Horst Wilhelm Kessler

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)

Successes
2 ships sunk, total tonnage 8,677 GRT

Born	15 Aug 1914		Bromberg
Died	24 May 2018	(103)

Ranks

8 Apr 1934		Offiziersanwärter
1 Jul 1935		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1937		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1937		Leutnant zur See
1 Apr 1939		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1942		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

		Iron Cross 2nd Class
		Iron Cross 1st Class
		U-boat War Badge 1939

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-704	18 Nov 1941	Apr, 1943	5 patrols (167 days)
U-985	24 Jun 1943	19 Apr 1944	1 patrol (54 days)

He was the last surviving member of Crew 34 as far as we know.

Patrol info for Horst Wilhelm Kessler

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-704	30 Jun 1942	Kiel	16 Aug 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 1,	48 days
2.	U-704	9 Sep 1942	St. Nazaire	15 Sep 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 2,	7 days
3.	U-704	5 Oct 1942	St. Nazaire	23 Nov 1942	La Pallice	Patrol 3,	50 days
4.	U-704	1 Jan 1943	La Pallice	2 Jan 1943	La Pallice	Patrol 4,	2 days
5.	U-704	7 Jan 1943	La Pallice	12 Feb 1943	St. Nazaire	Patrol 4,	37 days
6.	U-704	14 Mar 1943	St. Nazaire	5 Apr 1943	Bergen	Patrol 5,	23 days
7.	U-704	6 Apr 1943	Bergen	11 Apr 1943	Königsberg		6 days
8.	U-985	30 Dec 1943	Kiel	5 Jan 1944	Bergen		7 days
9.	U-985	19 Jan 1944	Bergen	12 Mar 1944	St. Nazaire	Patrol 6,	54 days
6 patrols, 221 days at sea

Ships hit by Horst Wilhelm Kessler

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
26 Jul 1942	U-704	Empire Rainbow	6,942	br	ON-113

8 Feb 1944	U-985	Margit	1,735	br	UR-108
			8,677
2 ships sunk (8,677 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.