Otto Kretschmer
U-Boat ace Otto Kretschmer, looking rather bored with propaganda duty, November 1940. Best regards, JR.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://ww2incolor.com/gallery/german-navy/22015/otto-kretschmer
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://ww2incolor.com/gallery/german-navy/22015/otto-kretschmer
Otto Kretschmer was a famous U-Boat commander of the Second World War, and was the most successful Ace of the Deep. From September 1939 until being captured in March 1941, he sank 47 ships for a total of 274,333 tons. He earned the nickname "Silent Otto" both for his successful use of the "silent running" capability of the U-Boats as well as for his reluctance to make propaganda broadcasts.
Even though Kretschmer served only three years out of seven in WWII, he would never be surpassed in terms of tonnage sunk. He was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class, the U-boat War Badge, the Iron Cross 1st Class, the Knight’s Cross, the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, and the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.
In April 1940, after eight patrols, Kretschmer left his U-23 for the newly-completed Type VIIB U-99, and started his legacy. In the first four patrols of the U-99, Kretschmer started striking convoys at night on the surface, taking down merchant ships with highly accurate shots, using only one torpedo per target ship in order to save ammunition, and the quote "One torpedo … one ship" is attributed to Kretschmer from around this time.
His most successful patrol occurred in November-December 1940. During that patrol U-99 sank three British armed merchant cruisers, HMS Laurentic, HMS Patroclus and HMS Forfar. Put together, the three AMCs totalled over 46,000 gross tons. These three successes earned Kretschmer the number-one spot on the Aces list, and was never surpassed.
On his last patrol in March 1941, he sank 10 more ships. During a counterattack by British escorts, U-99 was disabled by depth charges dropped from the British destroyer HMS Walker. On March 17, Kretschmer surfaced and scuttled his boat. Three of his men were lost. Kretschmer and the remainder crew were captured.
Kretschmer’s records:
40 ships sunk for a total of 208.869 GRT
3 auxiliary warships sunk for a total of 46.440 GRT
1 warship sunk for a total of 1.375 tons
5 ships damaged for a total of 37.965 GRT
1 ship taken as prize for a total of 2.136 GRT
2 ships a total loss for a total of 15.513 GRT