Hans Karpf

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 35)


Successes
2 ships sunk, total tonnage 15,255 GRT

Born  14 May 1916 Saarbrücken
Died  6 Apr 1943(26)North Atlantic


Oberleutnant zur See Hans Karpf aboard U-632

Ranks

5 Apr 1935 Offiziersanwärter
25 Sep 1935 Seekadett
1 Jul 1936 Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1938 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1938 Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1939 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Nov 1942 Kapitänleutnant
1 Apr 1943 Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

  4 year Wehrmacht Long Service Award
  DLR Sports Badge
  Fleet War Badge
  Iron Cross 2nd Class
  U-boat War Badge 1939

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-10 30 Nov 1941 22 Jun 1942   No war patrols 
U-632 23 Jul 1942 6 Apr 1943  (+)  2 patrols (71 days) 

On 18 March, 1943 Hans Karpf’s wife gave birth to a daughter (later named Inge). Two weeks later his boat was sunk with all hands in the Atlantic off Iceland .

His daughter had wondered whether Karpf had known he had a child.

After Inge contacted him with this question in 1981, archivist and author Timothy Mulligan of the US National Archives waded through masses of decoded messages transmitted to U-632 on her final patrol, and finally found the thrilling text “Hero daughter born on 18 March. Congratulations”, sent by BdU (U-boat Control) 24 March. So Hans Karpf had known he was a father for two weeks before his death. (The Virginian-Pilot, 2007)


Sources

The Virginian-Pilot (Jan 7, 2007). Page A12

Patrol info for Hans Karpf

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-632 24 Dec 1942  Kiel  26 Dec 1942  Marviken   3 days
2. U-632 29 Dec 1942  Marviken  14 Feb 1943  Brest  Patrol 1,48 days
3. U-632 15 Mar 1943  Brest  6 Apr 1943  Sunk  Patrol 2,23 days
2 patrols, 71 days at sea

Ships hit by Hans Karpf

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
3 Feb 1943U-632 Cordelia8,190brHX-224
6 Apr 1943U-632 Blitar7,065nlHX-231
 15,255

2 ships sunk (15,255 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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