| Born | 27 Jun 1917 | Flensburg | |
| Died | 8 Oct 2005 | (88) |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-264 | 22 May 1942 | 19 Feb 1944 | 5 patrols (181 days) |
Hartwig Looks joined the Kriegsmarine in 1936. He served with the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla from Sept 1939 to April 1940 then joined the staff of Admiral Norwegian North Coast until Dec 1940 (Busch & Röll, 1999).
From Jan to May 1941 Looks went through U-boat training and then went to his U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) at Kiel where U-375 was being built. The boat was commissioned on 19 July 1941 by Kptlt. Jürgen Könenkamp with Hartwig Looks as its First Watch Officer (1WO) (Busch & Röll, 1999).
After training the U-375 went out on its first patrol on 12 Nov 1941 and on 9 Dec broke into the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar. Looks went out on 2 more patrols with the boat in the Mediterranean spending a total of 65 days at sea (Busch & Röll, 1997).
In March 1942 Hartwig was sent to the 24th Flotilla for this U-Boat Commander's course. When he graduated he began another U-boat familiarization, this time at Bremen where his first command, the U-264 was being built (Busch & Röll, 1999).
On 22 May 1942 Oblt. Hartwig Looks commissioned the new type VIIC boat U-264 at Bremen. After training in the Baltic the boat sailed in its first combat patrol from Kiel on 3 Nov 1942. Hartwig commanded the boat on 5 patrols in the North Atlantic, 181 days at sea, before the boat was sunk on 19 Feb 1944. Somewhat unusually for the time the entire crew of 52 men survived the sinking by depth charges from the British sloops HMS Woodpecker and HMS Starling (Niestlé, 1998).
Sources
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.
Patrol info for Hartwig Looks
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-264 | 3 Nov 1942 | Kiel | 4 Dec 1942 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 1, | 32 days | |
| 2. | U-264 | 10 Jan 1943 | St. Nazaire | 5 Mar 1943 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 2, | 55 days | |
| 3. | U-264 | 8 Apr 1943 | St. Nazaire | 1 Jun 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 3, | 55 days | |
| 4. | U-264 | 4 Aug 1943 | Lorient | 4 Aug 1943 | St. Nazaire | 1 days | ||
| 5. | U-264 | 15 Sep 1943 | St. Nazaire | 16 Sep 1943 | St. Nazaire | 2 days | ||
| 6. | U-264 | 22 Sep 1943 | St. Nazaire | 15 Oct 1943 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 4, | 24 days | |
| 7. | U-264 | 5 Feb 1944 | St. Nazaire | 19 Feb 1944 | Sunk | Patrol 5, | 15 days | |
| 5 patrols, 181 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Hartwig Looks
| Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Nov 1942 | U-264 |  | Mount Taurus | 6,696 |  | gr | ONS-144 |
| 5 May 1943 | U-264 | West Maximus | 5,561 |  | am | ONS-5 | |
| 5 May 1943 | U-264 | | Harperley | 4,586 |  | br | ONS-5 |
| 16,843 | |||||||
3 ships sunk (16,843 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.
Media links
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