Paul-Hugo Kettner

Korvettenkapitän (Crew 33)


Successes
2 ships sunk, total tonnage 8,904 GRT

Born  20 Jul 1912 Alt-Rahlstedt
Died  8 Aug 1942(30)Cape Farewell


Ranks

1 Apr 1933 Offiziersanwärter
1 Jul 1934 Fähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1936 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1937 Leutnant zur See
1 Jun 1938 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1941 Kapitänleutnant
1 Aug 1942 Korvettenkapitän

Decorations

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-142 14 Oct 1940 12 Oct 1941   3 patrols (42 days) 
U-379 29 Nov 1941 8 Aug 1942  (+)  1 patrol (45 days) 

Paul-Hugo Kettner joined the navy in 1933. He joined the U-boat force in Oct 1939 and for the next year he went through U-boat and U-boat commander training. He took command of the small type IID boat U-142 on 14 Oct 1940. During the summer of 1941 Kettner took the boat on its 3 war patrols in the Baltic Sea to support the German invasion of Russia (no successes).

In Oct 1941 he left U-142 to prepare for the commission of the larger ocean-going type VIIC boat U-379, taking official command on 29 Nov 1941. After working out in the 8th (Training) Flotilla the boat was assigned to the 1st Flotilla at Brest, France for combat duties (Busch & Röll, 1999).

On 25 June 1942 Kettner took U-379 for its first and only war patrol heading into the Atlantic south of Iceland. The boat was sunk by depth charges and ramming from the British corvette HMS Dianthus late in the evening on 8 Aug after sinking 2 merchant ships from convoy SC-94 earlier in the day. There were 5 survivors out of a 45 man crew but Kettner was not among them (Blair, 1996).

Sources

Blair, C. (1996). Hitler’s U-boat War. The Hunters, 1939-1942.
Busch, R. & Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.

Patrol info for Paul-Hugo Kettner

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-142 21 Jun 1941  Gotenhafen  12 Jul 1941  Oxhöft  Patrol 1,22 days
2. U-142 25 Jul 1941  Oxhöft  9 Aug 1941  Stormelö  Patrol 2,16 days
3. U-142 28 Aug 1941  Stormelö  31 Aug 1941  Gotenhafen  Patrol 3,4 days
4. U-379 25 Jun 1942  Kiel  8 Aug 1942  Sunk  Patrol 4,45 days
4 patrols, 87 days at sea

Ships hit by Paul-Hugo Kettner

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
8 Aug 1942U-379 Anneberg2,537brSC-94
8 Aug 1942U-379 Kaimoku6,367amSC-94
 8,904

2 ships sunk (8,904 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.


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


German U-boat Commanders of World War II

Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim

Listing of all U-boat commanders


As an Amazon Associate uboat.net earns a commission from qualifying purchases.