Karl-Jürg Wächter

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 36)

Successes
2 ships sunk, total tonnage 12,556 GRT
1 ship a total loss, total tonnage 4,970 GRT
1 warship a total loss, total tonnage 1,300 tons

Born	2 May 1916		Oberweissbach, Thüringen
Died	4 May 1945	(29)	Baltic Sea

Ranks

3 Apr 1936		Offiziersanwärter
10 Sep 1936		Seekadett
1 May 1937		Fähnrich zur See
1 Jul 1938		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1938		Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1940		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Jun 1943		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

		Iron Cross 2nd Class
		Iron Cross 1st Class
28 Dec 1943		German Cross in Gold

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-223	6 Jun 1942	12 Jan 1944	4 patrols (155 days)
U-2503	12 Nov 1944	4 May 1945 (+)	No war patrols

Crew of 1936

Karl-Jürg Wächter was one of the Kriegsmarine's famous Olympia Crew. This Crew chose the Olympic rings as their symbol (the 1936 Olympic games were held in Berlin). It was the largest Crew, and produced more U-boat commanders than any other – of the 164 who 'graduated', 140 took command during the war.

Patrol info for Karl-Jürg Wächter

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-223	12 Jan 1943	Kiel	6 Mar 1943	St. Nazaire	Patrol 1,	54 days
2.	U-223	15 Apr 1943	St. Nazaire	24 May 1943	St. Nazaire	Patrol 2,	40 days
3.	U-223	14 Sep 1943	St. Nazaire	16 Oct 1943	Toulon	Patrol 3,	33 days
4.	U-223	20 Nov 1943	Toulon	17 Dec 1943	Toulon	Patrol 4,	28 days
4 patrols, 155 days at sea

Ships hit by Karl-Jürg Wächter

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
3 Feb 1943	U-223	Dorchester	5,649	am	SG-19
23 Feb 1943	U-223	Winkler	6,907	pa	ON-166
2 Oct 1943	U-223	Stanmore (t.)	4,970	br	KMS-27
11 Dec 1943	U-223	HMS Cuckmere (K 299) (t.)	1,300	br	KMS-34
			18,826
4 ships sunk (18,826 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (t.) means the ship was a total loss (included in ships & tonnage lost).

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.