942	Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

6 Jun 1939	Spanish Cross
16 Nov 1939	Iron Cross 2nd Class
27 Apr 1940	Iron Cross 1st Class
2 Feb 1942	German Cross in Gold
17 Mar 1942	U-boat War Badge 1939
17 Sep 1942	Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-156	4 Sep 1941	8 Mar 1943 (+)	5 patrols (294 days)

Personal information

Werner Hartenstein began his naval career in April 1928. He served a few years on the light cruiser Karlsruhe and on several torpedo boats, on which he completed 65 patrols in the first years of the war. In March 1941 he transferred to the U-boat force.

On 4 September, 1941 he commissioned U-156. On her second patrol the boat attacked the refinery on Aruba with gunfire. On her fourth patrol U-156 was involved in the Laconia Incident. The boat was sunk on her fifth patrol with all hands by a US Navy aircraft.

Werner Hartenstein briefs the crew of U-156 on a new operational area

Patrol info for Werner Hartenstein

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-156	24 Dec 1941	Kiel	10 Jan 1942	Lorient	Patrol 1,	18 days
2.	U-156	19 Jan 1942	Lorient	17 Mar 1942	Lorient	Patrol 2,	58 days
3.	U-156	22 Apr 1942	Lorient	7 Jul 1942	Lorient	Patrol 3,	77 days
4.	U-156	20 Aug 1942	Lorient	16 Nov 1942	Lorient	Patrol 4,	89 days
5.	U-156	16 Jan 1943	Lorient	8 Mar 1943	Sunk	Patrol 5,	52 days
5 patrols, 294 days at sea

Ships hit by Werner Hartenstein

Date	Boat	Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Convoy	Fate *
16 Feb, 1942	U-156	Arkansas	6,452		am		damaged
16 Feb, 1942	U-156	Oranjestad	2,396		br
16 Feb, 1942	U-156	Pedernales	4,317		br		damaged
20 Feb, 1942	U-156	Delplata	5,127		am
25 Feb, 1942	U-156	La Carriere	5,685		br
27 Feb, 1942	U-156	Macgregor	2,498		br	ON-60
28 Feb, 1942	U-156	Oregon	7,017		am
13 May, 1942	U-156	City of Melbourne	6,630		br
13 May, 1942	U-156	Koenjit	4,551		nl
13 May, 1942	U-156	Letitia Porter [Trans.]	15		nl
15 May, 1942	U-156	Kupa	4,382		yu
15 May, 1942	U-156	Siljestad	4,301		nw
17 May, 1942	U-156	Barrdale	5,072		br
18 May, 1942	U-156	Quaker City	4,961		am
18 May, 1942	U-156	San Eliseo	8,042		br		damaged
21 May, 1942	U-156	Presidente Trujillo	1,668		do
25 May, 1942	U-156	USS Blakeley (DD 150)	1,190		am		damaged
29 May, 1942	U-156	Norman Prince	1,913		br
1 Jun, 1942	U-156	Alegrete	5,970		bz
3 Jun, 1942	U-156	Lillian	80		br
24 Jun, 1942	U-156	Willimantic	4,857		br
27 Aug, 1942	U-156	Clan Macwhirter	5,941		br	SL-119
12 Sep, 1942	U-156	Laconia	19,695		br
19 Sep, 1942	U-156	Quebec City	4,745		br
			117,505
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk. [Trans.] indicates the vessel was lost while being transported on another vessel.