 U-41 was ordered by the Kriegsmarine on 21 November 1936 (as part of Plan Z and in violation of the Treaty of Versailles). She was laid down on 27 November 1937 by AG Weser, Bremen as yard number 946. She was launched on 28 January 1939 and commissioned on 22 April of that same year under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Gustav-Adolf Mugler.
