Hans Reimers

Oberleutnant zur See der Reserve (entry, Jahrgang 39/40)

Successes
1 ship sunk, total tonnage 2,190 GRT

Born	19 Oct 1916		Neumünster
Died	27 Mar 1945	(28)	off Hebrides

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Ranks

1 Jan 1944

Oberleutnant zur See der Reserve

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-983	16 Jun 1943	8 Sep 1943	No war patrols
U-722	15 Dec 1943	27 Mar 1945 (+)	3 patrols (94 days)

His first name is in some sources shown as Hans-Heinrich.

Hans Reimers joined the Kriegsmarine during the winter of 1939/1940. He served as the Second Watch officer (2WO) on the U-454 (Kptlt. Burckhard Hackländer) from July 1941 to March 1943 (Busch & Röll, 1999). With the U-454 he served on 8 patrols, the first 5 in the Arctic and the last 3 in the North Atlantic (Busch & Röll, 1997). They sank 2 small ships and damaged another. He was then sent to the U-boat Commander training with the 24th (Training) Flotilla until May 1943 (Busch & Röll, 1999)..

First Command and loss of boat in Baltic

In May 1943 he he began his U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung) at Hamburg to prepare for his command of a new type VIIC boat. On 16 June 1943 Reimers commissioned the U-983 at Hamburg (Busch & Röll, 1999). During training in the Baltic the boat sank due to a collision with U-988 (Oblt. Erich Dobberstein), another U-boat in training, on 8 Sept 1943. 5 men died but 38 survived, including Commander Reimers (Niestlé, 1998). U-988 survived the collision.

From Oct to Dec 1943 Reimers went though another U-boat familiarization (Baubelehrung), again at Hamburg to prepare for his command of another new boat (Busch & Röll, 1999).

On 15 Dec 1943 Oblt. Hans Reimers commissioned the U-722 and started training in the Baltic. He left for his first war patrol from Kiel, Germany on 7 Oct 1944. He sailed on 2 patrols in the North Atlantic, mostly around the British Isles from Oct to Dec 1944 (Busch & Röll, 1997). On his third patrol he sank his only ship, the British Inger Toft on 16 March (Rohwer, 1998).

Oblt. Hans Reimers was killed when U-722 was sunk on 27 March, 1945 in the North Atlantic near the Hebrides by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Fitzroy, HMS Redmill and HMS Byron, 44 dead (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.
Rohwer, J. (1998). Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two.

Patrol info for Hans Reimers

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-722	7 Oct 1944	Kiel	9 Oct 1944	Horten		3 days
2.	U-722	13 Oct 1944	Horten	14 Oct 1944	Marviken		2 days
3.	U-722	16 Oct 1944	Marviken	20 Nov 1944	St. Nazaire	Patrol 1,	36 days
4.	U-722	7 Dec 1944	St. Nazaire	29 Dec 1944	Bergen	Patrol 2,	23 days
5.	U-722	21 Feb 1945	Trondheim	27 Mar 1945	Sunk	Patrol 3,	35 days
3 patrols, 94 days at sea