The Men - U-boat Commanders

Werner Witte

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 35)


Successes
5 ships sunk, total tonnage 29,091 GRT
3 ships damaged, total tonnage 20,014 GRT
1 ship a total loss, total tonnage 7,129 GRT

Born  5 Jan 1915 Berlin-Friedenau
Died  15 Jul 1943(28)north-west of Madeira

Ranks

5 Apr 1935 Offiziersanwärter
25 Sep 1935 Seekadett
1 Jul 1936 Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1938 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1938 Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1939 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Feb 1943 Kapitänleutnant
1 Jul 1943 Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

  Iron Cross 2nd Class
  Iron Cross 1st Class
7 Jan 1944 German Cross in Gold (posthumous)

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-509 Sep, 1942 15 Jul 1943  (+)  3 patrols (196 days) 

Werner Witte joined the Kriegsmarine in 1935. From March to July 1940 he served as Watch Officer (WO) on the minelayer Hansestadt Danzig before joining the 15th Minesweeping Flotilla until Sept 1941.

Witte went through U-boat Commander training with the 24th (Training) Flotilla from July to Aug 1942 before taking command of the type IXC U-boat U-509.

On his first patrol he sank four ships and damaged three, all from convoy SL 125 off west Africa in late Oct 1942.

On 15 July 1943 during his third patrol U-509 was sunk with all hands, 54 men, in mid Atlantic by Fido homing torpedoes from Avenger aircraft (VC-29) of the US escort carrier USS Santee (Niestlé, 1998).

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Niestle, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.

Patrol info for Werner Witte

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-509 15 Oct 1942  Lorient  26 Nov 1942  Lorient  Patrol 1,43 days
2. U-509 23 Dec 1942  Lorient  11 May 1943  Lorient  Patrol 2,140 days
3. U-509 3 Jul 1943  Lorient  15 Jul 1943  Sunk  Patrol 3,13 days
3 patrols, 196 days at sea

Ships hit by Werner Witte

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
26 Oct 1942U-509 Anglo Mærsk (d.)7,705brSL-125
27 Oct 1942U-509 Pacific Star7,951brSL-125
27 Oct 1942U-509 Stentor6,148brSL-125
28 Oct 1942U-509 Nagpore5,283brSL-125
28 Oct 1942U-509 Hopecastle (d.)5,178brSL-125
29 Oct 1942U-509 Corinaldo (d.)7,131brSL-125
30 Oct 1942U-509 Brittany4,772brSL-125
 
10 Feb 1943U-509 Queen Anne4,937brCA-11
2 Apr 1943U-509 City of Baroda (t.)7,129brNC-9
 56,234

6 ships sunk (36,220 tons) and 3 ships damaged (20,014 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.
(d.) means the ship was damaged.
(t.) means the ship was a total loss (included in ships & tonnage lost).


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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