 15 October 1939.U-47 returns to port after sinkingHMS Royal Oak. The battleshipScharnhorst is in the background. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Nazi Germany | |
| Name | U-47 |
| Ordered | 21 November 1936 |
| Builder | Germaniawerft,Kiel |
| Yard number | 582 |
| Laid down | 27 February 1937 |
| Launched | 29 October 1938 |
| Commissioned | 17 December 1938 |
| Fate | Missing 7 March 1941, in theNorth Atlantic near theRockall Bank and Trough.[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Type VIIBU-boat |
| Displacement | |
| Length |
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| Beam |
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| Draught | 4.74 m (15 ft 7 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed |
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| Range |
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| Test depth |
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| Complement | 4 officers, 40–56 enlisted |
| Sensors & processing systems | Gruppenhorchgerät |
| Armament |
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| Service record | |
| Part of |
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| Identification codes | M 18 837 |
| Commanders |
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| Operations |
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| Victories | |
German submarineU-47 was aType VIIBU-boat ofNazi Germany'sKriegsmarine duringWorld War II.[1] She waslaid down on 25 February 1937 atFriedrich Krupp Germaniawerft inKiel as yard number 582 and went into service on 17 December 1938 under the command ofGünther Prien.
DuringU-47's career, she sank a total of 31 enemy vessels, including the British battleshipHMS Royal Oak, and damaged nine more.[3]U-47 was the thirteenth most successful U-boat of World War II based on tonnage of enemy shipping sunk.[4]
U-47 disappeared in March 1941, and the 45 crewmembers are presumed to have died. Her fate remains unknown.
German Type VIIB submarines were preceded by the shorterType VIIA submarines.U-47 had a displacement of 753 tonnes (741 long tons) when at the surface and 857 tonnes (843 long tons) while submerged.[5] She had a total length of 66.50 m (218 ft 2 in), apressure hull length of 48.80 m (160 ft 1 in), abeam of 6.20 m (20 ft 4 in), a height of 9.50 m (31 ft 2 in), and adraught of 4.74 m (15 ft 7 in). The submarine was powered by twoGermaniawerft F46 four-stroke, six-cylindersuperchargeddiesel engines producing a total of 2,800 to 3,200 PS (2,060 to 2,350 kW; 2,760 to 3,160 shp) for use while surfaced, twoAEG GU 460/8-276double-acting electric motors producing a total of 750 PS (550 kW; 740 shp) for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two 1.23 m (4 ft)propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to 230 metres (750 ft).[5]
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 17.9 knots (33.2 km/h; 20.6 mph) and a maximum submerged speed of 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph).[5] When submerged, the boat could operate for 90 nautical miles (170 km; 100 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph); when surfaced, she could travel 8,700 nautical miles (16,100 km; 10,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).U-47 was fitted with five 53.3 cm (21 in)torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and one at the stern), fourteentorpedoes, one8.8 cm (3.46 in) SK C/35 naval gun, 220 rounds, and one2 cm (0.79 in) C/30anti-aircraft gun. The boat had acomplement of between forty-four and sixty.[5]
U-47 carried out ten combat patrols and spent a total of 238 days at sea. She sank 31 enemy ships (totalling 162,769 GRT and 29,150 tons) and damaged eight more.[3] Prior to her disappearance in March 1941,U-47 lost one crewman, Heinrich Mantyk, who fell overboard on 5 September 1940.[1]
U-47 was assigned to the7th U-boat Flotilla on 17 December 1938, the day she wascommissioned. She was an operational boat in the 7th Flotilla for her entire career.[1]U-47 was sent to sea in a pre-emptive move before war broke out in September 1939; this move would enable her to engage enemy vessels as soon as the war began. She left for her first war patrol on 19 August 1939 (two weeks before the commencement of hostilities), from the port ofKiel. During her first patrol, she circumnavigated theBritish Isles and entered theBay of Biscay to commence patrol of Area I. On 3 September, war was declared andU-47 received orders to initiate hostilities against British ships, but none were encountered on the first day. News of the sinking ofSS Athenia byGerman submarine U-30 reached Prien the following day, along with further orders to strictly adhere to theSubmarine Protocol. The first ship encountered byU-47 during the war was a neutral Greek freighter which Prien inspected but released unharmed. Two further neutral vessels were encountered and Prien declined to even stop them.[6]
Just after dawn on 5 September, Engelbert Endrass – serving as first watch officer aboardU-47 – spotted SSBosnia zigzagging and in a darkened state. Prien surfaced and fired a single shot from his 88 mm deck gun to stop the ship but insteadBosnia made steam and began radioing an alert ('SSS') along with its name and position. Prien then immediately fired an additional four rounds of which three hit the ship, prompting its crew to abandon ship.U-47 rendered assistance to the crew ofBosnia, bringing them aboard the submarine and helping to set up a lifeboat which had capsized during the crew's escape. A Norwegian vessel also arrived and took all of the survivors aboard. Following its departure, Prien fired a single torpedo which sank the ship with its load ofsulfur almost immediately. The 2,407 GRTBosnia became the second British vessel, and first freighter, sunk afterAthenia.[6]
It was later the next day whenU-47 encountered a larger British freighter, the 4,086 GRT SSRio Carlo. Again, Prien opted to surface and initiate a gun attack on the merchant. While theRio Carlo did stop moving, it nonetheless broadcast the submarine alert, prompting Prien to fire an ineffective warning shot. A further three shots from the deck gun were fired onto the bridge ofRio Carlo, upon which the broadcast ceased and the crew abandoned ship. Once the crew was away, Prien finished the vessel and sent its mixed cargo to the bottom with a single torpedo. WhileU-47's crew was inspecting the lifeboats and ensuring the survivors had provisions, an aircraft appeared andU-47 dived, departing the area and leaving the crew to others to rescue.[6]
On 7 September, Prien encountered yet another British freighter, and once again initiated a surface attack on it. Attempting to escape, SSGartavon broadcast the submarine alert, drawing fire from the deck gun. The mast and radio antenna were destroyed and the ship came about while the crew put into a lifeboat. Surprising Prien, theGartavon crew had rigged the ship to get underway in an attempt to ram the attacking submarine. It began to make steam after its crew departed and Prien was forced to take emergency measures to avoid the vessel. After avoiding the abandonedGartavon, Prien inspected the lifeboat and after its crew declined the offer to fetch a second lifeboat from the circling freighter, he left them; all of the crew survived.[7] Prien refused to radio for assistance on account of the attempt to ram him. He returned toGartavon and attempted to finish her as he had his previous victims, but the torpedo malfunctioned and Prien instead used the deck gun to wreck the ship and sink its cargo of iron ore.[6]
During this first patrol, which ended with her arrival in Kiel on 15 September 1939, three vessels were sunk for a total of 8,270 GRT.[8]
On 8 October 1939,U-47 began her second patrol. On 14 October 1939 (six days after leaving port), she succeeded in penetrating theRoyal Navy's primary base atScapa Flow.[9]Although most of theHome Fleet was not at the base at the time,U-47 spotted the battleshipHMS Royal Oak 4 km away. After working herself into an attack position, she opened fire with torpedoes. Her first two salvos caused only minor damage to the bow, severing an anchor chain. After reloading the bow tubes the last salvo of three torpedoes struck the British warship, causing severe flooding. Taking on a list of 15 degrees, her open portholes were submerged, worsening the flooding and increasing the list to 45 degrees;Royal Oak sank within 15 minutes with the loss of 835 men and boys.[9]
After this attack, Prien received the nicknameDer Stier von Scapa Flow ("The Bull of Scapa Flow"); the emblem of a snorting bull was then painted on the conning tower ofU-47 and the image soon became the emblem of the entire 7th U-boat Flotilla.[9] Prien was awarded theKnight's Cross of the Iron Cross, the first sailor of a U-boat and the second member of theKriegsmarine to receive this decoration. The rest of the crew members were awarded theIron Cross. Two otherU-47 crew members also earned the Knight's Cross later on during World War II: the chief engineer (Leitender Ingenieur)Johann-Friedrich Wessels and 1st watch officer (I. Wachoffizier)Engelbert Endrass.[citation needed]
Many years later, in September 2002, one of the unexploded torpedoes thatU-47 had fired during the attack onRoyal Oak rose to the surface from its resting place on the bottom. The torpedo, minus its warhead, drifted towards the shore and was spotted by a crewman aboard theNorwegian tankerPetrotrym. A Royal Navytugboat intercepted the torpedo, and after identifying it as having belonged toU-47 63 years earlier,EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) personnel discarded it a mile (1.6 km) from shore.[citation needed] In 2016, another of the faulty torpedoes shot at HMSRoyal Oak was found and identified by British divers.[10]
After a lavish celebration in Berlin celebrating the sinking of HMSRoyal Oak in which the crew members ofU-47 were received byAdolf Hitler and decorated, the boat returned to sea on 16 November 1939.[11] Once the U-boat had left Kiel on 16 November, she headed out into the North Sea. After traveling around the British Isles into the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel,U-47 sank three more vessels,Navasota on 5 December, the Norwegian steamer MVBritta on 6 December andTajandoen on 7 December.[11] After the sinking ofNavasota, British destroyers briefly fired depth charges at the U-boat but she managed to evade the attack without any damage.[11]
U-47 left the port of Wilhelmshaven and began her fourth patrol on 11 March 1940. For 19 days, she roamed the North Sea in search of any Allied convoys. On 25 March, she torpedoed and sank the Danish steam merchantmanBritta north of Scotland. She returned to Wilhelmshaven on 29 March.[12]
U-47's fifth patrol was the first in which she failed to sink a ship. She left Wilhelmshaven on 3 April 1940, and headed again out into the North Sea. On 19 April, she fired a torpedo at the British battleshipHMS Warspite with no result. Several destroyers attempted to sink the U-boat with depth charges butU-47 managed to escape.[13]
U-47's sixth patrol was much more successful. Having left Kiel on 3 June 1940, she ventured out into the North Sea and operated off the southern coast of Ireland. Along with six other U-boats inWolfpack Prien, she attackedConvoy HX 47 and sank the British SSBalmoralwood on 14 June. She later sank seven more vessels,San Fernando on the 21st,Cathrine on the 24th,Lenda andLeticia on the 27th,Empire Toucan on the 29th,Georgios Kyriakides on the 30th, andSS Arandora Star on 2 July. The submarine returned to Kiel on 6 July after 34 days at sea and eight enemy vessels sunk.[14]
U-47's seventh patrol consisted of her travelling north of the British Isles and into the North Atlantic, south of Iceland. During a period of 30 days, she sank a total of six enemy vessels and damaged another.U-47's first victory during her seventh patrol was the sinking of the Belgian passenger shipVille de Mons on 2 September 1940. This was followed by the sinking of a British vessel,Titan, on 4 September andGro,José de Larrinaga, andNeptunian on the 7th. On the 9th,U-47 sank the Greek merchant shipPossidon, and on 21 September she damaged the British merchant shipElmbank. Following these victories, on the 25th,U-47 entered the French port ofLorient, which was now under German control following the decisiveBattle of France.[15]
U-47's eighth patrol began on 14 October 1940 when she left her home port of Lorient. While her eighth patrol lasted ten days, she sank four enemy vessels and damaged a further two in only two days. On 19 October,U-47 damaged the British vesselShirak and sankUganda andWandby, both of which were British registered. The next day, the U-boat damaged the British vesselAthelmonarch and sankLa Estancia as well asWhitford Point. She returned to port three days later on 23 October.[16]
U-47 left her home port of Lorient on 3 November 1940 and moved out into the North Atlantic in search of Allied convoys. During her ninth patrol, she damaged three ships,Gonçalo Velho,Conch andDunsley, and sankVille d´Arlon.U-47 returned to Lorient for the last time on 6 December.[17] On her return Kretschmer presented Adolf Hitler with a lifebelt fromConch whichU-47 had damaged.[citation needed]
U-47 departed Lorient on her tenth and last patrol on 20 February 1941. She went missing on 7 March 1941 and was believed at the time to have been sunk by the BritishdestroyerHMS Wolverine west ofIreland, when a submarine was attacked byWolverine andHMS Verity. Postwar assessment showed that the boat attacked there wasUA, which was only damaged. HMSWolverine had made an earlier attack on a submarine at 0510 hrs, five minutes afterU-47's last known torpedo attack on the Whale Factory shipTerje Viken.[18] Nothing further was heard fromU-47 after this time.[19] To date, there is no official record of what happened toU-47, although a variety of other possibilities exist, includingmines, a mechanical failure, a victim of her own torpedoes, or possibly a later attack by thecorvettesHMS Camellia andHMS Arbutus.U-47 had a crew of 45 men during her last North Atlantic patrol in early 1941, all of whom were presumed dead.[1][20][21]
U-47 took part in onewolfpack, namely:Prien (12–17 June 1940).[22]
During her service in theKriegsmarine,U-47 sank 30 commercial ships totalling 162,769 GRT and one warship of 29,150 tons; she also damaged eight commercial ships totalling 62,751 GRT and one warship of 10,035 tons.[3]
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in March 1941 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
