Hans Heidtmann
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 34)
| Successes 4 ships sunk for a total of 11,811 GRT 1 warship sunk for a total of 1,060 tons 2 ships a total loss for a total of 6,117 GRT |
| Born | 8 Aug 1914 | Bahnhof Gleschendorf, Pönitz, Lübeck | |
| Died | 5 Apr 1976 | (61) | Hamburg |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
| U-2 | 7 Jul 1940 | 5 Aug 1940 | No war patrols (Acting CO) |
| U-14 | Aug, 1940 | 29 Sep 1940 | No war patrols (Acting CO) |
| U-21 | 1 Aug 1940 | 20 Dec 1940 | No war patrols |
| U-559 | 27 Feb 1941 | 30 Oct 1942 | 10 patrols (247 days) |
Personal information
Hans Heidtmann joined the Navy in April 1934. He served on the light cruiser Deutschland, before transferring to the U-boat arm in January 1938. He made six patrols on U-2 and U-14. Beginning in July 1940 he was commander on several school boats in the 21st Flotilla.
In February 1941 he commissioned the Type VIIC U-boat U-559, and after two patrols in the North Atlantic he managed to break through into the Straits of Gibraltar on 26 September 1941. For the next year he operated successfully in the Mediterranean until his U-boat was sunk in October 1942 by British destroyers. Heidtmann and most of the crew were captured. He spent four and a half years in British captivity in Egypt, Canada and England before being released in May 1947.
In January 1958 he joined the Bundesmarine, serving in several staff positions and retiring in September 1972 as Kapitän zur See.
Patrol info for Hans Heidtmann
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-559 | 4 Jun 1941 | Kiel | 5 Jul 1941 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 1, | 32 days | |
| 2. | U-559 | 26 Jul 1941 | St. Nazaire | 22 Aug 1941 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 2, | 28 days | |
| 3. | U-559 | 20 Sep 1941 | St. Nazaire | 20 Oct 1941 | Salamis | Patrol 3, | 31 days | |
| 4. | U-559 | 24 Nov 1941 | Salamis | 4 Dec 1941 | Salamis | Patrol 4, | 11 days | |
| 5. | U-559 | 8 Dec 1941 | Salamis | 31 Dec 1941 | Salamis | Patrol 5, | 24 days | |
| 6. | U-559 | 16 Feb 1942 | Salamis | 26 Feb 1942 | Salamis | Patrol 6, | 11 days | |
| 7. | U-559 | 4 Mar 1942 | Salamis | 21 Mar 1942 | Salamis | Patrol 7, | 18 days | |
| 8. | U-559 | 24 Mar 1942 | Salamis | 27 Mar 1942 | Pola | 4 days | ||
| 9. | U-559 | 10 May 1942 | Pola | 12 May 1942 | Pola | 3 days | ||
| 10. | U-559 | 18 May 1942 | Pola | 22 Jun 1942 | Pola | Patrol 8, | 36 days | |
| 11. | U-559 | 15 Aug 1942 | Pola | 21 Aug 1942 | Salamis | 7 days | ||
| 12. | U-559 | 29 Aug 1942 | Salamis | 21 Sep 1942 | Messina | Patrol 9, | 24 days | |
| 13. | U-559 | 29 Sep 1942 | Messina | 30 Oct 1942 | Sunk | Patrol 10, | 32 days | |
| 10 patrols, 247 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Hans Heidtmann
| Date | Boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | Fate * | |
| 19 Aug, 1941 | U-559 | Alva | 1,584 |  | br | OG-71 | |
| 27 Nov, 1941 | U-559 | HMAS Parramatta (L 44) | 1,060 |  | au | ||
| 23 Dec, 1941 | U-559 | Shuntien | 3,059 | | br | TA-5 | |
| 26 Dec, 1941 | U-559 | Warszawa | 2,487 |  | po | ||
| 10 Jun, 1942 | U-559 | Athene | 4,681 |  | nw | AT-49 | |
| 10 Jun, 1942 | U-559 | Brambleleaf | 5,917 | | br | AT-49 | total loss |
| 12 Oct, 1942 | U-559 | Bringhi | 200 |  | ag | total loss | |
| 18,988 | |||||||
* Unless otherwise noted the ships listed here were sunk. | |||||||
Decorations and ranks information is in many cases not complete. If you can help on any of those missing that would be great.