Horst Uphoff
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 35)
| Successes 6 ships sunk, total tonnage 29,905 GRT 1 ship damaged, total tonnage 7,176 GRT |
| Born | 3 Oct 1916 | Bad Oeynhausen | |
| Died | 7 Aug 1943 | (26) | Central North Atlantic |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-84 | 29 Apr 1941 | 7 Aug 1943 (+) | 8 patrols (461 days) |
Horst Uphoff joined the Kriegsmarine in 1935. He was a Divisional Officer and Watch Officer on the U-boat depot ship Donau from Oct 1938 to Oct 1939. He joined the U-boat force and began his training in Oct 1939, finishing the courses in March 1940 when he assigned as the First Watch officer (1WO) to the U-46 (Kplt. Herbert Sohler).
On 22 May 1940 U-46 got a new Commander, Oblt. Engelbert Endrass of Scapa Flow fame. Horst Uphoff, as the First Watch Officer (1WO), served with Endrass on 4 war patrols, 85 days at sea. During these patrols U-46 sank or destroyed 17 ships for over 90,000 tons and damaged 2 more for almost 15,000 tons.
Oblt. Uphoff left U-46 in Jan 1941 when he began his U-boat Commander training with the 24th Flotilla until March 1941 when he began his U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) for a new type VIIB boat at Lübeck.
On 29 April 1941 Oblt. Horst Uphoff commissioned the new U-84. He spent the summer in the Baltic getting the boat and crew ready for combat and finally sailed on his first patrol from Bergen, Norway on 9 Aug 1941.
Uphoff would take the U-84 out on 8 war patrols during the next year and a half, spending 461 days at sea. During this time he sank 6 ships sunk (29,905 tons) and 1 ship damaged (7,176 tons). His command and extended period spent at sea have to be considered very skilful.
Kptlt. Horst Uphoff died on 7 Aug, 1943 when his boat was sunk in the North Atlantic, in position 27.55N, 68.03W, by a Mk 24 homing torpedo from an American Liberator aircraft (VB-105/B-4 USN). 46 dead (all hands lost) (Niestlé, 2002).
Sources
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Niestlé, A. (23 Apr 2002). The Loss of U-84.
Patrol info for Horst Uphoff
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-84 | 7 Jul 1941 | Kiel | 15 Jul 1941 | Bergen | 9 days | ||
| 2. | U-84 | 9 Aug 1941 | Bergen | 22 Sep 1941 | Lorient | Patrol 1, | 45 days | |
| 3. | U-84 | 16 Oct 1941 | Lorient | 18 Nov 1941 | Brest | Patrol 2, | 34 days | |
| 4. | U-84 | 21 Dec 1941 | Brest | 7 Feb 1942 | Brest | Patrol 3, | 49 days | |
| 5. | U-84 | 16 Mar 1942 | Brest | 16 May 1942 | Brest | Patrol 4, | 62 days | |
| 6. | U-84 | 10 Jun 1942 | Brest | 13 Aug 1942 | Brest | Patrol 5, | 65 days | |
| 7. | U-84 | 29 Sep 1942 | Brest | 7 Dec 1942 | Brest | Patrol 6, | 70 days | |
| 8. | U-84 | 17 Feb 1943 | Brest | 4 May 1943 | Brest | Patrol 7, | 77 days | |
| 9. | U-84 | 10 Jun 1943 | Brest | 7 Aug 1943 | Sunk | Patrol 8, | 59 days | |
| 8 patrols, 461 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Horst Uphoff
| Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Apr 1942 | U-84 | Nemanja | 5,226 |  | yu | ||
| 21 Apr 1942 | U-84 | Chenango | 3,014 |  | pa | ||
| 23 Jun 1942 | U-84 |  | Torvanger | 6,568 |  | nw | HX-194 |
| 13 Jul 1942 | U-84 | | Andrew Jackson | 5,990 |  | am | |
| 19 Jul 1942 | U-84 | Baja California | 1,648 |  | ho | ||
| 21 Jul 1942 | U-84 | William Cullen Bryant (d.) | 7,176 | | am | TAW-4J | |
| 2 Nov 1942 | U-84 | Empire Sunrise | 7,459 |  | br | SC-107 | |
| 37,081 | |||||||
6 ships sunk (29,905 tons) and 1 ship damaged (7,176 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.
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