The Patrols of Germany's Captain Hans Georg Hess Youngest Combat U-Boat Skipper of World War II by Harry Cooper y the time ofU-995 's launch at the Blohm and Voss shipyard in Hamburg in September 1943, the era of formidable U-boat attacks had passed. Before it had even been commissioned, the submarine suffered its first hits during air strikes by Allied bomber Aight squadrons. Forthenextsixmonths, U-995 ran through sea trials in the Baltic to prepare both vessel and crew for action in the Atlantic theater. The Allied invasion of France, and Germany's resulting loss of U-boat bases on the Bay ofBiscay, made it necessary to send U-995 to the Arctic Ocean instead, using Narvik, Norway, as a submarine base. The U-boat sustained its first serious attack in Norwegian waters. A British aircraft Aew out of the clouds at dawn, passed the forecasing and dropped bombs on the moving target below. Surprisingly, U-995 remained fit to submerge and escaped to a safe depth. Enemy planes followed the submarine's track for hours, but she managed to make Christiansand's outer harbor without further incident. After repairs, U995 put to sea in July l 944 to take part in the last big group activiry between Greenland and Jan Mayen Island against an Allied convoy bound for Russia. More than twenry-five German submarines were assigned to patrol, detect, and attack the ships. This plan failed. Strong Allied aerial observation forced the boats to stay underwater, only emerging for short times to charge batteries and ventilate. The U-boats never found the convoy. The group suffered heavy losses, and the surviving submarines limped to base with considerable damage to their fleet. U-995 put in for repairs at a Trondheim shipyard, and it was soon ready for sea. This time U-995 set an easterly course carrying mines instead of torpedoes. Its task was to mine the Barents Sea, south of Novaja Semlja, which was free of ice only during the summer months. In waters too shallow to submerge and dangerously close to Russian bases on both shores, the crew pushed their deadly cargo out through torpedo rubes. After completing its assignment, which lasted a fortnight, the U-boat returned to its Norwegian base unscathed. Enemy planes and warships made things difficult for U-995 on her next mission, which lasted only a few days. When the sub returned to Narvik having failed to locate
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her targets, the captain, Walter Kohntopp, was relieved of dury. Deemed insufficiently aggressive, he was busted from Kapitanleu mant (Lt. Commander) to ordinary seaman. He was reassigned as an anti-aircraft gunner on a minesweeper. Oberleutnant Hans Georg Hess rook command. He had just turned twenry-one. U-995 was positioned near the Barents Sea in mid-October 1944. A target to the
Captain Hans Georg Hess in 1944
north gradually came into view, a convoy en route to Russia. It was guarded by an aircraft carrier, and possibly a heavy cruiser with more warships on its southern flank. Aircraft flying above the ships could be seen easily from the submarine. Hess navigated U-995 five miles ahead of the convoy and, having reached a good position for an attack, submerged. At its top speed underwater, the submarine tried, unsuccessfully, to come within torpedo range. The surface ships changed course, removing themselves from danger of imminent attack, and left the submarine far astern. Hess, monitoring nearby wireless traffic, had to submerge his vessel when airplanes flew overhead. The following day the Germans saw the smoke trails of distant ships against the horizon for a short time, but they could not get in range of the convoy a second time. Two weeks later, U-995 was en route to Murmansk when the wireless operaror detected radar emissions and the hydrophone operator reported screw noises . Through darkness of night, the silhouette of a destroyer came into view within three thousand meters-then one, two, three more. An Allied fleet searching for the U-boat had apparently detected it on the surface by radar. Parachute flares shot up, then slowly descended, illuminating the night sky. The destroyers could not ferret out U-995 , and
An Allied.freighter begins her descent to the bottom after a U-boat torpedo strikes amidships.
SEA HISTORY 105, AUTUMN 2003