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Born	5 Feb 1918		Norden, Ostfriesland, Germany
Died	2 Feb 1982	(63)	Norden / Ostfriesland, Germany

Oberleutnant zur See Otto Ites

Ranks 3 Apr 1936   Offiziersanwärter 10 Sep 1936   Seekadett 1 May 1937   Fähnrich zur See 1 Jul 1938   Oberfähnrich zur See 1 Oct 1938   Leutnant zur See 1 Oct 1940   Oberleutnant zur See 1 Apr 1943   Kapitänleutnant Decorations 27 Oct 1939   Iron Cross 2nd Class 21 Dec 1939   U-boat War Badge 1939 25 Feb 1940   Iron Cross 1st Class 28 Mar 1942   Knights Cross

Leutnant zur See Otto Ites

Otto Ites joined the Kriegsmarine in April 1936 and was a member of the so called Olympia-Crew. He served for some months on the torpedo boats Kondor and Albatros before he transferred to the U-boat force in October 1938.

After a short time on U-51 he became the second watch officer (II WO) on U-48. Together with the first watch officer (I WO) 'Teddy' Suhren he participated in the outstanding successes of this famous U-boat. When Suhren left the boat, Ites became the first watch officer.

In March 1941 he left U-48 and after two weeks of commander training he took over U-146. He made two patrols in the North Sea and in the Baltic Sea. In August 1941 Ites left U-146 and took over U-94 from Herbert Kuppisch.

Kapitän zur See Otto Ites

On four patrols, mostly in the North Atlantic, Ites sank 13 ships and damaged two more.

On his fifth patrol his operational area was the Caribbean Sea. But on 28 August 1942 U-94 was sunk by depth charges from an aircraft and ramming by the Canadian corvette HMCS Oakville (Niestlé, 1998). Ites was among the 26 survivors and was in US captivity until May 1946.

After his return he became a dentist, before joining the Bundesmarine in 1956. Here he served for two years on the destroyer Z-2 as commander and then held several staff positions.

Otto Ites retired in September 1977 as Konteradmiral.

Sources

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

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.

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