| 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 entered the navy in 1936. He was gunnery officer on the Graf Spee. Interned in Argentina when the Graf Spee was scuttled, he escaped to Chile, crossed the Pacific on a Japanese vessel, and then served in the SS for one year. The he joined the U-boat arm, served under Friedrich Guggenberger, then was executive officer on U-203 before becoming commander of that boat.
After U-203 was sunk he was taken captive, and eventually ended up at the Papago Park POW camp in Arizona (USA). On 12 February, 1944 he participated in an escape from that camp. In company with two other U-boat commanders, he crossed the Mexican border and continued on for thirty miles before being captured and returned to Papago Park.
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.