Hans-Günther Lange
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 37a)
| Successes 1 ship sunk for a total of 10 GRT 1 warship sunk for a total of 925 tons 1 ship damaged for a total of 20 GRT |
| Born | 28 Sep 1916 | Hannover |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
| U-711 | 26 Sep 1942 | 4 May 1945 | 12 patrols (304 days) |
Personal information
Kapitänleutnant Hans Günther Lange
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Leutnant Lange received his first experience as an officer on board the torpedo boat Jaguar. In September 1941 he joined the U-boat arm and only two months later started his first patrol as IWO on U-431 in the Mediterranean. In July 1942 he completed the usual Kommandantenschießlehrgang (commander fire course) in the 24th Flotilla.
Oblt. Hans-Günther Lange commissioned U-711 in September 1942. He commanded eleven patrols on this boat, all in Arctic waters and mainly against British and Soviet convoys. Three times U-711 attacked Soviet radio stations on small islands in the Barents Sea and nearby waters.
On 23 August, 1944 Kptlt. Lange fired torpedoes at the Soviet battleship Archangelsk (former HMS Royal Sovereign and a sister ship to HMS Royal Oak sunk by U-47 at Scapa Flow in Oct 1939) and a Soviet destroyer, but this attack was unsuccessful.
U-711 was sunk in May 1945 by British aircraft. The next three months Lange spent in British-Norwegian captivity.
Fregattenkapitän Lange |
In October 1957 Lange joined the Bundesmarine. Here he took part in the construction of a new German U-boat weapon. For two years he commanded the 1. Ubootgeschwader (1st U-boot squadron) and in January 1964 became commander of the entire U-boat force. Later he held several staff positions, ending his second naval career in 1972 as staff officer in the Marinedivision der Nordsee (naval forces in the North Sea).
Patrol info for Hans-Günther Lange
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
| 1. | U-711 | 20 Mar 1943 | Kiel | 23 Mar 1943 | Bergen | 4 days | ||
| 2. | U-711 | 25 Mar 1943 | Bergen | 30 Apr 1943 | Hammerfest | Patrol 1, | 37 days | |
| 3. | U-711 | 12 May 1943 | Hammerfest | 14 May 1943 | Hammerfest | 3 days | ||
| 4. | U-711 | 25 May 1943 | Hammerfest | 18 Jun 1943 | Narvik | Patrol 2, | 25 days | |
| 5. | U-711 | 22 Jul 1943 | Narvik | 30 Sep 1943 | Narvik | Patrol 3, | 71 days | |
| 6. | U-711 | 2 Oct 1943 | Narvik | 5 Oct 1943 | Trondheim | 4 days | ||
| 7. | U-711 | 15 Dec 1943 | Trondheim | 17 Dec 1943 | Narvik | 3 days | ||
| 8. | U-711 | 18 Dec 1943 | Narvik | 19 Dec 1943 | Narvik | 2 days | ||
| 9. | U-711 | 20 Dec 1943 | Narvik | 23 Dec 1943 | Trondheim | 4 days | ||
| 10. | U-711 | 19 Mar 1944 | Trondheim | 21 Mar 1944 | Narvik | 3 days | ||
| 11. | U-711 | 22 Mar 1944 | Narvik | 6 Apr 1944 | Hammerfest | Patrol 4, | 16 days | |
| 12. | U-711 | 11 Apr 1944 | Hammerfest | 15 Apr 1944 | Narvik | Patrol 5, | 5 days | |
| 13. | U-711 | 24 Apr 1944 | Narvik | 5 May 1944 | Narvik | Patrol 6, | 12 days | |
| 14. | U-711 | 30 May 1944 | Narvik | 8 Jul 1944 | Bogenbucht | Patrol 7, | 40 days | |
| 15. | U-711 | 29 Jul 1944 | Bogenbucht | 30 Jul 1944 | Hammerfest | 2 days | ||
| 16. | U-711 | 2 Aug 1944 | Hammerfest | 19 Aug 1944 | Hammerfest | Patrol 8, | 18 days | |
| 17. | U-711 | 22 Aug 1944 | Hammerfest | 26 Aug 1944 | Hammerfest | 5 days | ||
| 18. | U-711 | 27 Aug 1944 | Hammerfest | 28 Aug 1944 | Bogenbucht | 2 days | ||
| 19. | U-711 | 3 Sep 1944 | Bogenbucht | 5 Sep 1944 | Hammerfest | 3 days | ||
| 20. | U-711 | 7 Sep 1944 | Hammerfest | 4 Oct 1944 | Narvik | Patrol 9, | 28 days | |
| 21. | U-711 | 6 Oct 1944 | Narvik | 8 Oct 1944 | Trondheim | 3 days | ||
| 22. | U-711 | 23 Jan 1945 | Trondheim | 26 Jan 1945 | Narvik | 4 days | ||
| 23. | U-711 | 9 Feb 1945 | Narvik | 24 Feb 1945 | Harstad | Patrol 10, | 16 days | |
| 24. | U-711 | 14 Mar 1945 | Harstad | 31 Mar 1945 | Harstad | Patrol 11, | 18 days | |
| 25. | U-711 | 15 Apr 1945 | Harstad | 2 May 1945 | Harstad | Patrol 12, | 18 days | |
| 12 patrols, 304 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Hans-Günther Lange
| Date | U-boat | Commander | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Apr 1944 | U-711 | Hans-Günther Lange | Solvoll | 10 |  | nw | ||
| 17 Feb 1945 | U-711 | Hans-Günther Lange | HMS Bluebell (K 80) | 925 |  | br | RA-64 | |
| 22 Mar 1945 | U-711 | Hans-Günther Lange | BPS-5 (d.) | 20 |  | sj | ||
| 955 | ||||||||
2 ships sunk (935 tons) and 1 ship damaged (20 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.