Johannes Lohs

Oberleutnant zur See (Crew 4/09)

Successes
76 ships sunk with a total of 142,406 GRT
1 warship sunk with a total of 1,200 tons
19 ships damaged with a total of 95,070 GRT

Born:	24 Jun 1889	Einsiedel, Sachsen
Died:	14 Aug 1918	off the Belgian coast

Ranks

1 Apr 1909		Seekadett
12 Apr 1910		Fähnrich zur See
19 Sep 1912		Leutnant zur See
2 May 1915		Oberleutnant zur See

Decorations

		Iron Cross 2nd class
		Iron Cross 1st class
		Albert Order (Saxony)
23 Dec 1917		Royal House Order of Hohenzollern
24 Apr 1918		Pour le Mérite

U-boat Commands

UC 75	17 Mar 1917	-	30 Jan 1918
UB 57	2 Jan 1918	-	14 Aug 1918 (+)

Notes

Johannes Lohs was born on 24 June, 1889 at Einsiedel, Sachsen. Son of plant owner Oswald Lohs. First ran school in his home village and later a grammar school in Chemnitz.

He entered the Kaiserliche Marine on 1 April, 1909. Had several commands as Fahnrich zur See and served from 1 October 1912 on the cruiser Strasburg on which he saw half of the world.

Saw action for the very first time on 28 August 1914 and was promoted Lt.z.S. in the autumn of 1915. Moved to the U-Bootschule and got his first U-Boat command on UC 75 of the Flandern Flottille on 17 March 1917. He took that boat on 9 patrols off the British coast.

On 2 January 1918 he became CO of the UB 57, taking over the command from another legendary U-Boat commander; Otto Steinbrinck. Lohs had also some very good ideas on U-boat warfare and new tactics and in April 1918 he received the Pour le Mérite.

On 3 August he sailed from Zeebrugge for the last time. The last contact he made with base was on the evening of the 14th, as UB 57 was homeward bound roughly in the area of the Sandiette Bank, east of the Straits of Dover. Nothing more was heard. UB 57 is believed to have hit a mine. Ships sunk on this last patrol were the Clan Mac Vey (5815 BRT), Glenlee (4915 BRT) and City of Brisbane (7094 BRT). In total, Lohs sank approximately 165.000 tons of shipping.

Lohs' body washed up on shore a week later. He is buried in the military cemetery at Vlissingen *.

On 4 October 1937 the III Unterseebootflottille was named after him at Kiel.

* According to this blog post citing the town archivist at Vlissingen, Mr. Meerman, the bodies of Germans were moved from Vlissingen to Ysselsteyn in the Dutch province of Limburg in 1949. The WWI casualties having been moved to the new cemetary during WWII to join the men who fell in the Second World War. On this Flickr page you can see photos of the cemetary at Ysselsteyn - the only German military cemetary in Netherlands.

Ships hit by Johannes Lohs

Date	U-boat	Name of ship	Type of ship	Tons

25 Mar 1917	UC 75	Industria	Trawler	133	br
25 Mar 1917	UC 75	Marshall	Steamer	1,123	nw
25 Mar 1917	UC 75	Median	Trawler	214	br
25 Mar 1917	UC 75	Rosslyn	Trawler	113	br
28 Mar 1917	UC 75	Expedient	Trawler	145	br
29 Mar 1917	UC 75	Schaldis	Steamer	1,241	be
1 May 1917	UC 75	Alide	Sailing vessel	175	ru
3 May 1917	UC 75	Carberry King	Fishing vessel	31	br
3 May 1917	UC 75	Eleanor	Fishing vessel	31	br
3 May 1917	UC 75	Fastnet	Fishing vessel	31	br
3 May 1917	UC 75	HIBERNIA	Fishing vessel	21	br
3 May 1917	UC 75	Lucky Lass	Fishing vessel	10	br
3 May 1917	UC 75	North Star	Fishing vessel	15	br
3 May 1917	UC 75	Sir Edward Birkbeck	Fishing vessel	23	br
4 May 1917	UC 75	Marie	Sailing vessel	133	fr
5 May 1917	UC 75	Lavender	Sloop	1,200	br
6 May 1917	UC 75	President	Sailing vessel	354	fr
15 May 1917	UC 75	Polymnia	Steamer	2,426	br
7 Jun 1917	UC 75	Wilhelm	Sailing vessel	187	br
11 Jun 1917	UC 75	Anglian	Steamer	5,532	br
12 Jun 1917	UC 75	Prize (d.)	Q-ship	199	br
18 Jun 1917	UC 75	Kathlamba (d.)	Steamer	6,382	br
19 Jun 1917	UC 75	Kelso	Steamer	1,292	br
20 Jun 1917	UC 75	Benita	Sailing vessel	130	br
20 Jun 1917	UC 75	Bidartaise	Sailing vessel	123	fr
29 Jul 1917	UC 75	Saint Marcouf	Steamer	1,117	fr
1 Aug 1917	UC 75	Karina	Passenger steamer	4,222	br
3 Aug 1917	UC 75	Beechpark	Steamer	4,763	br
3 Aug 1917	UC 75	Mary B. Mitchell (d.)	Q-ship	227	br
25 Aug 1917	UC 75	Cymrian	Steamer	1,014	br
29 Aug 1917	UC 75	Cooroy	Sailing vessel	2,470	br
29 Aug 1917	UC 75	Lynburn	Steamer	587	br
28 Sep 1917	UC 75	William Middleton (d.)	Steamer	2,543	br
9 Oct 1917	UC 75	Main	Steamer	715	br
12 Oct 1917	UC 75	W. M. Barkley	Steamer	569	br
13 Oct 1917	UC 75	Eskmere	Steamer	2,293	br
19 Oct 1917	UC 75	Hazelwood	Steamer	3,120	br
3 Nov 1917	UC 75	Deliverer	Navy Drifter	79	br
3 Nov 1917	UC 75	Atlantian (d.)	Passenger Steamer	9,399	br
4 Nov 1917	UC 75	Longwy	Steamer	2,315	fr
8 Nov 1917	UC 75	The Marquis	steamer	373	br
1 Dec 1917	UC 75	Euphorbia	Steamer	3,109	br
1 Dec 1917	UC 75	Rydal Hall	Steamer	3,314	br
4 Dec 1917	UC 75	Milton (d.)	Steamer	3,267	br
7 Dec 1917	UC 75	Earl Of Elgin	Steamer	4,448	br
28 Dec 1917	UC 75	Alfred H. Read	Pilot vessel	457	br
28 Dec 1917	UC 75	Chirripo	Steamer	4,050	br

3 Jan 1918	UC 75	Asborg	Steamer	2,750	nw
4 Jan 1918	UC 75	Day Spring	Fishing vessel (smack)	39	br
4 Jan 1918	UC 75	Gratitude	Fishing vessel (smack)	40	br
4 Jan 1918	UC 75	Varuna	Fishing vessel (smack)	40	br
5 Jan 1918	UC 75	Iolanthe	Steamer	3,081	br
6 Jan 1918	UC 75	Arca (d.)	Tanker	4,839	br
7 Jan 1918	UC 75	Gascony	Steamer	3,133	br
7 Jan 1918	UC 75	Leon	Steamer	2,401	fr
5 Feb 1918	UB 57	Alamance	Steamer	4,455	am
6 Feb 1918	UB 57	Westmoreland (d.)	Steamer	9,512	br
7 Feb 1918	UB 57	Ardbeg	Steamer	227	br
7 Feb 1918	UB 57	Ben Rein	Steamer	212	br
7 Feb 1918	UB 57	Limesfield	Steamer	427	br
12 Feb 1918	UB 57	Eleanor	Steamer	1,980	br
12 Feb 1918	UB 57	Polo	Steamer	1,383	br
14 Feb 1918	UB 57	Carlisle Castle	Steamer	4,325	br
14 Feb 1918	UB 57	War Monarch	Steamer	7,887	br
17 Mar 1918	UB 57	Anne Yvonne	Sailing vessel	102	fr
17 Mar 1918	UB 57	Arvor	Sailing vessel	52	fr
17 Mar 1918	UB 57	Beata	Sailing vessel	102	fr
19 Mar 1918	UB 57	Luxor	Steamer	3,571	br
23 Mar 1918	UB 57	Sequoya (d.)	Tanker	5,263	br
29 Mar 1918	UB 57	India (d.)	Passenger steamer	5,990	pt
29 Mar 1918	UB 57	T. R. Thompson	Steamer	3,538	br
31 Mar 1918	UB 57	Alcinous (d.)	Steamer	6,743	br
31 Mar 1918	UB 57	Excellence Pleske	Steamer	2,059	br
29 Apr 1918	UB 57	Australier	Steamer	3,687	br
29 Apr 1918	UB 57	Broderick	Steamer	4,321	br
29 Apr 1918	UB 57	La Somme	steamer	1,477	fr
30 Apr 1918	UB 57	Ella Sayer	Steamer	2,549	br
30 Apr 1918	UB 57	Umba	Steamer	2,042	br
1 May 1918	UB 57	Canonesa (d.)	Steamer	6,683	br
2 May 1918	UB 57	Unity	Steamer	1,091	br
12 May 1918	UC 75	Benlawers (d.)	Steamer	3,949	br
22 May 1918	UB 57	Red Rose	Steamer	423	br
23 May 1918	UB 57	Moldavia	Armed merchant cruiser	9,500	br
26 May 1918	UB 57	Kyarra	Passenger steamer	6,953	br
27 May 1918	UB 57	Joseph Simone	Fishing vessel	8	fr
27 May 1918	UB 57	PETIT GEORGES	Fishing vessel	10	fr
27 May 1918	UB 57	Souvenir De Ste Marie	Fishing vessel	7	fr
30 May 1918	UB 57	War Panther (d.)	Steamer	5,260	br
31 May 1918	UB 57	Galileo (d.)	Steamer	6,287	br
30 Jun 1918	UB 57	Wilton (d.)	Steamer	4,281	br
2 Jul 1918	UB 57	Royal Sceptre (d.)	Steamer	3,858	br
2 Jul 1918	UB 57	Shirala	Steamer	5,306	br
6 Jul 1918	UB 57	Huntscraft (d.)	Steamer	5,113	br
5 Aug 1918	UB 57	Tuscan Prince (d.)	Steamer	5,275	br
8 Aug 1918	UB 57	Clan Macvey	Steamer	5,815	br
9 Aug 1918	UB 57	Glenlee	Steamer	4,915	br
				238,676
77 ships sunk (143,606 tons) and 19 ships damaged (95,070 tons). Legend (d.) means the ship was damaged. We have a picture of this vessel.