Unterseeboot 47 (1938)
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 October 1939. U-47 returns to port after sinking HMS Royal Oak. The battlecruiser Scharnhorst is seen in the background. |
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| Career (Nazi Germany) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | U-47 |
| Ordered: | November 21, 1936 |
| Builder: | Germaniawerft, Kiel |
| Yard number: | 582 |
| Laid down: | February 27, 1937 |
| Launched: | October 29, 1938 |
| Commissioned: | December 17, 1938 |
| Fate: | Disappeared March 7, 1941 in the North Atlantic near the Rockall Bank and Trough. 45 dead. |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | VIIB |
| Displacement: | 761 metric tons (749 LT) 865 metric tons (851 LT) submerged |
| Propulsion: | 2 x 1400 PS (1 MW) diesel engines 2 x 375 PS (280 kW) electric motors |
| Speed: | 17 knots (31 km/h) surfaced 7.6 knots (14.1 km/h) submerged |
| Range: | 6,500 nanometres (6.5E-9 km) |
| Crew: | 47 |
| Armament: | 4 x bow torpedo tubes, 1 x stern torpedo tube 88 mm gun, Oerlikon 20 mm cannon |
| Service record | |
| Part of | Kriegsmarine 7. Unterseebootsflottille |
| Identification codes | M 18 837 |
| Commanders | Günther Prien |
| Operations | 10 patrols |
| Victories | 30 ships sunk for a total of 162,769 gross register tons (GRT) 1 warship sunk for a total of 29,150 tons 8 ships damaged for a total of 62,751 GRT |
Unterseeboot 47 (U-47) was a German type VII B U-Boat (submarine). She was laid down on February 25, 1937 at Krupp Germaniawerft in Kiel and went into service on December 17, 1938.[1]
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[edit] Service history
U-47 carried out ten combat patrols and spent a total of 238 days at sea. She sank 30 enemy merchant ships (164,953 tons) and damaged eight more. She did lose a crewman, Heinrich Mantyk, who went overboard on September 5, 1940.
U-47 went missing on March 7, 1941 and was once thought to have been sunk by the British destroyer HMS Wolverine west of Ireland, but it turned out that the ship attacked there was actually the U-A, part of the Foreign U-Boats corps. 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 didn't confirm any kills - by the corvette team of HMS Camellia and HMS Arbutus.
[edit] Sinking of HMS Royal Oak
U-47 became famous when, on October 14, 1939, under the command of Günther Prien, she managed to enter the base of the British home fleet at Scapa Flow through a hole in the defence line, and sank the battleship HMS Royal Oak, which was in Scapa Flow in a largely unprepared state, although World War II had recently begun.
U-47's first two salvos did nothing more than sever an anchor chain. After reloading the bow tubes the last salvo of three torpedoes struck the Royal Oak 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; she sank within 15 minutes with the loss of over 800 men.
Many years later, in September 2002, one of the unexploded torpedoes that the U-47 had fired off-course during the attack on HMS Royal Oak rose to the surface from its resting place at the bottom. The unexploded torpedo, minus its warhead, gradually drifted towards the shore, where it was spotted by a crewman aboard the Norwegian tanker Petrotrym. A Royal Navy tugboat intercepted the torpedo, and after identifying it as belonging to the U-47 63 years earlier, EOD personnel detonated it a mile from shore.
[edit] Raiding career
| Date | Ship | Nationality | Tonnage | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 1939 | SS Bosnia | Belgian | 2,407 | Sunk |
| 6 September 1939 | SS Rio Claro | British | 4,086 | Sunk |
| 7 September 1939 | SS Gartavon | British | 1,777 | Sunk |
| 14 October 1939 | HMS Royal Oak | British | 29,150 | Sunk |
| 5 December 1939 | SS Novasota | British | 8,795 | Sunk |
| 6 December 1939 | MV Britta | Norwegian | 6,214 | Sunk |
| 7 December 1939 | MV Tajandoen | Dutch | 8,159 | Sunk |
| 25 March 1940 | SS Britta | Danish | 1,146 | Sunk |
| 14 June 1940 | SS Balmoralwood | British | 5,834 | Sunk |
| 21 June 1940 | SS San Fernando | British | 13,056 | Sunk |
| 24 June 1940 | SS Cathrine | Panamanian | 1,885 | Sunk |
| 27 June 1940 | SS Lenda | Norwegian | 4,005 | Sunk |
| 27 June 1940 | SS Leticia | Dutch | 2,580 | Sunk |
| 29 June 1940 | SS Empire Toucan | British | 4,421 | Sunk |
| 30 June 1940 | SS Georgios Kyriakides | Greek | 4,201 | Sunk |
| 2 July 1940 | SS Arandora Star | British | 15,501 | Sunk |
| 2 September 1940 | SS Ville de Mons | Belgian | 7,463 | Sunk |
| 4 September 1940 | SS Titan | British | 9,035 | Sunk |
| 7 September 1940 | SS Neptunian | British | 5,155 | Sunk |
| 7 September 1940 | SS Jose de Larrinaga | British | 5,303 | Sunk |
| 7 September 1940 | SS Gro | Norwegian | 4,211 | Sunk |
| 9 September 1940 | SS Possidon | Greek | 3,840 | Sunk |
| 21 September 1940 | SS Elmbank | British | 5,156 | Damaged |
| 19 October 1940 | SS Bilderdijk | Dutch | 6,856 | Sunk |
| 19 October 1940 | MV Shirak | Belgian | 6,023 | Damaged |
| 19 October 1940 | SS Wandby | British | 4,947 | Sunk |
| 20 October 1940 | SS La Estancia | British | 5,185 | Sunk |
| 20 October 1940 | SS Whitford Point | British | 5,026 | Sunk |
| 20 October 1940 | MV Athelmonarch | British | 8,995 | Damaged |
| 2 December 1940 | SS Ville d'Arlon | Belgian | 7,555 | Sunk |
| 2 December 1940 | MV Conch | British | 8,376 | Damaged |
| 26 February 1941 | SS Kasongo | Belgian | 5,254 | Sunk |
| 26 February 1941 | MV Diala | British | 8,106 | Damaged |
| 26 February 1941 | MV Rydboholm | Swedish | 3,197 | Sunk |
| 26 February 1941 | MV Borgland | Norwegian | 3,636 | Sunk |
| 28 February 1941 | SS Holmlea | British | 4,233 | Sunk |
U-47 had a crew of 47 officers and men during her fated North Atlantic patrol in the spring of 1941, all of whom are presumed dead.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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