WWI U-boat commanders

Hans Walther

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 4/02)

Successes
40 ships sunk with a total of 85,112 GRT
2 warships sunk with a total of 18,150 tons
3 ships damaged with a total of 12,201 GRT
1 warship damaged with a total of 1,250 tons
2 ships taken as prize with a total of 4,956 GRT

Born:25 Dec 1883  
Died:4 Jan 1950  

Hans Walther

Ranks

22 Mar 1914Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

Iron Cross 2nd class
Iron Cross 1st class
9 Jan 1917Pour le Mérite

U-boat Commands

U 172 Mar 1915 - 9 Jan 1916
U 528 May 1916 - 18 Sep 1917

Notes

Born in 1883. Entered the Kaiserliche Marine as Seekadett in 1902. In 1913 was at the U-Boot Schule and afterwards CO of U 3. During 1914 served on the SMS Augsburg as Torpedo officer and on U9 early 1915. Later in the war command of U 17 and U 52. On the 19th of August 1916 he sank the light cruiser HMS Nottingham (5.440 BRT) and on the 20th November of that year the French battleship Suffren (12.750 BRT). 21st July 1917 the British submarine C34 became another of his victims east of Far Isle.

In 1917 he became Chef der U Flottille Flandern I. After the war he remained with the navy and was promoted Korvettenkapitän in 1921. In 1929 he left service as Kapitän zur See and became Führer des Verbandes der Unterseebott Kameradschaften.

In 1936 he re-entered service as Kapitän zur See. The photo on the left is of Hans later in his career.

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