Date of birth:

September 24th, 1915 (Brunsbüttelkoog/Schleswig-Holstein, German Empire)

Date of death:

November 25th, 1981 (Maschen/Lower Saxony, Germany)

Nationality:

German

Promotions:
01.01.1939: Matrosengefreiter
02.02.1940: Bootsmannsmaat
01.07.1940: Bootsmann der Reserve
01.04.1941: Leutnant zur See der Reserve
01.04.1943: Oberleutnant zur See der Reserve

Successes:
1 ship sunk, total tonnage 1,603 GRT
1 warship sunk, total tonnage 105 tons
1 ship damaged, total tonnage 4,287 GRT

Career:
11.1938: joined the Kriegsmarine
02.-03.1940: heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper
1940-06.1942: served on several minesweepers
06.1942: transferred to the U-bootwaffe
06-1942-06.1943: WO - watch officer on 'U-359' and 'U-454'
07.1943: he commissioned the type VIIC/41 U-boat 'U-997'
05.1944: 7 patrols (167 days) of successful patrols in Arctic waters, sinking two ships and damaging one other.
He was the last U-boat commander to be awarded the Knights Cross.
05.1945: surrendered his U-boat at the Port of Londonderry at Lisahally in Northern Ireland (Niestlé, 1998). The boat was scuttled during Operation Deadlight and OLt zS Lehmann was taken into Allied captivity.

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Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Bootsmann der Reserve

Awarded on:

1940

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Bootsmann der Reserve

Awarded on:

1940

other sources give 1941

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Leutnant zur See der Reserve

Awarded on:

May 27th, 1942

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Leutnant zur See der Reserve

Awarded on:

June 17th, 1942

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Oberleutnant zu See der Reserve

Awarded on:

May 27th, 1943

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Oberleutnant zu See der Reserve

Unit:

Kdt, 'U-997'

Awarded on:

1944

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Oberleutnant zu See der Reserve

Unit:

Kommandant, "U 997", 13. Unterseebootsflottille, Kriegsmarine

Awarded on:

December 28th, 1944

Written in Patzwall / Scherzer as 5. Unterseebootsflottille.

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Oberleutnant zu See der Reserve

Unit:

Kdt, 'U-997'

Awarded on:

April 12th, 1945

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Oberleutnant zu See der Reserve

Unit:

Kommandant, "U 997", 14. Unterseebootsflottille, Kriegsmarine

Awarded on:

May 11th, 1945

Awarded for his long run of successful leadership in the Kriegsmarine (a combat record which extended beyond the U-Boat arm), as well as his total of 3 ships sunk or damaged late in the war. Lehmann was also the last U-Boat commander to receive the Knight's Cross.

Author Clemens Range dates Hans Lehmann's Knight's Cross on 8 June 1945, thus after the effectiveness of the Dönitz-decree. Walther-Peer Fellgiebel, author of Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945, indicates that Lehmann received the Knight's Cross on 11 May 1945, before the Dönitz-decree prohibited the awarding of the Knight's Cross. Scherzer dates the Knight's Cross on 7 May 1945.

• - DIXON, JEREMY, The U-boat Commanders, Naval Institute Press, 2019.
  - FELLGIEBEL, W.P., Elite of theThird Reich, Helion & Company Limited, Solihull, 2003.
  - PATZWALL, K. & SCHERZER, V., Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945, Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt, 2001.
  - das-ritterkreuz.de
  - uboat.net
  - historisches-marinearchiv.de
  - U 997
  - http://www.ritterkreuztraeger.info/rk/l/L114Lehmann-Hans.pdf