| Born | 27 Jun 1917 | Flensburg | |
| Died | 8 Oct 2005 | (88) | Glücksburg, Germany |
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Ranks
Decorations
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U-boat Commands
| U-boat | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U-264 | 22 May 1942 | 19 Feb 1944 | 5 patrols (181 days) |
Hartwig Looks joined the Kriegsmarine in 1936, and was part of the Olympia Crew. He served with the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla Sept 1939 - April 1940, then joined the staff of Admiral Norwegian North Coast until Dec 1940 (Busch & Röll, 1999).
From Jan - May 1941 Looks received U-boat training and then went for U-boat construction familiarization (Baubelehrung) at Kiel where U-375 was being built. The boat was commissioned on 19 July 1941 by Kptlt. Jürgen Könenkamp with Looks as 1st Watch Officer (I WO) (Busch & Röll, 1999).
After working up, U-375 went on her first patrol on 12 Nov 1941, and on 9 Dec broke into the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar. Looks went on two more patrols in the boat in the Mediterranean, spending a total of 65 days at sea (Busch & Röll, 1997).
In March 1942 Hartwig was sent to the 24th (Training) Flotilla for his U-Boat Commander's course. When he graduated he began another Baubelehrung, this time at Bremen where his first command, the type VIIC U-boat U-264 was being built (Busch & Röll, 1999).
On 22 May 1942 Oblt. Hartwig Looks commissioned U-264. After training in the Baltic the boat sailed in the first combat patrol from Kiel on 3 Nov 1942. Hartwig commanded the boat on five patrols in the North Atlantic, 181 days at sea, before the boat was sunk on 19 Feb 1944 by depth charges from the British sloops HMS Woodpecker and HMS Starling. Somewhat unusually for the time the entire crew of 52 survived. (Niestlé, 1998).
Sources
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.
Patrol info for Hartwig Looks
| U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | U-264 | 3 Nov 1942 | Kiel | 4 Dec 1942 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 1, | 32 days | |
| 2. | U-264 | 10 Jan 1943 | St. Nazaire | 5 Mar 1943 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 2, | 55 days | |
| 3. | U-264 | 8 Apr 1943 | St. Nazaire | 1 Jun 1943 | Lorient | Patrol 3, | 55 days | |
| 4. | U-264 | 4 Aug 1943 | Lorient | 4 Aug 1943 | St. Nazaire | 1 days | ||
| 5. | U-264 | 15 Sep 1943 | St. Nazaire | 16 Sep 1943 | St. Nazaire | 2 days | ||
| 6. | U-264 | 22 Sep 1943 | St. Nazaire | 15 Oct 1943 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 4, | 24 days | |
| 7. | U-264 | 5 Feb 1944 | St. Nazaire | 19 Feb 1944 | Sunk | Patrol 5, | 15 days | |
| 5 patrols, 181 days at sea | ||||||||
Ships hit by Hartwig Looks
| Date | U-boat | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Nov 1942 | U-264 |  | Mount Taurus | 6,696 |  | gr | ONS-144 | |
| 5 May 1943 | U-264 | West Maximus | 5,561 |  | am | ONS-5 | ||
| 5 May 1943 | U-264 | | Harperley | 4,586 |  | br | ONS-5 | |
| 16,843 | ||||||||
3 ships sunk (16,843 tons). Legend | ||||||||
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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