| Born | 28 Apr 1918 | Göttingen | |
| Died | 16 Dec 1999 | (81) | Vordorf, Germany |
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Ranks
Decorations |
U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-974 | 22 Apr 1943 | 8 Nov 1943 | No war patrols |
Joachim Zaubitzer joined the Kriegsmarine in 1937. He served as No 2 Torpedo Officer on the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer April - Sept 1941, then left for U-boat training (Busch & Röll, 1999).
From March 1942 to Feb 1943 Zaubitzer was 1st Watch Officer (I WO) on the very successful U-129 (Busch & Röll, 1999). He served with one of the most successful U-boat commanders, KrvKpt. Hans-Ludwig Witt. During Zaubitzer's service on the boat they went on two very long patrols, 195 days in total, to the Caribbean and South America on which 16 ships were sunk (74,183 GRT) (Rohwer, 1998).
First U-boat command
After this valuable experience Zaubitzer began U-boat Commander training with the 24th (Training) Flotilla in Feb 1943, and then U-boat construction familiarization (Baubelehrung) to prepare him for his own command of a new boat. On 22 April 1943 Oblt. Joachim Zaubitzer commissioned the type VIIC U-boat U-974 at Hamburg (Busch & Röll, 1999).
Zaubitzer spent the summer of 1943 training and getting his boat ready for combat. He never went on war patrol, handing over command to Oblt. Heinz Wolff on 8 Nov 1943 (Busch & Röll, 1999). U-974 was sunk by the Norwegian submarine HNoMS Ula on 19 April 1944 (eight survivors, 42 dead (Niestlé, 1998).
Kptlt. Zaubitzer served at the Torpedo School Flensburg-Mürwik as Training Leader from Nov 1943 until the end of the war (Busch & Röll, 1999).
Sources
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat
commanders of World War II.
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World
War II.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine
Successes of World War Two.
Patrol info for Joachim Zaubitzer
This commander did not go out on patrols with his boats.
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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