Horst Hamm

Horst Hamm
Born (1916-03-17)17 March 1916
Düsseldorf, German Empire
Died 19 February 1943(1943-02-19) (aged 26)
Mediterranean Sea
Allegiance  Nazi Germany
Service/branch  Kriegsmarine
Years of service 1935–43
Rank Kapitänleutnant
Commands held U-58
U-562
Battles/wars World War II

Horst Hamm (17 March 1916 – 19 February 1943) was a German U-boat commander[1] in World War II.

Naval career

Horst Hamm joined the Kriegsmarine (German navy) in 1935. From August 1939 to May 1940 he served as the Second Watch Officer (2WO) on the U-26 spending 120 days at sea on four patrols. From June to August 1940 he served with the 1st U-boat Flotilla before being sent as First Watch Officer on the famous U-96 in September. With the U-96 Hamm went out on three patrols spending 70 days at sea. On his first patrol with this boat they sank five ships (37,037 GRT) and damaged two more (15,864). The second patrol was also successful but the third patrol saw the boat sink 7 ships with a total of 45,391 GRT. 190 days at sea during 7 patrols on two U-boats under very competent Commanders gave Hamm invaluable experience for his own command. He got his own boat on 7 April 1941 when he took command of the small school boat U-58 for 5 months. Hamm got his second boat, the larger U-562, on 4 September 1941. Hamm would take his U-562 out on eight patrols, 241 days at sea, from September 1941. During this time he sank six ships with a total of 37,287 GRT and damaged one merchant of 3,359 GRT. On 27 November 1941 U-562 passed the dangerous Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean.[2] The boat thus left the Atlantic for good, having completed one patrol there. Hamm and his entire crew of 49 men died when the U-562 was sunk in the Mediterranean north-east of Benghazi, Libya by depth charges from the British destroyer Isis, the British escort destroyer Hursley and a British Wellington aircraft.

Ships attacked

DateU-boatName of shipNationalityTonnageFate
22 September 1941 U-562 Erna III  United Kingdom 1,590 Sunk
2 October 1941 U-562 Empire Wave  United Kingdom 7,463 Sunk
2 December 1941 U-562 Grelhead  United Kingdom 4,274 Sunk
29 April 1942 U-562 Alliance  United Kingdom 81 Sunk
14 July 1942 U-562 Adinda  Netherlands 3,359 Damaged
21 December 1942 U-562 Strathallan  United Kingdom 23,722 Sunk

References

Notes
  1. ↑ "Kapitänleutnant Horst Hamm". uboat.net. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  2. ↑ Busch, R.; Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
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