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The title of this article contains the character ü. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Juergen Oesten.
Jürgen Oesten (24 October 1913 – 5 August 2010) was a Korvettenkapitän in the Kriegsmarine during World War II. He commanded the U-boats U-61 and U-106, and then served as a staff officer before returning to command U-861. He sank nineteen ships for a total of 101,744 gross register tons (GRT), and damaged four others for 51,668 GRT to become number 29 on the list of the highest scoring U-Boat aces of World War II.
[edit] Career
Born in Grunewald, Berlin, Oesten joined the German Navy in April 1933. After serving aboard the cruisers Admiral Graf Spee and Karlsruhe he transferred to the U-boat arm in May 1937, and was appointed watch officer of U-20. In August 1939 Oesten commissioned U-61, sailing on nine patrols, and sinking five ships. Taking command of U-106 in September 1940, he sailed on three patrols sinking another ten ships. On 20 March 1941 during an attack on convoy SL-68 he damaged the British battleship HMS Malaya. In October 1941 Oesten became the first commander of the 9. Unterseebootsflottille based in Brest, France. In March 1942 he joined the staff of FdU Nordmeer directing the U-boat war in the Norwegian Sea. In September 1943 Oesten returned to active duty in U-861, sailing to Penang to join the Monsun Gruppe of U-boats operating in the Indian Ocean, and sinking another four ships, bringing his career total to 19 ships sunk, totalling 101,744 GRT, and four ships damaged (51,668 GRT). U-861 left Soerabaya, Dutch East Indies, in January 1945 carrying a cargo of vital materials, but only two torpedoes, and reached Trondheim, Norway, in April, just before the German surrender.[1]
Oesten was a technical advisor for the 2005 submarine simulator Silent Hunter III.[2]