| Born | 5 Nov 1916 | Copenhagen | |
| Died | 2 May 2002 | (85) | Copenhagen |
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Ranks
Decorations |
U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-672 | 6 Apr 1943 | 18 Jul 1944 | 4 patrols (160 days) |
Ulf Erling Gunther Lawaetz was born to a Danish engineer working in German shipyards and a German mother. He was the oldest child of five he had begun his training with the Royal Danish Navy. In 1937, 3 years after his mother had passed away, he had to choose between Danish or German citizenship. He opted for German citizenship and joined the German Navy.
Ulf Lawaets was sent to the destroyer Hans Ludemann in Nov 1939 and with this destroyer he fought at the fierce battle of Narvik in April 1940 where 10 German destroyers were lost, including his. He survived the loss of his ship and also the land war fought between German and British troops for the city of Narvik.
In Sept 1941 Lawaets began his U-boat training, finishing his courses in April 1942 when he was sent to the U-564 as the boats First Watch Officer (1WO). With this boat he spent over 200 days at sea during 3 patrols.
From Jan to April 1943 he first went through U-boat commander training and then U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) for a type VIIC boat at Hamburg. On 6 April 1943 he took command of the brand-new U-672. For the next 7 months he trained the crew and brought the boat up to speed before its first war patrol.
With his boat Oblt. Ulf Lawaets he went out on 4 war patrols, total of 160 days at sea. His boat was sunk on 18 July 1944 in the English Channel by the British frigate HMS Balfour (Niestlé, 1998). Unusually for the time Oblt. Ulf Lawaets and his entire crew of 52 men survived and became POWs.
After the war
He was released from captivity in Dec 1945 and went to Bunde, Germany where he worked as an interpreter and ended up managing a cigar factory.
Sources
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Niestle, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.
Patrol info for Ulf Lawaetz
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-672 | 13 Nov 1943 | Kiel | 15 Jan 1944 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 1, | 64 days | |
| 2. | U-672 | 24 Feb 1944 | St. Nazaire | 12 May 1944 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 2, | 79 days | |
| 3. | U-672 | 28 Jun 1944 | St. Nazaire | 1 Jul 1944 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 3, | 4 days | |
| 4. | U-672 | 6 Jul 1944 | St. Nazaire | 18 Jul 1944 | Sunk | Patrol 4, | 13 days | |
| 4 patrols, 160 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Ulf Lawaetz
No entries found.
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.