Otto Ites
Kapitänleutnant (Crew 36)
Successes 15 ships sunk, total tonnage 76,882 GRT 1 ship damaged, total tonnage 8,022 GRT |
Born | 5 Feb 1918 | Norden, Ostfriesland, Germany | |
Died | 2 Feb 1982 | (63) | Norden / Ostfriesland, Germany |
Ranks
Decorations
|
U-boat Commands
U-boat | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
U-146 | 7 Apr 1941 | 26 Aug 1941 | 2 patrols (45 days) |
U-94 | 29 Aug 1941 | 28 Aug 1942 | 5 patrols (190 days) |
Leutnant zur See Otto Ites |
Otto Ites joined the Kriegsmarine in April 1936 and was a member of the so called Olympia-Crew. He served for some months on the torpedo boats Kondor and Albatros before he transferred to the U-boat force in October 1938.
After a short time on U-51 he became the second watch officer (II WO) on U-48. Together with the first watch officer (I WO) 'Teddy' Suhren he participated in the outstanding successes of this famous U-boat. When Suhren left the boat, Ites became the first watch officer.
In March 1941 he left U-48 and after two weeks of commander training he took over U-146. He made two patrols in the North Sea and in the Baltic Sea. In August 1941 Ites left U-146 and took over U-94 from Herbert Kuppisch.
Kapitän zur See Otto Ites |
On four patrols, mostly in the North Atlantic, Ites sank 13 ships and damaged two more.
On his fifth patrol his operational area was the Caribbean Sea. But on 28 August 1942 U-94 was sunk by depth charges from an aircraft and ramming by the Canadian corvette HMCS Oakville (Niestlé, 1998). Ites was among the 26 survivors and was in US captivity until May 1946.
After his return he became a dentist, before joining the Bundesmarine in 1956. Here he served for two years on the destroyer Z-2 as commander and then held several staff positions.
Otto Ites retired in September 1977 as Konteradmiral.
Sources
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1998). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.
Patrol info for Otto Ites
U-boat | Departure | Arrival | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | U-146 | 17 Jun 1941 | Kiel | 10 Jul 1941 | Bergen | Patrol 1, | 24 days | |
2. | U-146 | 11 Jul 1941 | Bergen | 14 Jul 1941 | Kiel | Patrol 1, | 4 days | |
3. | U-146 | 26 Jul 1941 | Kiel | 11 Aug 1941 | Kiel | Patrol 2, | 17 days | |
4. | U-94 | 2 Sep 1941 | St. Nazaire | 15 Oct 1941 | Kiel | Patrol 3, | 44 days | |
5. | U-94 | 12 Jan 1942 | Kiel | 30 Jan 1942 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 4, | 19 days | |
6. | U-94 | 12 Feb 1942 | St. Nazaire | 2 Apr 1942 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 5, | 50 days | |
7. | U-94 | 4 May 1942 | St. Nazaire | 23 Jun 1942 | St. Nazaire | Patrol 6, | 51 days | |
8. | U-94 | 3 Aug 1942 | St. Nazaire | 28 Aug 1942 | Sunk | Patrol 7, | 26 days | |
7 patrols, 235 days at sea |
Ships hit by Otto Ites
Date | U-boat | Commander | Name of ship | Tons | Nat. | Convoy | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
28 Jun 1941 | U-146 | Otto Ites | Pluto | 3,496 | fi | |||
15 Sep 1941 | U-94 | Otto Ites | Newbury | 5,102 | br | ON-14 | ||
15 Sep 1941 | U-94 | Otto Ites | Pegasus | 5,762 | gr | ON-14 | ||
15 Sep 1941 | U-94 | Otto Ites | Empire Eland | 5,613 | br | ON-14 | ||
1 Oct 1941 | U-94 | Otto Ites | San Florentino | 12,842 | br | ON-19 | ||
24 Feb 1942 | U-94 | Otto Ites | Empire Hail | 7,005 | br | ON-66 | ||
9 Mar 1942 | U-94 | Otto Ites | Cayrú | 5,152 | bz | |||
11 Mar 1942 | U-94 | Otto Ites | Hvoslef | 1,630 | nw | |||
25 Mar 1942 | U-94 | Otto Ites | Imperial Transport (d.) | 8,022 | br | ON-77 | ||
12 May 1942 | U-94 | Otto Ites | Cocle | 5,630 | pa | ONS-92 | ||
13 May 1942 | U-94 | Otto Ites | Batna | 4,399 | br | ONS-92 | ||
13 May 1942 | U-94 | Otto Ites | Tolken | 4,471 | sw | ONS-92 | ||
5 Jun 1942 | U-94 | Otto Ites | Maria da Glória | 320 | pt | |||
10 Jun 1942 | U-94 | Otto Ites | Empire Clough | 6,147 | br | ONS-100 | ||
10 Jun 1942 | U-94 | Otto Ites | Ramsay | 4,855 | br | ONS-100 | ||
11 Jun 1942 | U-94 | Otto Ites | Pontypridd | 4,458 | br | ONS-100 | ||
84,904 | ||||||||
15 ships sunk (76,882 tons) and 1 ship damaged (8,022 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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