Horst Degen

Horst Degen (19 July 1913 – 29 January 1996) was a German U-boat commander during World War II. Under Degen's command, the submarine U-701 was credited with sinking five Allied ships totaling 25,390 gross register tons (GRT) and damaged four others for 37,093 GRT. U-107 also sank four auxiliary warships and damaged a destroyer.

Early life Horst Degen was born on 19 July 1913 in Münster in the German Empire. According to Degen's interrogation report via the United States Department of the Navy, he was a bachelor and orphan with two married sisters, before the war he lived in Hamburg.

Military service Prewar years Degen was an Offiziersanwärter (officer candidate) with the class of 1933 graduating on 1 April 1933. U-boat ace Reinhard "Teddy" Suhren for example was barred from further U-boat training despite being a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross due to the fact that he was not 25 years old.

Capture

In early 1942, Degen was ordered to block the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay near two of the largest naval stations on the east coast, Naval Air Station Patuxent River and Naval Air Station Oceana while German submarine U-373 would mine the entrance to Delaware Bay and German submarine U-87 would mine the harbor channel outside of Boston in Massachusetts Bay.

Twenty three days after leaving Lorient in late May 1942, U-701 crossed the Continental shelf on 12 June 1942. Only Degen, along with 6 men of his crew were rescued from the sinking ship, there were no other survivors. Degen was eventually interrogated as a prisoner of war but was eventually paroled at the end of the war in June 1946.

Later life Degen died on 29 January 1996 in Lüneburg.