German submarine U - 36 ( 1936 ) German submarine " U - 36 " was a Type VIIA U - boat of the Nazi German " Kriegsmarine " which served during World War II . She was constructed in the earliest days of the U - boat arm at Kiel in 1936 , and served in the pre - war Navy in the Baltic Sea and North Sea under " Kapitänleutnant " ( " Kptlt . " ) Klaus Ewerth . " Korvettenkapitän " ( " KrvKpt . " ) Wilhelm Fröhlich took command in October 1938 and continued in the role until the boat was lost . During the war , " U - 36 " undertook two patrols , but was sunk by a torpedo fired by HMS " Salmon " . She was lost with all hands . Construction and design . Construction . " U - 36 " was ordered by the German " Kriegsmarine " on 25 March 1935 as part of the German Plan Z and in violation of the Treaty of Versailles . Her keel was laid down in the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen as " Werk 559 " on 2 March 1936 . After about eight months of construction , she was launched on 4 November 1936 and commissioned on 16 December under the command of " Kptlt . " Klaus Ewerth . Design . Like all Type VIIA submarines , " U - 36 " displaced while surfaced and when submerged . She was in overall length and had a pressure hull . " U - 36 " s propulsion consisted of two MAN 6 - cylinder 4 - stroke M6V 40 / 46 diesel engines that totaled . Her maximum rpm was between 470 and 485 . The submarine was also equipped with two Brown , Boveri & Cie GG UB 720 / 8 electric motors that totaled . Their maximum rpm was 322 . These engines gave " U - 36 " a total speed of while surfaced and when submerged . This resulted in a range of while traveling at on the surface and at when submerged . The U - boat ' s test depth was but she could go as deep as without having her hull crushed . " U - 36 " s armament consisted of five torpedo tube s ( four located in the bow and one in the stern ) . She could have up to 11 torpedoes on board or 22 TMA or 33 TMB mines . " U - 36 " was also equipped with a 8 . 8 cm SK C / 35 naval gun and had 220 rounds for it stowed on board . Her anti - aircraft defenses consisted of one C30 20 mm AA gun . Service history . First patrol . " U - 36 " was at sea when the war broke out , having set out from Wilhelmshaven on 31 August 1939 . She arrived in Kiel on 6 September and the following day departed for her first war patrol . She then patrolled the North Sea for three weeks , hoping to catch ships traveling between Britain and Scandinavia carrying war supplies . During this patrol , the boat sank two steamers , the and the — one British and the other from neutral Sweden — carrying British produce . , a British submarine , later fired upon " U - 36 " and subsequently claimed to have sunk her , although in fact the torpedo missed . On 27 September Fröhlich and his crew captured another Swedish vessel , the , which he proceeded to escort back to Germany as the patrol came to an end . She returned to her berth in Kiel at the end of September , where she remained until December . During her first patrol , " U - 36 " was also credited with having laid the mine that sank the Norwegian freighter , " Solaas " . Second patrol . On 17 November 1939 , Naval High Command ( SKL ) issued orders for " U - 36 " and to scout the location for " Basis Nord " , a secret German naval base for raids on Allied shipping located off the Kola Peninsula and provided by the Soviet Union . The mission required coded messages to be flashed to Soviet naval vessels patrolling the area preceding a Soviet escort to the prospective base location . However , " U - 36 " never left the Norwegian Sea . On 4 December 1939 , two days out of Wilhelmshaven , she was spotted on the surface near the Norwegian port of Stavanger by the British submarine HMS " Salmon " . " Salmon " then fired one torpedo at her unwitting counterpart . It sank " U - 36 " , all 40 of the sailors aboard were lost . During the same patrol , the " Salmon " also torpedoed the light cruisers and . Following the loss of " U - 36 " , " U - 38 " continued towards the Kola Peninsula , successfully reaching the location and accomplished the scouting mission for " Basis Nord " .