During the early days of World War 2, the Kriegsmarine sent their U-47 Type
VIIB submarine on a one-way mission that was believed to be impossible to achieve.
Led by Captain Gunther Prien, the secret operation consisted of infiltrating the Royal
Navy’s most important naval base. Scapa Flow was located in the Orkney Islands in Scotland,
and the objective was to do as much damage as possible to the British fleet stationed there.
It was a crazy mission, and even the toughest of sailors doubted that it could be done.
Nevertheless, one cold morning in October of 1939, Captain Prien and his crew set course for
Scapa Flow to prove that the Royal Navy was not invincible and that they weren’t afraid of it…
The Phoney War After the Third Reich annexation
of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and the Sudetenland, tensions escalated between the United Kingdom,
France, Italy, and Germany. Despite the Munich Agreement of 1938,
the British and the French knew all too well that Hitler’s thirst to recover the
territories that once belonged to the Second German Empire was not over yet.
Their suspicions then came true after the Fuhrer offered Poland a peaceful
negotiation for the recovery of Danzig and the Polish Corridor. As the Polish government refused,
Hilter felt insulted and decided that going to war was the only way to move forward.
After negotiating the occupation of Poland with Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union,
Hitler firmly believed that neither France nor Great Britain would declare war against Germany.
But he was proven wrong when both Allied forces turned against him.
Despite the disruption that ultimately became known as the Phoney War, the
Kriegsmarine had taken the necessary precautions. Weeks before the September 1939 attack against
Poland, the German Navy had dispatched some of its submarines in a pre-emptive move that would
enable them to attack enemy ships as soon as the war broke out, which is exactly what happened.
U-47, assigned to the 7th U-boat Flotilla, was one of such submarines. Led by Captain Gunther Prien,
she was off to a remarkable career. U-47
The Type VIIB U-boat was laid down in February of 1937 at Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft in Kiel
and commissioned in December of 1938. Type VII was the most common class
produced by the Kriegsmarine during the war, and over 700 such submarines were built.
The Type VIIB was an improved version of the smaller and lighter Type VIIA variant,
with the torpedo aft tube moved to the inside of the boat. In addition, an extra torpedo could be
housed below the deck plating of the electric motor room, and two others could be stored in
watertight compartments under the upper deck. Overall, it had a capacity of 14 torpedoes.
Secondary armament included one 8.8-centimeter SK C35 naval gun with 200 rounds and one 2-centimeter
C30 anti-aircraft gun. The submarine could also carry up to 20 naval mines instead of torpedoes.
Furthermore, the Type VIIB carried 33 tons of additional fuel in external tanks, which bolstered
the U-boat’s range to about 4,600 kilometers at a speed of 19 kilometers per hour while surfaced.
The engines featured two rudders for better agility, and the submarine was powered by two
F46 four-stroke, six-cylinder supercharged diesel engines.
When fully submerged, she was powered by two AEG GU 460/8-276 double-acting electric motors.
Furthermore, the submarine could operate at depths of up to 230 meters
and be manned by four officers and between 40 and 56 sailors.
A Summoning By the time Gunther
Prien was appointed the U-47’s captain, he was already a seasoned and well-respected sailor.
Then, on August 19, 1939, he departed from Kiel on his first war patrol with the submarine.
Prien and his men circumnavigated the British Isles to gather intelligence about the
mobilization of the Royal Navy fleet during the weeks leading up to the Poland invasion.
Then, on September 3, 1939, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced
that the country was officially at war with Germany, with France soon following.
Two days later, U-47 entered the Gulf of Biscay and eventually sank SS Bosnia,
Rio Carlo, and Gartavon. During the following days, the German crew sighted several British
warships but were unable to engage them. Captain Prien and his men then made way
to German waters to resupply and get a good rest before their second patrol.
Soon, Prien and Lieutenant Wellner, the captain of U-14, were summoned by Admiral Karl Dönitz
himself. Both men looked at each other in astonishment, fearing something terrible
had happened. Then, after waiting for hours in the war room while other sailors deliberated
with the Admiral, Prien’s turn finally came. The Admiral greeted Prien with a friendly tone,
and after a brief conversation, he was introduced to a chart spread out on a table.
Two words in the chart caught his attention: Scapa Flow. It was then that Prien realized
that the Admiral was planning an operation against the Royal Navy’s most important base.
Donitz caught Prien’s surprised expression, turned to him, and calmly said: (QUOTE):
“Tell me, Prien. Do you think that a determined commander could get his U-boat inside Scapa Flow
and attack the enemy naval forces lying there?” The captain had difficulty putting together his
thoughts, and then Donitz added: (QUOTE): “I do not want you to give me an answer now. Think it
over. Report back on Tuesday and let me have your considered opinion then. Whichever way you decide,
it will not be a black mark against you. It will not affect the high opinion we have of you.”
After the meeting, Prien secluded himself and devised an effective plan to break into
Scapa Flow and make it out alive. He memorized the Scapa Flow charts,
and after hours of studying, he was determined to carry on with the mission.
The captain then reported to Donitz the following day, who simply asked: (QUOTE):
“Yes or no?” Prien then responded affirmatively. Donitz smiled and reminded him that other men
had attempted the same mission during World War I and had not made it back. He then stood up,
shook Prien’s hand, and wished him luck. The die was cast.
Infiltrating Scapa Flow On October 8, 1939, U-47 began
her second patrol and headed off to the North Sea. The mission had to be kept secret, and the U-47’s
crew was not told about the primary objective. Still, the men knew that something was cooking up.
Located at the center of the Orkney Islands on the northern coast of Scotland, Scapa Flow was
the ideal anchorage, as the natural harbor was large enough to house the entire Royal Navy fleet.
Scapa Flow was surrounded by small islands separated by narrow and shallow channels
with fast-racing tides, which would be natural obstacles to Prien’s U-boat. Still,
there were more elaborate hurdles that they would have to overcome,
such as blockships and floating booms that the British had installed after World War 1.
A few days before reaching Scapa Flow, Prien told the crew about the fundamental nature of their
mission. Many sailors believed it was a one-way journey, and tension took hold of the submarine.
However, everyone continued doing their job, and the submarine finally
reached her destination on October 14. U-47 was able to avoid several British
warships that patrolled the area, the treacherous currents, and every other obstacle in her path,
and at 12:27am, Prien told the crew: (QUOTE) “We are in Scapa Flow!”
The crew cheered, and to Prien’s surprise, the anchorage was almost empty,
with no ships in sight. Unbeknownst to the Germans, the Royal Navy had dispersed its fleet.
While looking for a suitable target and remaining undetected, U-47 came
in contact with four warships, including the recently commissioned light cruiser Belfast.
Still, Prien did not engage them because they were too far away.
Minutes later, a lookout spotted HMS Royal Oak at about 4,000 meters north of their
position. Prien was frustrated about not encountering a bigger fish, but he ordered
the crew to get ready to hunt her down. The submarine then slowly closed in,
and at 12:58am, she fired a salvo of three torpedoes and reloaded a fourth one.
A few stressful seconds passed as the crew awaited the explosion, but nothing happened.
It was then that an enraged Prien realized that two of the torpedoes had missed the target.
Then, at 1:04am, the third torpedo hit the British ship. Royal Oak’s crew dismissed the impact on the
bow as a submarine strike and believed that it was due to the temperature of the munitions.
Prien then turned the submarine and fired another salvo of three torpedoes
that struck HMS Royal Oak ten minutes later.
The explosions blew a hole in the armored deck, causing the loss of
electrical power and igniting a magazine that rapidly consumed the ship in flames.
Royal Oak then rolled over and disappeared beneath the surface. 833 men,
including Rear-Admiral Henry Blagrove, lost their lives without knowing what had happened.
Meanwhile, Prien and his crew celebrated, but there was no time to lose,
and they quickly fled Scapa Flow to evade the British.
The Bull of Scapa Flow Vanishes The U-47’s crewmen were greeted as
heroes upon their return to Germany, and Prien was even nicknamed the Bull of Scapa Flow.
Meanwhile, U-47 was decorated with a snorting bull that became the emblem of the 7th Flotilla.
Hitler and Donitz personally received Prien upon his arrival,
and he became the first U-boat captain to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
The incredible feat soon became a topic of interest around the world,
and it significantly increased the trust that Hitler had in the Kriegsmarine
and his hopes that Great Britain would surrender without having to invade it.
U-47 and her valiant captain would go on to sink over 30 Allied ships worth 200,000 tons
until she mysteriously disappeared during her 10th patrol in March of 1941, never to be seen again.
Some historians have stated that the submarine was sunk on March 7 by HMS Wolverine west of Ireland,
while other sources claim that she could have been lost due to a mechanical failure,
a mine, or even a malfunctioning torpedo. The crew and its captain were mourned in
Germany and are still remembered as some of the finest men that served in the Kriegsmarine.
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