Horst Degen

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 33)

Successes
5 ships sunk, total tonnage 25,390 GRT
4 auxiliary warships sunk, total tonnage 1,666 GRT
4 ships damaged, total tonnage 37,093 GRT
1 warship damaged, total tonnage 1,190 tons

Born	19 Jul 1913		Münster, Westphalia
Died	29 Jan 1996	(82)	Lüneburg, Germany

Kptlt. Horst Degen

Ranks

1 Apr 1933		Offiziersanwärter
1 Jul 1934		Fähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1936		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Oct 1936		Leutnant zur See
1 Jun 1938		Oberleutnant zur See
1 Mar 1941		Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

1939		Iron Cross 2nd Class
1940		Destroyer War Badge
10 Feb 1942		U-boat War Badge 1939
1942		Iron Cross 1st Class

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-701	16 Jul 1941	7 Jul 1942	3 patrols (129 days)

Left: Horst Degen on the tower.

Horst Degen served as the Second Watch Officer, 2WO, torpedo and radio technical officer on the destroyer Z 10 Hans Lody from Sep 1939 to June 1940. He then joined the U-boat force and underwent training from Jul to Dec 1940. Then U-boat commander training from Jan to Mar 1941.

Degen then went as commander in training on the soon-to-be famous U-552 (Topp) for its second patrol (7 Apr - 6 May 1941) - 3 ships sunk, one damaged.

Horst Degen then went to oversee construction of a U-boat (Baubelehrung) and commissioned his U-701 on 16 Jul 1941. He went out on his first patrol on 27 Dec 1941 (45 days, one ship sunk) and his second on 26 Feb 1942 (35 days, 4 small ships sunk).

Horst Degen‘s third war patrol with the U-701 from May to 7 July 1942, where he operated in American waters, was an exceptional one; sinking 4 ships (21.789 tons) and damaging 5 more (38.283 tons). He boat was sunk while waiting to sink one more ship before going back across the Atlantic (he had seen no ships for 8 days though).

When his boat was sunk by 3 depth charges from an American Hudson aircraft off Cape Hatteras all but 7 men escaped to the surface in two 18-man groups, but although the attacking aircraft dropped 4 life-west and life-raft plus marked the site with a flare the 7 eventual survivors were not found until 49 hours later, 110 miles offshore.

Nothing was found of the other group of 18 men. He and his 6 men then went to POW camp. Degen was released during June 1946.

This terrible photo of Degen was taken shortly after his rescue.

Sources

Blair, C. (1996). Hitler’s U-boat War. The Hunters, 1939-1942.
Busch, R & Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.

Patrol info for Horst Degen

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-701	27 Dec 1941	Kiel	9 Feb 1942	St. Nazaire	Patrol 1,	45 days
2.	U-701	26 Feb 1942	St. Nazaire	1 Apr 1942	Brest	Patrol 2,	35 days
3.	U-701	19 May 1942	Brest	20 May 1942	Lorient		2 days
4.	U-701	20 May 1942	Lorient	7 Jul 1942	Sunk	Patrol 3,	49 days
3 patrols, 129 days at sea

Ships hit by Horst Degen

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Tons		Convoy
6 Jan 1942	U-701	Baron Erskine	3,657	br	SC-62
6 Mar 1942	U-701	Rononia	213	br
7 Mar 1942	U-701	Nyggjaberg	349	fa
9 Mar 1942	U-701	HMS Notts County (FY 250)	541	br
11 Mar 1942	U-701	HMS Stella Capella (FY 107)	507	br
15 Jun 1942	U-701	HMS Kingston Ceylonite (FY 214) [Mine]	448	br	KN-109
15 Jun 1942	U-701	USS Bainbridge (DD 246) (d.) [Mine]	1,190	am	KN-109
15 Jun 1942	U-701	Robert C. Tuttle (d.) [Mine]	11,615	am	KN-109
15 Jun 1942	U-701	Esso Augusta (d.) [Mine]	11,237	am	KN-109
17 Jun 1942	U-701	Santore [Mine]	7,117	am	KS-511
19 Jun 1942	U-701	USS YP-389	170	am
26 Jun 1942	U-701	Tamesis (d.)	7,256	nw
27 Jun 1942	U-701	British Freedom (d.)	6,985	br	KS-514
28 Jun 1942	U-701	William Rockefeller	14,054	am
			65,339
9 ships sunk (27,056 tons) and 5 ships damaged (38,283 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (d.) means the ship was damaged. [Mine] indicates the vessel was hit by a mine laid by said U-boat.

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.