| Born | 4 Dec 1915 | Hannover | |
| Died | 30 Jun 1955 | (39) |
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Ranks
Decorations |
U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-203 | 21 Sep 1942 | 25 Apr 1943 | 3 patrols (79 days) |
Hermann Kottmann joined the Kriegsmarine in 1936, and was part of the Olympia Crew. He served as a gunnery officer on the pocket battleship Graf Spee for seven months, and was interned in Argentina after the Graf Spee was scuttled in 1940. He escaped to Chile and crossed the Pacific on a Japanese vessel. He then joined the U-boat arm in 1941 and served as a Watch Officer with the 8th (Training) Flotilla and 1st Flotilla before joining the crew of U-203, and briefly served as executive officer before taking command of that boat.
After U-203 was sunk he was taken prisoner, and eventually ended up at Papago Park POW camp in Arizona. On 12 February 1944 he escaped with four other former U-boat commanders: Guggenberger (U-513), Maus (U-185), Johannsen (U-569), Quaet-Faslem (U-595), and two Kriegsmarine petty officers. Together with Johannsen and Quaet-Faslem he crossed the Mexican border and continued for thirty miles (48 km) before being recaptured after two weeks at large. They were returned to Papago Park on 1 March.
Patrol info for Hermann Kottmann
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | U-203 | 15 Oct 1942 | Brest | 6 Nov 1942 | Lorient | Patrol 1, | 23 days | |
| 2. | U-203 | 6 Dec 1942 | Lorient | 7 Jan 1943 | Brest | Patrol 2, | 33 days | |
| 3. | U-203 | 3 Apr 1943 | Brest | 25 Apr 1943 | Sunk | Patrol 3, | 23 days | |
| 3 patrols, 79 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Hermann Kottmann
| Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Oct 1942 | U-203 |  | Hopecastle | 5,178 |  | br | SL-125 | |
| 30 Oct 1942 | U-203 | | Corinaldo | 7,131 | | br | SL-125 | |
| 12,309 | ||||||||
2 ships sunk (12,309 tons). Legend | ||||||||
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
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