Incompetence in submarine command is intolerable. Certainly, submarine history is littered with stories of courageous and expert submarine commanders who have become legends. Skippers vary from mild-mannered to bold, but lack of competence is quickly spotted by superior officers and those of less talent never make it to command a submarine. It is rare to hear of a submarine captain who was not respected and admired by crew members. Yet, as rare as they might be, there are exceptions. Here is the sad story of Peter Zschech a U-boat commander who spiraled into oblivion from his inability to recognize that a submarine is a team and that each crew member deserves recognition and praise.

Maschinengefreiter Hans Geobeler served under three excellent commanding officers and one of lesser ability. His description of Peter Zschech as his U-boat captain offers a perspective on attributes of character that prohibit a commanding officer from being an effective captain of a submarine. The reactions of U-505's crew, including Goebeler, to the manner of command is a seldom-seen glimpse in what it's like to work under an incompetent tyrant. The following is from Goebeler's book, Steel Boats, Iron Hearts. (Chatham Publishing, London, 2005).

U-505's first commanding officer was Kapitaenleutnant Loewe, who took the boat on its first war patrol. He was admired by the crew for his expert seamanship and judgment. He suffered an attack of appendicitis and was relieved of command. His relief was Kaptitaenleutnant Peter Zschech. The crew was saddened at the loss of their skipper, but hoped the new captain would treat the men as did Loewe. The rumor was that Zschech was the son of an admiral and this by itself was a bad omen.

Zschech had come from U-124, a boat with a reputation for great success. He brought with him a new executive officer, Thilo Bode.

"Zschech seemed very eager, perhaps a bit too eager, to get at the enemy. . . We suspected Zschech had a bad case of Halsschmerzen, or sore throat, a condition common to many young officers and one that could only be cured by wearing a Knight's Cross around the neck. . . Right from the beginning he seemed very arrogant. His attitude was one of utter contempt toward us. . . The nature of his friendship with Bode also began to make us a bit uncomfortable. Bode and Zschech would spend long hours alone together and would sometimes even hold hands in the presence of the crew."

The surfaced boat was suddenly attacked by a British bomber and suffered a thundering explosion topside aft of the conning tower. The crew stayed at their stations while Zschech ran from his bunk to the bridge where he yelled over the general announcing system to abandon ship.

"Chief Otto Fricke stormed like a mad bull into the control room. With anger and defiance in his voice, he shouted to Zschech, 'Well, you can do what you want, but the technical crew is staying aboard to keep her afloat!'

The captain didn't belay the order. He simply slunk back into his quarters. Several of the men on the bridge had been wounded. "Zschech seemed to be equally unconcerned about the wounded. I don't recall ever seeing him expressing any interest in their welfare. . . Zschech was storming through the front hatch into the control room when he collided with a petty officer, knocking the man off his feet. The fellow instinctively grabbed the only thing in reach that would break his fall: the skipper's shirt. Zschech angrily pushed him aside, where-upon the poor man fell onto the navigator's table, breaking an exposed light bulb. With the hissing sound of a snake, Zschech turned around and summarily gave the petty officer his punishment for clumsiness: five days under close arrest."

The captain's zeal to sink a ship wasn't in tune with his ability to do so. This led not only to frustration, but danger as well. With little feeling for machinery he ran the engines at their highest speed for prolonged periods. The crew began to think that their captain was insane. Worst of all, he was unable to see a correct angle on the bow, which led to target course error and his estimates of target speeds were always wrong. Torpedoes invariably missed their targets.

The executive officer began to recognize the deficiencies in his crony captain. Although Bode had been even more tyrannical than Zschech, he realized that the captain's disdain for the crew wasn't getting results. As a consequence he psychologically distanced himself from the skipper and this was immediately noticed by the crew.

After a period of repair in the Lorient submarine pens the boat put to sea. Shortly thereafter machinery began to fail. The sabotage even extended to the pressure hull where welded seams only looked like welds. They were actually caulking rope covered with lead solder. The test dive nearly ended in disaster, but it was only with reluctance that Zschech ordered the boat back to Lorient for repairs. Goebeler explained, "Our skipper seemed to be especially troubled by our situation. With each malfunction, Zschech's behavior became more erratic, alternating between morose introversion and sadistic outbursts of aggression. . . his facial expressions convinced them our skipper's wishes were no different than those of the enemy sailors above us. A strong suspicion spread through our crew, repeated only in the most hushed tones, that Zschech had a death wish."

Bode was sent to command another boat and he was replaced by Oberleutnant Paul Meyer, a very able officer. Without his old crony to lean on the captain became more isolated. Goebeler continues, "On the bright side, we hardly saw Zschech anymore. He would go through long periods of silence, emerging pale and nervous-looking from his cabin only when duty absolutely required his presence. He even shunned the company of his fellow officers. When he gave one of his infrequent orders to us, his eyes scanned back and forth over our faces as if to ask, 'Am I doing the right thing?' . . . Our feelings toward him gradually turned from hatred to pity, and I think he knew it. Who knows, that may have made it even worse."

Equipment failure at sea forced U-505 back to Lorient time and again. As problem after problem prevented the boat from its operations Zschech became a recluse. The executive officer, Paul Meyer took up the slack and eventually ran the boat. Goebeler tried to analyze his skipper, "For all his outward hardness and cruelty, I think on the inside he must have been very sensitive. Too sensitive, we were soon to realize to command a U-boat. . . An excellent staff officer, perhaps , but not a commander. His loneliness and self-doubts were causing him to crumble under the stresses of a wartime command."

U-505 ran only on the surface at night and only for as long as it took to recharge batteries. This meant foul air and miserable living conditions. But despite his caution the Allied destroyers and aircraft were on them without let up. During a depth charge attack the captain shot himself in the head. He didn't immediately die and his death agonies were added to the boat's problems. Meyer took command and the boat managed to extricate itself from the Allied attacks. Crew morale improved, the body was put over the side and Zschech was quickly forgotten as U-505 made its way back to Lorient.

This depressing story pays witness to the fallibility of the commanding officer's selection procedure, at least as it existed in the German Navy during the Second World War. The American Submarine Force's Prospective Commanding Officer's school ia able to spot those individuals not suited for command. With sophisticated personality assessment tools of the modern navy it would be expected that the Zschech story could not be replicated.