| Born | 28 Apr, 1921 | Berlin |
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Ranks
Decorations |
U-boat Commands
| U-148 | 30 Nov, 1943 | - | 15 Dec, 1944 | No war patrols |
| U-977 | Mar, 1945 | - | 17 Aug, 1945 | 1 patrol (108 days) |
Personal information
Previously in the war Schäffer had made 4 patrols as watch officer on the U-445. He then took command of the small boat U-148. (Blair, Clay. 1998. Hitler's U-boat War)
With his U-977 he made the very famous and no doubt hardship-filled trip to Argentina when Germany announced its surrender. He made sure not to fire any torpedoes as to not being accused of sinking any ships after the cease-fire orders.
After the war he wrote the book U-boat 977 about this patrol and all the crazy rumors related to it.
Patrol info
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | |||||
| 1. | U-977 | 13 Apr, 1945 | Kiel | 20 Apr, 1945 | Horten | 8 days | |
| 2. | U-977 | 29 Apr, 1945 | Horten | 30 Apr, 1945 | Kristiansand | 2 days | |
| 3. | U-977 | 2 May, 1945 | Kristiansand | 17 Aug, 1945 | Mar del Plata, Argentina | Patrol, | 108 days |
Decorations and ranks information is in many cases not complete. If you can help on any of those missing that would be great.