Hans-Joachim Hesse

Fregattenkapitän (Crew 25)

Successes
4 ships sunk, total tonnage 25,417 GRT

Born	18 Jan 1906		Norden,Ostfriesland
Died	12 Feb 1943	(37)	west of Cape St Vincent, Portugal

If you can help with photo or any information on this Officer please contact us at gummi@uboat.net.

Ranks

16 Nov 1925		Seekadett
1 Apr 1927		Fähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1929		Leutnant zur See
1 Jul 1931		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Oct 1935		Kapitänleutnant
1 Feb 1940		Korvettenkapitän
1 Feb 1943		Fregattenkapitän

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-654	5 Jul 1941	24 Nov 1941	No war patrols
U-442	21 Mar 1942	12 Feb 1943 (+)	2 patrols (116 days)

Hans-Joachim Hesse joined the Reichsmarine in 1925. From July 1939 to April 1940 he served as the 1st Gunnery Officer on the light cruiser Köningsberg, then he commanded Naval Artillery Detachment 504 until Oct 1940 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

Hans-Joachim Hesse served at BdU, U-boat High Command, and went through U-boat training from Oct 1940 to March 1941. He then went though U-boat Commander training and an U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) in preparation for his own command from March to July 1941 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

On 5 July 1941 KrvKpt. Hans-Joachim Hesse commissioned the brand new type VIIC boat U-654 at Hamburg. Hesse trained in the Baltic until Nov 1941 when he left the boat to join the 1st Flotilla at Brest, France until Feb 1942. During Feb and March he went through another U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung), this time for the brand new U-442 being built at Danzig. He commissioned the boat on 21 March 1942 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

After training in the Baltic the boat left for its first operational patrol on 17 Sept 1942. Hesse patrolled in the North Atlantic convoy lines, sinking two ships from two convoys before arriving at France after 61 day at sea (Busch & Röll, 1997).

Hesse sailed again on 20 Dec 1942 from St. Nazaire, France and headed into the mid Atlantic, operating off the Azores and the Gibraltar-UK convoy route (Busch & Röll, 1997). Hesse sank two large ships with a total of 16,983 tons on this patrol, again from two convoys (Rohwer, 1998).

KrvKpt. Hans-Joachim Hesse died when the U-442 was sunk on 12 Feb 1943 west of Cape St. Vincent by depth charges from a British Hudson aircraft (48 Sqdn.). There were no survivors from a crew of 48 (Niestlé, 1998).

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).
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Hans-Joachim Hesse

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-654	16 Nov 1941	Kiel	19 Nov 1941	Stavanger		4 days
2.	U-442	17 Sep 1942	Kiel	16 Nov 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 1,	61 days
3.	U-442	20 Dec 1942	St. Nazaire	12 Feb 1943	Sunk	Patrol 2,	55 days
2 patrols, 116 days at sea

Ships hit by Hans-Joachim Hesse

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
25 Sep 1942	U-442	Empire Bell	1,744	br	UR-42
4 Nov 1942	U-442	Hatimura	6,690	br	SC-107

9 Jan 1943	U-442	Empire Lytton	9,807	br	TM-1
27 Jan 1943	U-442	Julia Ward Howe	7,176	am	UGS-4
			25,417
4 ships sunk (25,417 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel.