Otto Westphalen
Oberleutnant zur See (Crew 38)
| Successes 2 ships sunk for a total of 14,386 GRT 1 warship sunk for a total of 1,350 tons 1 ship damaged for a total of 8,129 GRT 1 ship a total loss for a total of 7,200 GRT 1 warship a total loss for a total of 1,350 tons |
| Born | 12 Mar 1920 | Hamburg | |
| Died | 9 Jan 2008 | (87) | Hamburg |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
| U-121 | 16 May 1942 | 8 Feb 1943 | No war patrols |
| U-968 | 18 Mar 1943 | 8 May 1945 | 7 patrols (129 days) |
Personal information
Otto Westphalen began his naval career in October 1938. A year later he took part in the Poland campaign on the school ship Schlesien. Later he served six months on the torpedo boat Kondor before joining the U-boat force in October 1940.
In 1941 he made four patrols as watch officer on U-566, two in the Arctic Sea and two in the North Atlantic - the last one to Canadian Waters during Jan - March 1942. In May 1942 he took command of the school boat U-121.
In March 1943 he commissioned the Type VIIC U-boat U-968, which was then detached to the 13th (Arctic Sea) flotilla, where Westphalen became one of the most successful commanders.
He sank two British warships: the sloops HMS Lark and Lapwing. He surrendered in May 1945 in Narvik.
The Oscar Kusch case
During Jan 1944 Otto Westphalen served on the military court, along with fellow officer Wolfgang Dittmers, in the case against the Commander of U-154, Oscar-Heinz Kusch accused of defeatism and other politically motivated charges by his 1WO, Dr. Ulrich Abel. The prosecutor asked for 10 years but the court sentenced him to death. After the war Dittmers and Westphalen tried to defend their actions by stating that Kusch's political views had somehow made his U-boat less effective to the war effort - a faulty view at best. Kusch's fellow officers did nothing to save his life (neither did Dönitz who probably could have stopped the whole thing). Kusch was executed by a firing squad in Kiel on 12 May 1944 (Rust, 2001).
Sources
Busch, R & Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.Rust, E. (2001). The Case of Oskar Kusch and the Limits of U-boat Camaraderie in World War II: Reflections on a German Tragedy
Patrol info for Otto Westphalen
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-968 | 7 Mar 1944 | Kiel | 2 Apr 1944 | Narvik | Patrol 1, | 27 days | |
| 2. | U-968 | 4 Apr 1944 | Narvik | 6 Apr 1944 | Trondheim | 3 days | ||
| 3. | U-968 | 11 Jul 1944 | Trondheim | 14 Jul 1944 | Narvik | 4 days | ||
| 4. | U-968 | 17 Jul 1944 | Narvik | 21 Jul 1944 | Bogenbucht | 5 days | ||
| 5. | U-968 | 20 Aug 1944 | Bogenbucht | 22 Aug 1944 | Hammerfest | 3 days | ||
| 6. | U-968 | 29 Aug 1944 | Hammerfest | 10 Sep 1944 | Bogenbucht | Patrol 2, | 13 days | |
| 7. | U-968 | 24 Sep 1944 | Bogenbucht | 3 Oct 1944 | Narvik | Patrol 3, | 10 days | |
| 8. | U-968 | 14 Oct 1944 | Narvik | 11 Nov 1944 | Ramsund | Patrol 4, | 29 days | |
| 9. | U-968 | 13 Nov 1944 | Ramsund | 16 Nov 1944 | Rörvik | 4 days | ||
| 10. | U-968 | 23 Jan 1945 | Rörvik | 25 Jan 1945 | Narvik | 3 days | ||
| 11. | U-968 | 1 Feb 1945 | Narvik | 1 Feb 1945 | Harstad | 1 days | ||
| 12. | U-968 | 7 Feb 1945 | Harstad | 20 Feb 1945 | Kilbotn | Patrol 5, | 14 days | |
| 13. | U-968 | 12 Mar 1945 | Kilbotn | 30 Mar 1945 | Kilbotn | Patrol 6, | 19 days | |
| 14. | U-968 | 21 Apr 1945 | Kilbotn | 6 May 1945 | Harstad | Patrol 7, | 16 days | |
| 15. | U-968 | 7 May 1945 | Harstad | 7 May 1945 | Skjomenfjord | Patrol 7, | 1 days | |
| 16. | U-968 | 15 May 1945 | Skjomenfjord | 19 May 1945 | Loch Eriboll, UK | 5 days | ||
| 7 patrols, 129 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Otto Westphalen
| Date | U-boat | Commander | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Feb 1945 | U-968 | Otto Westphalen | Horace Gray (t.) | 7,200 |  | am | BK-3 | |
| 14 Feb 1945 | U-968 | Otto Westphalen | Norfjell (d.) | 8,129 |  | nw | BK-3 | |
| 17 Feb 1945 | U-968 | Otto Westphalen |  | HMS Lark (U 11) (t.) | 1,350 |  | br | RA-64 |
| 17 Feb 1945 | U-968 | Otto Westphalen | Thomas Scott | 7,176 | | am | RA-64 | |
| 20 Mar 1945 | U-968 | Otto Westphalen | | HMS Lapwing (U 62) | 1,350 | | br | JW-65 |
| 20 Mar 1945 | U-968 | Otto Westphalen | Thomas Donaldson | 7,210 | | am | JW-65 | |
| 32,415 | ||||||||
5 ships sunk (24,286 tons) and 1 ship damaged (8,129 tons). Legend | ||||||||
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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.