The Men - U-boat Commanders

Hans-Joachim Ernst

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 37b)


Successes
1 ship sunk, total tonnage 1,392 GRT
1 auxiliary warship sunk, total tonnage 328 GRT

Born  17 Aug 1918 Halle, Saale
Died   2002(83)Oldenburg, Germany

Ranks

9 Oct 1937 Offiziersanwärter
28 Jun 1938 Seekadett
1 Apr 1939 Fähnrich zur See
1 Mar 1940 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 May 1940 Leutnant zur See
1 Apr 1942 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Jan 1945 Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

Jan 1940 Iron Cross 2nd Class
Jan 1941 Luftwaffe Observer Badge
1942 Iron Cross 1st Class

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-1022 7 Jun 1944 9 May 1945   1 patrol (49 days) 

Hans-Joachim Ernst served as a torpedo officer on the destroyer Z22 Anton Schmitt from Dec 1939 to Mar 1940. He then went through naval aviation training from April to Oct 1940, becoming a pilot. He served as a pilot until June 1943 when he joined the U-boat force and began his training. he went though U-boat commander training from Jan to Jun 1944. He took command of his first and only U-boat U-1022 on 7 June 1944, taking her on one patrol in early 1945 sinking 2 small ships (Busch & Röll, 1999).

Hans-Joachim Ernst survived the war, was detained by the Allies until 1 Nov 1947. He later joined the Bundesmarine and served in NATO forces. He retired in Oldenburg, Germany as Fregattenkapitän and passed away around the year 2002.

Sources

Busch, R. & Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.

Patrol info for Hans-Joachim Ernst

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-1022 16 Jan 1945  Kiel  17 Jan 1945  Kalundborg   2 days
2. U-1022 22 Jan 1945  Kalundborg  23 Jan 1945  Horten   2 days
3. U-1022 29 Jan 1945  Horten  8 Feb 1945  Bergen   11 days
4. U-1022 12 Feb 1945  Bergen  1 Apr 1945  Bergen  Patrol 1,49 days

Ships hit by Hans-Joachim Ernst

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
28 Feb 1945U-1022 Alcedo1,392paUR-155
3 Mar 1945U-1022 HMS Southern Flower (FY 332)328br
 1,720

2 ships sunk (1,720 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.


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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