Hans Jenisch

Hans Jenisch (19 October 1913 – 29 April 1982) was a Kapitänleutnant in Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II and a Kapitän zur See in West Germany's Bundesmarine. He commanded the Type VIIA U-boat U-32, sinking seventeen ships on seven patrols, for a total of 110,139 gross register tons (GRT) of Allied shipping, to become the 26th highest scoring U-Boat ace of World War II.

Jenisch joined the navy, then named Reichsmarine, in 1933, and after serving in the cruiser Deutschland transferred to the U-boat arm in 1937. He served as 1WO (second-in-command) of U-32 under Werner Lott, before taking command of the U-boat in February 1940.

Empress of Britain

On 26 October 1940, Empress of Britain was spotted by a German Focke-Wulf C 200 Condor long-range bomber, commanded by Oberleutnant Bernhard Jope. Jope's bomber strafed Empress of Britain three times and hit her twice with 250 kilograms (550 lb) bombs causing severe damage to the ship. Jenisch had been informed of the location of the damaged vessel and intercepted her on the evening of 27 October. Jenisch fired three torpedoes, hitting her twice. Empress of Britain sank at 02:05 on 28 October 1940. At 42,348 gross tons, she was the largest ship sunk by a German U-boat.

Capture

Jenisch was captured on 30 October 1940 after U-32 was sunk north-west of Ireland by the British destroyers Harvester and Highlander. Nine of her crew died, but 33 survived to be taken prisoner, including Jenisch. He spent the next 6.5 years in British captivity before his return to Germany in June 1947.

Post-war

Even though Jenisch became known as a celebrated U-boat commander, his subsequent assessment of submarines was highly negative. In POW camp, he told a shocked Wilfried Prellberg (ex-CO of U-31) he considered submarines in warfare "obsolete. All of it." On joining the West German Bundesmarine in 1956, Jenisch held staff positions and commanded the training frigate Hipper (originally a Black Swan-class sloop, the ex-HMS Actaeon) for a time.

Jenisch was Divisional Training Commander at the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr in Hamburg from 1 October 1966 to 31 March 1970. He retired in 1972 with the rank of Kapitän zur See, and died in 1982.

Ships attacked

During seven patrols he sank 17 ships, including the 42,348 ton RMS Empress of Britain, for a career total of 110,139 GRT, as well as damaging 3 ships for 22,749 tons, including the cruiser HMS Fiji.

Date	Name of Ship	Nationality	Tonnage	Fate
2 March 1940	Lagaholm	Sweden	2,818	Sunk
18 June 1940	Altair	Norway	1,522	Sunk
18 June 1940	Nuevo Ons	Spain	108	Sunk
18 June 1940	Sálvora	Spain	108	Sunk
19 June 1940	Labud	Yugoslavia	5,334	Sunk
22 June 1940	Eli Knudsen	Norway	9,026	Sunk
30 August 1940	Chelsea	United Kingdom	4,804	Sunk
30 August 1940	Mill Hill	United Kingdom	4,318	Sunk
30 August 1940	Norne	Norway	3,971	Sunk
1 September 1940	HMS Fiji	United Kingdom	8,000	Damaged
22 September 1940	Collegian	United Kingdom	7,886	Damaged
25 September 1940	Mabriton	United Kingdom	6,694	Sunk
26 September 1940	Corrientes	United Kingdom	6,863	Damaged
26 September 1940	Darcoila	United Kingdom	4,084	Sunk
26 September 1940	Tancred	Norway	6,094	Sunk
28 September 1940	Empire Ocelot	United Kingdom	5,759	Sunk
29 September 1940	Bassa	United Kingdom	5,267	Sunk
30 September 1940	Haulerwijk	Netherlands	3,278	Sunk
2 October 1940	Kayeson	United Kingdom	4,606	Sunk
28 October 1940	Empress of Britain	United Kingdom	42,348	Sunk

Awards

• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class
• U-boat War Badge (1939)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 7 October 1940 as Oberleutnant zur See and commander of U-32
• Mentioned four times in the Wehrmachtbericht (12 September 1940, 1 October 1940, 3 October 1940 and 28 October 1940)

• Helgason, Guðmundur. "Kapitänleutnant Hans Jenisch". German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net. Retrieved 19 April 2010. 
• http://uboat.net/boats/successes/u32/html
• ^ Busch & Röll 2003, p. 75.
• Fellgiebel 2000, p. 243.
• Scherzer 2007, p. 419.