Patrol 18, U-754 under Johannes (Hans) Oestermann, 4 day patrol March 27 to 30, 1942.
Kapitänleutnant Johannes (Hans) Oestermann brought U-754 across the waters south of New England from east to west between 27 and 30 March 1942. He sank the British Prudence off Newfoundland from convoy HX 181 on the 23rd and damaged the Ontario off Maryland on the 31st.
The same day Oestermann sanke the Menominee (a tug) and the Barnegat and Alleghany, barges which were being towed. Then he sank the ship Tiger on 1 April, the Otho two days later, and the Norwegian tanker Kollskegg on the 6th. The patrol began in Brest on 7th of March and ended there on the 25th of April.
Born in 1913, Oestermann was a member of the Crew of 1933. He lived until the 31st of July 1942 when U-754 was sunk east of Boston – he was 29 years of age. Over three patrols of 135 days Oestermann sank 13 ships and damaged another for over 56,000 tons. Early in his naval career he served aboard Z-7 Hermann Schoemann. He joined U-Boats in July 1940. His first U-Boat command was U-151 before he commissioned U-754 at Wilhelmshaven. The boat was sunk by a Canadian Hudson airplane with the loss of all 43 officers and men (Niestle and Uboat.net).
SOURCES:
Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim, “German U-Boat Commanders of World War II, A Biographical Dictionary,” Greenhill Books, London and Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1999
Högel, Georg, “U-Boat Emblems of World War II 1939 – 1945,” Schiffer Military History, Atglen, PA, US, 1999
Kurowski, Franz, Knights of the Wehrmacht, Knight’s Cross Holders of the U-Boat Service,” Schiffer Military/Aviation History, Atglen, PA, US, 1995
Mason, Jerry, www.uboatarchive.net – for the KTB or war diary of this patrol, 2015
Niestlé,Axel, “German U-Boat Losses During World War II – Details of Destruction,” Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1998