The Men - U-boat Commanders

Horst Hepp

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 36)


Successes
4 ships sunk, total tonnage 23,048 GRT
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 7,176 GRT

Born  10 Oct 1917 Kempen
Died  9 Feb 1944(26)North Atlantic


Kriegsmarine crew book photo

Ranks

3 Apr 1936 Offiziersanwärter
10 Sep 1936 Seekadett
1 May 1937 Fähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1938 Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1940 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Oct 1943 Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

  Iron Cross 2nd Class
  Iron Cross 1st Class
9 Feb 1944 German Cross in Gold

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-272 7 Oct 1942 12 Nov 1942   No war patrols 
U-238 20 Feb 1943 9 Feb 1944  (+)  3 patrols (80 days) 

The four ships sunk and one damaged in two separate attacks (on the 20th and 23rd) on convoy ON-202 in Sept 1943 was the best performance of any U-boat in the Atlantic for many months. Hepp proved to be a a highly successful commander under extremely difficult conditions on this first patrol.

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Horst Hepp

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-238 12 Aug 1943  Kiel  16 Aug 1943  Bergen   5 days
2. U-238 24 Aug 1943  Bergen  26 Aug 1943  Trondheim   3 days
3. U-238 5 Sep 1943  Trondheim  8 Oct 1943  Brest  Patrol 1,34 days
4. U-238 11 Nov 1943  Brest  12 Dec 1943  Brest  Patrol 2,32 days
5. U-238 27 Jan 1944  Brest  9 Feb 1944  Sunk  Patrol 3,14 days
3 patrols, 80 days at sea

Ships hit by Horst Hepp

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
20 Sep 1943U-238 Frederick Douglass (d.)7,176amON-202
20 Sep 1943U-238 Theodore Dwight Weld7,176amON-202
23 Sep 1943U-238 Fort Jemseg7,134brON-202
23 Sep 1943U-238 Oregon Express3,642nwON-202
23 Sep 1943U-238 Skjelbred5,096nwON-202
 30,224

4 ships sunk (23,048 tons) and 1 ship damaged (7,176 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.
(d.) means the ship was damaged.


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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