Günther Prien
Encyclopedia
Lieutenant Commander
Günther Prien (16 January 1908 – presumed 7 March 1941) was one of the outstanding German U-boat aces of the first part of the Second World War, and the first U-boat
commander to win the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
. Under Prien's command, the submarine
sank over 30 Allied ship
s totaling about . His most famous exploit was the sinking of the British battleship
at anchor in the Home Fleet's anchorage in Scapa Flow
.
, Prussian Province of Saxony
(Germany) and after his parents divorced raised in Leipzig
, Prien joined the Handelsmarine (German Merchant Navy) in mid-1923, studying for three months at the Seaman's College in Finkenwerder
in Hamburg, before going to sea as a cabin boy
on the full rigged three-master Hamburg. His first voyage touched at the Azores
, Pensacola
, Hobart
(Tasmania
) and Falmouth
. While sailing to Cork
in October 1925, the ship was caught in a storm and ran aground near Dublin. The vessel was abandoned and later declared a wreck. Prien and the crew were taken to Bremerhaven
and then Hamburg
, where Prien was given his papers as seaman and found the cost of items he had drawn on board exceeded his six months wages.
Aiming for his master's certificate, Prien quickly signed on the Oldenburg (now the Suomen Joutsen
), which was another full rigger (as noted in Jost Metzler
's book The Laughing Cow': The Story of U69). While still an ordinary seaman aboard the Oldenburg, Prien took Metzler, who later commanded , under his wing. Metzler relates at the beginning of The Laughing Cow how his relationship with Prien was "very strained" at first, and how Prien, as a young seaman, "could on occasion be very hard and unjust." Later they became good friends.
After several years of work and study as a seaman, Prien took and passed the required examinations, obtaining his mate's license and a wireless operator's certificate. He signed on for his first berth as an officer, becoming the Fourth Officer on the passenger liner San Francisco out of Hamburg. He had no sooner assumed his responsibilities when the ship collided with another vessel, the Karlsruhe, in a dense fog in the ship channel near the Hoheweg lighthouse. Prien, who had gone forward at the time to supervise preparations to drop anchor as a precaution, was the first to see the oncoming Karlsruhe's light as she loomed out of the fog. Some weeks later, he was summoned to an inquiry into the accident by the Marine Court in Bremerhaven
, causing him to fear that he might somehow be blamed for the collision and lose his freshly-minted license, thereby ending his budding career as a Merchant Marine officer when it was barely begun, but the Court ruled that the weather was solely to blame for the accident.
Prien passed his captain's examination and received his Master's License in January 1932, but was unable to find work due to the severe contraction of the German shipping industry during the Depression
years. He returned to Leipzig and, failing to find work there, was finally forced to turn to the Assistance Board for sustenance. Angry with the inept and venal government, which seemed impotent in the face of the country's economic disaster, he joined the National Socialist Party in March 1932. (In Wolf Pack: The Story of the U-Boat in World War II, Gordon Williamson states that the navy did not accept members of the Nazi Party NSDAP or the SS and one was obliged to revoke his membership in the party before joining.) Bored and restless, in August 1932 Prien joined the voluntary labor corps of Vogtsberg at Olsnitz, where he literally dug ditches for several months, quickly rising to the rank of Group Leader and then deputy to the camp commander.
Having heard that the navy was giving commissions to Merchant Marine officers in order to fill out its ranks after the loss of the Niobe
, Prien applied to the Reichsmarine
,The German Reichsmarine
was renamed to Kriegsmarine
on 1 June 1935. on 16 January 1933 and was accepted as an "Officer Aspirant," with the rank of ordinary sailor. He underwent standard training and served on the light cruiser before he was posted to the U-Boat training school at Kiel
. At the end of U-Boat training he was posted to at the Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG
(Deschimag) Yard in Bremen as First Officer of the watch. U-26 at the time was under the command of Kapitänleutnant Werner Hartmann
. U-26 went on two patrols in 1937 (6 May – 15 June and 15 July – 30 August) during the Spanish Civil War
.
Prien rose steadily in rank, from Fähnrich zur See
(midshipman) in 1933, to Oberfähnrich zur See (senior midshipman) in 1935, Leutnant zur See (sub-lieutenant) also in 1935, then Oberleutnant zur See (lieutenant) in 1937. He was appointed to the command of the new Type VIIB
on her commissioning (17 December 1938) and promoted to Kapitänleutnant
(lieutenant) on 1 February 1939.
On 14 October 1939, Prien risked shallow water, unknown shoals, tricky currents and detection by defenders to penetrate the Royal Navy
's primary base, Scapa Flow
. Although most of the Home Fleet was at sea, Prien sank the battleship and returned home to instant fame. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
, personally by Adolf Hitler
, and was the first sailor of the U-boat service and the second member of the Kriegsmarine
to receive this award. The mission into Scapa Flow called for volunteers only; Prien had no hesitation in accepting the mission. In a token to the voluntary nature of the mission, Prien spoke to his crew while U-47 was lying off Scapa Flow, and having briefed them, he announced that anyone not wishing to volunteer could leave the boat immediately. Unsurprisingly, no one accepted the offer to disembark in the middle of the North Sea. Prien received the nickname Der Stier von Scapa Flow ("The Bull of Scapa Flow"); the emblem of a snorting bull was painted on the conning tower of U-47 and soon became the emblem of the entire 7th U-boat Flotilla. Two members of the Scapa Flow crew earned the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II: the chief engineer (Leitender Ingenieur) Johann-Friedrich Wessels
and 1st watch officer (I. Wachoffizier) Engelbert Endrass
.
Kept secret by the German naval command was the fact that Prien had fired a total of seven torpedoes at his target, of which five failed because of long-standing problems with their depth steering and their magnetic detonator systems. These problems continued to bedevil the German submariners for a long time and particularly during the German invasion of Norway
, when the U-boats were unable to keep the Royal Navy at bay.
Prien narrated the attack in the book Mein Weg nach Scapa Flow (1940, Deutscher Verlag Berlin).
(Ing.) Johann-Friedrich Wessels left Kiel
on 16 November 1939. U-47 attacked a British cruiser on 28 November 1939. Prien had identified the ship to be a London-class cruiser. Prien fired a spread of three torpedoes, believing to have hit the cruiser at least once. He had observed through the periscope how one torpedo struck the stern of the cruiser, causing the deck side mounted aircraft to go overboard. Prien surfaced and tried to pursue the cruiser but was driven off by depth charges dropped from the escort. It turned out the cruiser was which was slightly damaged by the torpedo detonating close by. The attack was reported in the daily Wehrmachtbericht
on 29 November 1939, claiming the destruction of the cruiser. The war diary of the Befehlshaber der U-Boote
(BdU) on 17 December 1939 stated that even though a hit was observed the cruiser was not sunk.
On 5 December 1939 U-47 spotted 12 merchant vessels escorted by 3 destroyers. Prien fired three torpedoes sinking the British steamer Navasota from Convoy OB 46 on its way to Buenos Aires, killing 37 sailors. The next day at 20:29 the Norwegian tanker Britta was sunk killing 6 of her crew followed by the Dutch Tajandoen on 7 December 1939. Trimming the boat on 8 December 1939, Wessels reported that the boat only had sufficient fuel to make the return trip. The BdU ordered U-47 to return to port. U-47 returned to Kiel on 18 December 1939. The claims made by Prien are noted in the war diary of the BdU on 17 December 1939:
for a total of plus one British warship damaged, while the actual tonnage was only .
. She has generally been thought to have been sunk by the British destroyer
west of Ireland; the submarine was attacked by Wolverine and , which took turns covering each other's ASDIC blind spots and dropping patterns of depth charges until U-47 rose almost to the surface before sinking and then exploded with an orange flash visible from the surface.
To date, there is no official record of what happened to the U-47 or her 45 crewmen, though a variety of possibilities exist, including mines, a mechanical failure, a victim of her own torpedoes, or possibly a later attack that did not confirm any kills - by the corvette
team of and .
Prien's death was kept secret until 23 May. However, Churchill had personally announced it to the House of Commons, and propaganda broadcasts to Germany had harped on the question of "Where is Prien?" until Germany was forced to acknowledge his loss.
Although Prien was at sea for less than two years, his record stands high among the U-boat aces during the Second World War. He spent 238 days at sea and sank 30 enemy vessels for a total tonnage of 193,808 GRT.
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
Günther Prien (16 January 1908 – presumed 7 March 1941) was one of the outstanding German U-boat aces of the first part of the Second World War, and the first U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
commander to win the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...
. Under Prien's command, the submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
sank over 30 Allied ship
Ship
Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...
s totaling about . His most famous exploit was the sinking of the British battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
at anchor in the Home Fleet's anchorage in Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
.
Early naval career
Prien was one of three children of a judge. Born in OsterfeldOsterfeld
Osterfeld is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated southeast of Naumburg. It is part of the Verbandsgemeinde Wethautal....
, Prussian Province of Saxony
Province of Saxony
The Province of Saxony was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.-History:The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:...
(Germany) and after his parents divorced raised in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, Prien joined the Handelsmarine (German Merchant Navy) in mid-1923, studying for three months at the Seaman's College in Finkenwerder
Finkenwerder
Finkenwerder is a quarter of Hamburg, Germany in the borough Hamburg-Mitte. It is the location of a plant of Airbus and its airport...
in Hamburg, before going to sea as a cabin boy
Cabin boy
A Cabin boy or ship's boy is a boy who waits on the officers and passengers of a ship, especially running errands for the captain....
on the full rigged three-master Hamburg. His first voyage touched at the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
, Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
, Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
(Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
) and Falmouth
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
. While sailing to Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
in October 1925, the ship was caught in a storm and ran aground near Dublin. The vessel was abandoned and later declared a wreck. Prien and the crew were taken to Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven is a city at the seaport of the free city-state of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms an enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham...
and then Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, where Prien was given his papers as seaman and found the cost of items he had drawn on board exceeded his six months wages.
Aiming for his master's certificate, Prien quickly signed on the Oldenburg (now the Suomen Joutsen
Suomen Joutsen
Suomen Joutsen is a three-mast, steel hull, full rigged ship. She was built in 1902 in St. Nazaire, France to serve in the trade between Atlantic and Pacific ports. In 1930, she was bought by the Government of Finland to serve as a Finnish Navy training ship. Before World War II she made eight...
), which was another full rigger (as noted in Jost Metzler
Jost Metzler
Jost Metzler was a Korvettenkapitän with the Kriegsmarine during World War II, commander of the U-boats and , and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.-Career:...
's book The Laughing Cow': The Story of U69). While still an ordinary seaman aboard the Oldenburg, Prien took Metzler, who later commanded , under his wing. Metzler relates at the beginning of The Laughing Cow how his relationship with Prien was "very strained" at first, and how Prien, as a young seaman, "could on occasion be very hard and unjust." Later they became good friends.
After several years of work and study as a seaman, Prien took and passed the required examinations, obtaining his mate's license and a wireless operator's certificate. He signed on for his first berth as an officer, becoming the Fourth Officer on the passenger liner San Francisco out of Hamburg. He had no sooner assumed his responsibilities when the ship collided with another vessel, the Karlsruhe, in a dense fog in the ship channel near the Hoheweg lighthouse. Prien, who had gone forward at the time to supervise preparations to drop anchor as a precaution, was the first to see the oncoming Karlsruhe's light as she loomed out of the fog. Some weeks later, he was summoned to an inquiry into the accident by the Marine Court in Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven is a city at the seaport of the free city-state of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms an enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham...
, causing him to fear that he might somehow be blamed for the collision and lose his freshly-minted license, thereby ending his budding career as a Merchant Marine officer when it was barely begun, but the Court ruled that the weather was solely to blame for the accident.
Prien passed his captain's examination and received his Master's License in January 1932, but was unable to find work due to the severe contraction of the German shipping industry during the Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
years. He returned to Leipzig and, failing to find work there, was finally forced to turn to the Assistance Board for sustenance. Angry with the inept and venal government, which seemed impotent in the face of the country's economic disaster, he joined the National Socialist Party in March 1932. (In Wolf Pack: The Story of the U-Boat in World War II, Gordon Williamson states that the navy did not accept members of the Nazi Party NSDAP or the SS and one was obliged to revoke his membership in the party before joining.) Bored and restless, in August 1932 Prien joined the voluntary labor corps of Vogtsberg at Olsnitz, where he literally dug ditches for several months, quickly rising to the rank of Group Leader and then deputy to the camp commander.
Having heard that the navy was giving commissions to Merchant Marine officers in order to fill out its ranks after the loss of the Niobe
Segelschulschiff Niobe
The Segelschulschiff Niobe was a tall ship used by the German Navy to train cadets and aspiring NCOs. She sank during a sudden squall on 26 July 1932...
, Prien applied to the Reichsmarine
Reichsmarine
The Reichsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany. It was the naval branch of the Reichswehr, existing from 1918 to 1935...
,The German Reichsmarine
Reichsmarine
The Reichsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany. It was the naval branch of the Reichswehr, existing from 1918 to 1935...
was renamed to Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
on 1 June 1935. on 16 January 1933 and was accepted as an "Officer Aspirant," with the rank of ordinary sailor. He underwent standard training and served on the light cruiser before he was posted to the U-Boat training school at Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
. At the end of U-Boat training he was posted to at the Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG
Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG
Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau Aktiengesellschaft was a cooperation of eight German shipyards in the period 1926 to 1945...
(Deschimag) Yard in Bremen as First Officer of the watch. U-26 at the time was under the command of Kapitänleutnant Werner Hartmann
Werner Hartmann
Captain Werner Hartmann was a German U-boat commander in World War II. He sank 26 ships, amounting to over 115,000 tons sunk, ranking him as the 25th most successful commander in the war.-Career:...
. U-26 went on two patrols in 1937 (6 May – 15 June and 15 July – 30 August) during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
.
Prien rose steadily in rank, from Fähnrich zur See
Fähnrich
Fähnrich is a German and Austrian military rank in armed forces which translates as "Ensign" in English. The rank also exists in a few other European military organizations, often with historical ties to the German system. Examples are Sweden, Norway and Finland . The French Army has a similar...
(midshipman) in 1933, to Oberfähnrich zur See (senior midshipman) in 1935, Leutnant zur See (sub-lieutenant) also in 1935, then Oberleutnant zur See (lieutenant) in 1937. He was appointed to the command of the new Type VIIB
German Type VII submarine
Type VII U-boats were the most common type of German World War II U-boat. The Type VII was based on earlier German submarine designs going back to the World War I Type UB III, designed through the Dutch dummy company Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw den Haag which was set up by Germany after...
on her commissioning (17 December 1938) and promoted to Kapitänleutnant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
(lieutenant) on 1 February 1939.
World War II
First patrol
World War II commenced during Prien's first patrol in U-47. He departed Kiel on 19 August 1939 for a patrol lasting 28 days. On 5 September, he sank the British ship Bosnia, the second U-boat kill of the war. Two more British vessels fell victim to Prien over the next two days. U-47 returned to Kiel on 15 September.Second patrol — Scapa Flow
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
's primary base, Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
. Although most of the Home Fleet was at sea, Prien sank the battleship and returned home to instant fame. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...
, personally by Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, and was the first sailor of the U-boat service and the second member of the Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
to receive this award. The mission into Scapa Flow called for volunteers only; Prien had no hesitation in accepting the mission. In a token to the voluntary nature of the mission, Prien spoke to his crew while U-47 was lying off Scapa Flow, and having briefed them, he announced that anyone not wishing to volunteer could leave the boat immediately. Unsurprisingly, no one accepted the offer to disembark in the middle of the North Sea. Prien received the nickname Der Stier von Scapa Flow ("The Bull of Scapa Flow"); the emblem of a snorting bull was painted on the conning tower of U-47 and soon became the emblem of the entire 7th U-boat Flotilla. Two members of the Scapa Flow crew earned the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II: the chief engineer (Leitender Ingenieur) Johann-Friedrich Wessels
Johann-Friedrich Wessels
Johann-Friedrich Wessels was a German chief engineer on a U-boat in World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross...
and 1st watch officer (I. Wachoffizier) Engelbert Endrass
Engelbert Endrass
Lieutenant Engelbert Endrass was a German U-boat commander in World War II. He commanded the Type VIIB U-boat and the Type VIIC , sinking twenty-two ships on ten patrols, for a total of 118,528 tons of Allied shipping, to become the 23rd highest scoring U-Boat ace of World War II...
.
Kept secret by the German naval command was the fact that Prien had fired a total of seven torpedoes at his target, of which five failed because of long-standing problems with their depth steering and their magnetic detonator systems. These problems continued to bedevil the German submariners for a long time and particularly during the German invasion of Norway
Operation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung was the code name for Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign...
, when the U-boats were unable to keep the Royal Navy at bay.
Prien narrated the attack in the book Mein Weg nach Scapa Flow (1940, Deutscher Verlag Berlin).
Third patrol
U-47 under the command of Prien with 1st watch officer (I. WO) Oberleutnant zur See Engelbert Endrass and chief engineer OberleutnantOberleutnant
Oberleutnant is a junior officer rank in the militaries of Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In the German Army, it dates from the early 19th century. Translated as "Senior Lieutenant", the rank is typically bestowed upon commissioned officers after five to six years of active duty...
(Ing.) Johann-Friedrich Wessels left Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
on 16 November 1939. U-47 attacked a British cruiser on 28 November 1939. Prien had identified the ship to be a London-class cruiser. Prien fired a spread of three torpedoes, believing to have hit the cruiser at least once. He had observed through the periscope how one torpedo struck the stern of the cruiser, causing the deck side mounted aircraft to go overboard. Prien surfaced and tried to pursue the cruiser but was driven off by depth charges dropped from the escort. It turned out the cruiser was which was slightly damaged by the torpedo detonating close by. The attack was reported in the daily Wehrmachtbericht
Wehrmachtbericht
The Wehrmachtbericht was a daily radio report on the Großdeutscher Rundfunk of Nazi Germany, published by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht regarding the military situation on all fronts of World War II....
on 29 November 1939, claiming the destruction of the cruiser. The war diary of the Befehlshaber der U-Boote
Befehlshaber der U-Boote
Befehlshaber der U-Boote was the title of the supreme commander of the Kriegsmarines U-boat Arm during World War II. The term also referred to the Command HQ of the U-boat arm itself....
(BdU) on 17 December 1939 stated that even though a hit was observed the cruiser was not sunk.
On 5 December 1939 U-47 spotted 12 merchant vessels escorted by 3 destroyers. Prien fired three torpedoes sinking the British steamer Navasota from Convoy OB 46 on its way to Buenos Aires, killing 37 sailors. The next day at 20:29 the Norwegian tanker Britta was sunk killing 6 of her crew followed by the Dutch Tajandoen on 7 December 1939. Trimming the boat on 8 December 1939, Wessels reported that the boat only had sufficient fuel to make the return trip. The BdU ordered U-47 to return to port. U-47 returned to Kiel on 18 December 1939. The claims made by Prien are noted in the war diary of the BdU on 17 December 1939:
- steamer of unknown origin
- Norwegian tanker
- Dutch tanker
for a total of plus one British warship damaged, while the actual tonnage was only .
Later career
Following later patrols and raids on Allied merchant shipping, Prien was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross in 1940. Not long after Prien was promoted to the rank of Korvettenkapitän (lieutenant commander), the U-47 went missing on 7 March 1941 while attacking Convoy OB-293Convoy OB-293
OB 293 was a North Atlantic convoy which ran during the battle of the Atlantic in World War II.It was notable for seeing the loss to the Kriegsmarine of , with her commander KL Günther Prien, the person responsible for the sinking of two years previously....
. She has generally been thought to have been sunk by the British destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
west of Ireland; the submarine was attacked by Wolverine and , which took turns covering each other's ASDIC blind spots and dropping patterns of depth charges until U-47 rose almost to the surface before sinking and then exploded with an orange flash visible from the surface.
To date, there is no official record of what happened to the U-47 or her 45 crewmen, though a variety of possibilities exist, including mines, a mechanical failure, a victim of her own torpedoes, or possibly a later attack that did not confirm any kills - by the corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
team of and .
Prien's death was kept secret until 23 May. However, Churchill had personally announced it to the House of Commons, and propaganda broadcasts to Germany had harped on the question of "Where is Prien?" until Germany was forced to acknowledge his loss.
Although Prien was at sea for less than two years, his record stands high among the U-boat aces during the Second World War. He spent 238 days at sea and sank 30 enemy vessels for a total tonnage of 193,808 GRT.
Ships attacked
During his career Prien sank 30 commercial ships for , one warship of , and damaged eight commercial ships for and one warship of .| Date | Ship | Nationality | Tonnage | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 1939 | SS Bosnia |  British |
2,407 | Sunk at 45°29′N 09°45′W |
| 6 September 1939 | SS Rio Claro | British |
4,086 | Sunk at 46°30′N 12°00′W |
| 7 September 1939 | SS Gartavon | British |
1,777 | Sunk at 47°04′N 11°32′W |
| 14 October 1939 | HMS Royal Oak HMS Royal Oak (1914) HMS Royal Oak was a Revenge-class battleship of the British Royal Navy. Launched in 1914 and completed in 1916, Royal Oak first saw action at the Battle of Jutland. In peacetime, she served in the Atlantic, Home and Mediterranean fleets, more than once coming under accidental attack... |
British |
29,150 | Sunk at 58°55′N 02°59′W |
| 28 November 1939 | HMS Norfolk HMS Norfolk (78) HMS Norfolk was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy; along with her sister ship , she was part of a planned four-ship subclass.She served throughout the Second World War.... |
British |
10,035 | Damaged |
| 5 December 1939 | SS Novasota | British |
8,795 | Sunk at 50°43′N 10°16′W |
| 6 December 1939 | MV Britta |  Norwegian |
6,214 | Sunk at 49°19′N 05°35′W |
| 7 December 1939 | MV Tajandoen |  Dutch |
8,159 | Sunk at 49°09′N 04°51′W |
| 25 March 1940 | SS Britta |  Danish |
1,146 | Sunk at 60°00′N 04°19′W |
| 14 June 1940 | SS Balmoralwood | British |
5,834 | Sunk at 50°19′N 10°28′W |
| 21 June 1940 | SS San Fernando | British |
13,056 | Sunk at 50°20′N 10°24′W |
| 24 June 1940 | SS Cathrine |  Panamanian |
1,885 | Sunk at 50°08′N 14°00′W |
| 27 June 1940 | SS Lenda | Norwegian |
4,005 | Sunk at 50°12′N 13°18′W |
| 27 June 1940 | SS Leticia | Dutch |
2,580 | Sunk at 50°11′N 13°15′W |
| 29 June 1940 | SS Empire Toucan | British |
4,421 | Sunk at 49°20′N 13°52′W |
| 30 June 1940 | SS Georgios Kyriakides |  Greek |
4,201 | Sunk at 50°25′N 14°33′W |
| 2 July 1940 | SS Arandora Star | British |
15,501 | Sunk at 55°20′N 10°33′W |
| 2 September 1940 | SS Ville de Mons |  Belgian |
7,463 | Sunk at 58°20′N 12°00′W |
| 4 September 1940 | SS Titan | British |
9,035 | Sunk at 58°14′N 15°50′W |
| 7 September 1940 | SS Neptunian | British |
5,155 | Sunk at 58°27′N 17°17′W |
| 7 September 1940 | SS José de Larrinaga | British |
5,303 | Sunk at 58°30′N 16°10′W |
| 7 September 1940 | SS Gro | Norwegian |
4,211 | Sunk at 58°30′N 16°10′W |
| 9 September 1940 | SS Possidon | Greek |
3,840 | Sunk at 56°43′N 09°16′W |
| 21 September 1940 | SS Elmbank | British |
5,156 | Damaged at 55°20′N 22°30′W |
| 19 October 1940 | SM Uganda | British |
4,966 | Sunk at 56°35′N 17°15′W |
| 19 October 1940 | MV Shirak | Belgian |
6,023 | Damaged at 57°00′N 16°53′W |
| 19 October 1940 | SS Wandby | British |
4,947 | Sunk at 56°45′N 17°07′W |
| 20 October 1940 | SS La Estancia | British |
5,185 | Sunk at 57°N 17°W |
| 20 October 1940 | SS Whitford Point | British |
5,026 | Sunk at 56°38′N 16°00′W |
| 20 October 1940 | MV Athelmonarch | British |
8,995 | Damaged at 56°45′N 15°58′W |
| 8 November 1940 | MV Gonçalo Velho |  Portuguese |
8,995 | Damaged at 52°30′N 17°30′W |
| 2 December 1940 | SS Ville d'Arlon | Belgian |
7,555 | Sunk at 55°00′N 18°30′W |
| 2 December 1940 | MV Conch | British |
8,376 | Damaged at 55°40′N 19°00′W |
| 2 December 1940 | MV Dunsley | British |
8,376 | Damaged at 54°41′N 18°41′W |
| 26 February 1941 | SS Kasongo | Belgian |
5,254 | Sunk at 55°50′N 14°20′W |
| 26 February 1941 | MV Diala | British |
8,106 | Damaged at 55°50′N 14°00′W |
| 26 February 1941 | MV Rydboholm |  Swedish |
3,197 | Sunk at 55°32′N 14°24′W |
| 26 February 1941 | MV Borgland | Norwegian |
3,636 | Sunk at 55°45′N 14°29′W |
| 28 February 1941 | SS Holmlea | British |
4,233 | Sunk at 54°24′N 17°25′W |
| 7 March 1941 | MV Terje Viken | British |
8,106 | Damaged at 60°00′N 12°50′W |
Awards
- DienstauszeichnungWehrmacht Long Service AwardThe Wehrmacht Long Service Award was a military service decoration of Nazi Germany issued for satisfactory completion of a given years of military service...
4th Class (22 January 1937) - Iron CrossIron CrossThe Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
(1939)- 2nd Class (25 September 1939)
- 1st Class (17 October 1939)
- U-boat War BadgeU-boat War BadgeThe U-Boat War Badge was a German war badge that was awarded to U-boat crew members during World War I and World War II.-History:The U-boat War Badge was originally instituted during the First World War on February 1, 1918. It was awarded to recognize U-boat crews who had completed three war patrols...
with Diamonds - Diamond-studded Navy Honour Dagger
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak LeavesKnight's Cross of the Iron CrossThe Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...
- Knight's Cross on 18 October 1939 as Kapitänleutnant and commander of U-47
- 5th Oak Leaves on 20 October 1940 as Kapitänleutnant and commander of U-47
- Mentioned eight times in the WehrmachtberichtWehrmachtberichtThe Wehrmachtbericht was a daily radio report on the Großdeutscher Rundfunk of Nazi Germany, published by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht regarding the military situation on all fronts of World War II....
(29 November 1939, 28 June 1940, 1 July 1940, 6 July 1940, 10 September 1940, 25 September 1940, 20 October 1940 and 23 May 1941)
Dates of rank
| 1 March 1933: | Fähnrich zur See |
| 1 January 1935: | Oberfähnrich zur See |
| 1 April 1935: | Leutnant zur See |
| 1 January 1937: | Oberleutnant zur See |
| 1 February 1939: | Kapitänleutnant |
| 18 March 1941: | Korvettenkapitän, effective as of 1 March 1941 |