Reinhard Hardegan Part 1
Reinhard Hardegan Part 2

When we left this interview in KTB #178, Captain Hardegen was about to tell us about his encounter with the “Q” ship. In World War I, the British used disguised freighters, loaded with heavy guns, to lure U-Boats to the surface so they could attack and sink the U-Boat. These were known as “Q” ships.

Captain HARDEGEN in 1994 during this interview.

SHARKHUNTERS: Let’s talk about your battle with the ATIK/CAROLINE. That’s the only example of a battle with a “Q” ship in the Second World War. That was very common in the First World War. Tell us from the beginning about this incident.

Captain HARDEGEN: I saw a small freighter and then I torpedoed her and she didn’t sink at once and she was so small, that I had no reason to use a second torpedo and so I wanted to kill her with shells. When I had my gun crew on deck, suddenly I saw that she had a little bit speed already and she changed her course a little bit – but her crew had left the ship already and I was astonished that she had changed her course because the crew was in the lifeboats and I was very near to the ship, so I started to shell her, then off came a lot of canvas and there were big guns, cannons and they were shooting with 2cm (20mm) and with bigger shells and depth charges, and it was near like the hell – and then I went off with full speed ahead and it was very lucky because my diesel engines make a lot of smoke, and so perhaps he couldn’t hit me exactly but a midshipman on my side of the bridge, he was severely wounded and he died two hours later.

We had a lot of hits but no hit was deadly for the boat because we could dive and was all okay and then I went back underwater and torpedoed her and she sunk. When I read a book, I learned that there were two destroyers in the north of the “Q” ship – I went off to south and so I was lucky that I didn’t come in contact with the two destroyers.

There was another “Q” ship, the EVELYN, and I met her afterwards on the coast of Florida and I saw her and she was a very small ship and she made a radio call with the name EVELYN and it was so small a ship, only 3,000 tons and I saw bigger ships and so I sunk two other ships in the night. After the war, I met an officer of the EVELYN and he said that I was lucky that he didn’t contact with me that night.

EDITOR NOTE – the officer he met was Captain KEN BEYER (1156-1989), who reported for duty as a young ensign along with another young ensign. They were assigned to Project “LQ” and tossed a coin to see which ship they would serve on. KEN went to USS ASTERION/SS EVELYN and the other ensign went to USS ATIK/SS CAROLINE – and never returned. Just one of the strange twists of fate during wartime.

I said, “You were lucky that I didn’t attack you because you never sunk a submarine but I sunk a “Q” ship.”

He was here with Sharkhunters here in Germany. And so they had only two “Q” ships and I met both. Interview with Captain HARDEGEN (continued)

SHARKHUNTERS: Let’s go on – I’d like to ask you about Admiral Dönitz, your relationship with him as a Skipper and also how important he was to the U-Bootwaffe - as a tactician he was very famous, also as a leader.

Captain HARDEGEN: He was the best leader we could have because he was a very impressive person and he had always a very personal contact to every commander – for instance, when I came back from holiday to France, he at once at first asked me ‘What about your wife? What about your two sons?’ He knew all at the time I had two sons, afterwards I had two children more and he was a man – a very good leader.

SHARKHUNTERS: Did he contribute – I know as a theoretician, of course, he contributed very strongly to the success of the submarine service in the Second World War but when you came back from a patrol, he would meet you – is that correct, and talk very frankly about the patrol?

Captain HARDEGEN: Yes, yes.

SHARKHUNTERS: What kind of things did you talk about?

Captain HARDEGEN: We had to talk about our patrol and all things what happened and what we thought to make it better, and so on. He asked all things and he had read our KTB before and so he knew all exactly.

SHARKHUNTERS: You did most of your service in the Atlantic in 1942, right at the time when the war was changing. Did you, in the course of your service, see any special technological changes that made a difference?

Captain HARDEGEN: When I came back from my second patrol on the United States, at the first time the airplanes had radar and that was the first change, and then I brought my boat back to base, it was attacked by a destroyer and so the boat was very – a lot of things were broken and it was not possible to repair the boat in France and so I brought to Germany and I went back around England and always the planes came through the cloud and it was terrible, and I didn’t know why they always found me and I didn’t know that they had radar. I learned it when I came back.

SHARKHUNTERS: What qualities do you felt make for a good U-Boat commander? Do you think leadership or cunning or will power – what sort of qualities?

Captain HARDEGEN: Two things! First you must learn your job very good and you must know what to do, and then you must try to get the respect of the crew. The crew must think that the commander knew all things and had all things in his head. I will tell you one thing – when we had a depth charge by destroyer; I was sitting in the hatch to the central c0ontro room and I had my book, and I did so as if I was reading this interesting book and I did it so that the crew would think ‘Oh, if the captain is reading a book, so it can’t be very bad and it is not so bad, and he has time for reading.’ Then my chief officer HORST von SCHROETER (5430-1997), tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Captain, you have the book upside-down!” That was the thing – I did it to show that it was not so bad. You must have the confidence of the crew.

SHARKHUNTERS: As I understand, during the war, all of the individuals who commanded U-Boats, had shared this experience and felt that they were a special group. Did you have friends among this group of commanders and if so, did you talk about your patrols with each other – tell us about the kind of friendships you had.

Captain HARDEGEN: Well, we had a lot of good friends that I had with other commanders, but we didn’t talk very much about our special patrols, only about special things we recognized – for instance, who had radar or when I sunk the “Q” ships I told them that they must be very careful because we didn’t know how many other “Q” ships they had, and those things.

SHARKHUNTERS: I think for most people who didn’t serve in the U-Bootwaffe, our only experience with the U-Boat war was the movie ‘DAS BOOT’. Did you enjoy that film?

Captain HARDEGEN: No, no – we from the U-Bootwaffe, we don’t like the book and don’t like the film, because I say if the reality would be the same way as in the film, the U-Boat war would be finished in two or three weeks. A crew, which is one day before leaving the port, is full drunken and so on and what they did with the Captain – they pi$$#d against the captain in a drunken way and when the first depth charges came, the engineer didn’t know what to do and the captain took his pistol that he had to do his work. Impossible! With such a crew, you cannot have any success. And also we don’t like (the author) Buchheim. Buchheim was a guest on board a boat – he was from the Propaganda Kompanie and had to make pictures, and he was not a submarine mane and he has only one god – that is money; and the second money and money, and he always want to make money and that is why he made the book and make the film but he is not a good man.

This was an outstanding interview with a veteran who was in the War at Sea, and you may have the entire interview on videotape to see it over and over again. Order Tape H-52, the 1994 interview with Captain REINHARD HARDEGEN – only $30 (plus $5 S&H) and you’ll have it to enjoy again and again.

Reinhard Hardegan Interview

Reinhard Hardegan Part 1
Reinhard Hardegan Part 2
Reinhard Hardegan Part 3