German U-47 sinks British battleship HMS Royal Oak | World History Project Oct 14 1939 German U-47 sinks British battleship HMS Royal Oak HMS Royal Oak (pennant number 08) was a Revenge-class battleship of the British Royal Navy, torpedoed at anchor by the German submarine U-47 on 14 October 1939. Launched in 1914 and completed in 1916, Royal Oak first saw action at the Battle of Jutland. In peacetime, she served in the Atlantic, Home and Mediterranean fleets, coming under accidental attack on more than one occasion. The ship became the centre of worldwide attention in 1928 when her senior officers were controversially court-martialled. During a twenty-five year career, attempts to modernise Royal Oak could not address her fundamental lack of speed, and by the start of the Second World War, she was no longer suited to front-line duty. Royal Oak was anchored at Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland when she became the first of the five Royal Navy battleships and battlecruisers sunk in the Second World War.

The loss of life was heavy: of Royal Oak's complement of 1,234 men, 833 were killed that night or died later of their wounds. The numerical superiority enjoyed by the British navy and its Allies meant that the loss of the veteran of the First World War made little difference to the naval balance of power, but the effect on wartime morale was considerable. The raid made an immediate celebrity and war hero out of the U-boat commander, Günther Prien, and on his return to Germany he became the first Kriegsmarine submarine officer to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. To the British, the raid demonstrated that the Germans were capable of bringing the naval war to their home waters, and the shock resulted in rapidly arranged changes to dockland security. Now lying upside-down in 30 m of water with her hull 5 m beneath the surface, Royal Oak is a designated war grave. In an annual ceremony to mark the loss of the ship, Royal Navy divers place a White Ensign underwater at her stern. Unauthorised divers are prohibited from approaching the wreck at any time.

Sinking of the HMS Royal Oak : Scapa Flow Wrecks People Sinking of HMS Royal Oak "The place where the German U-boat sank the British battleship Royal Oak was none other than the middle of Scapa Flow, Britain's greatest naval base! It sounds incredible..." William L Shirer, journalist, 18 October 1939. In 1938, with the threat of war looming, surveys showed that Kirk Sound (part of Holm Sound) had a perfectly clear and deep passage running through it, 300 to 400 feet wide. This posed a real danger to British ships stationed in Scapa Flow. Indeed, a 2,000-ton vessel was said to have made it through in 1932 (Hewison, 1985, p.209-210). In an attempt to block the channel more effectively the old merchant ship Seriano was sunk as a blockship on 15 March 1939. Nevertheless, navigable channels remained through both Kirk Sound and Skerry Sound (Hewison, 1985, p.210).

The survey vessel Scott even reported this as a navigable channel in May 1939, 400 feet wide with a depth of two fathoms at low water. In spite of this it was concluded that the sounds would be too hazardous for a vessel passing through on the surface. Admiral Sir William French, commanding Orkney and Shetland, refuted this judgement. He travelled through Kirk Sound and Skerry Sound in a picket boat in June 1939 and determined that a submarine or destroyer could make it through at slack water (Hewison, 1985, p.211). Costs slowed the sinking of more blockships until the outbreak of war when SS Cape Ortegal was sunk in Skerry Sound. SS Lake Neuchatel was destined to be a blockship in Kirk Sound, but was still afloat on the night of 13/14 October 1939 (Hewison, 1985, p.212).

The attack Konteradmiral Döenitz, Commander of the Submarines, said on receipt of a survey to find Scapa Flow's weakness: "I hold that a penetration at this point [Kirk Sound] on the surface at the turn of the tide would be possible without further ceremony." Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien was to prove how inadequate the British defences were when he made one of the most daring attacks ever recorded (Wood, 2008, p.91). A sortie by units of the Kriegsmarine, or German Navy, including the battlecruiser Gneisenau, the cruiser Köln and nine destroyers, was staged to tempt units of the British Home Fleet out of Scapa Flow for attack by the Luftwaffe. Although many ships of the Home Fleet did respond, the Luftwaffe did not engage and this tactic left Prien with just a few ships in Scapa Flow as targets. HMS Royal Oak had returned early from the Home Fleet sweep and took up its role as anti-aircraft defence for the Scapa Flow anchorage and the Radio Direction Finding station at Netherbutton.

The German submarine U-47, under the command of Prien, approached Scapa Flow through the narrow approaches at Kirk Sound with surprising ease. It was high tide and a little after midnight on 14 October 1939. U-47 first sailed towards Lyness but, finding no ships in the area and encountering no resistance, then turned to the north where HMS Royal Oak, HMS Pegasus and possibly HMS Iron Duke were spotted (Wood, 2008, p.92). A total of 51 ships were in Scapa Flow at the time, 18 of which can be described as fighting ships (Weaver, 1980, p.39). When the first torpedo struck HMS Royal Oak at 12.58am, the dull thud confused the sailors – they thought the muffled explosions were an on-board problem, perhaps an explosion in the paint store. They certainly did not think it was a U-boat attack. A second salvo failed to deliver a hit but the confusion surrounding the first hit gave Commander Prien an additional 20 minutes to return to his firing position, reload, and fire a third salvo.

This third discharge landed direct hits amidships. Such was the ferocity of the explosions, the ship heeled over alarmingly and all the lights went out. It had been fine weather so all of the ship's hatches were open. Undoubtedly Royal Oak would have taken longer to sink and more lives would have been saved if the watertight hatches had been closed; but it is not normal procedure to have all hatches closed when in a supposedly safe harbour with no alerts. When the ship rolled its gun barrels shifted, pulling the ship faster beneath the surface. Water crashed through the open hatches and men asleep in their bunks were unable to get out in time. It took just minutes for the battleship to sink. Hundreds fought for their lives in the water, trying to swim for shore through thick fuel oil and in freezing temperatures. A total of 834 men lost their lives. Many of the men are buried in the Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery on Hoy (Wood, 2008, p.92). Aftermath The sinking of HMS Royal Oak was a notable German propaganda coup. However, there is conjecture that she may not have been the only British ship struck by the German forces that night.

Prien's account stated that he hit another ship – the battlecruiser HMS Repulse. This warship had, in fact, left that day with the rest of the fleet. However, it is possible that U-47 hit the British Atlantic Fleet's Flagship, HMS Iron Duke. On 17 October a Luftwaffe squadron attacked HMS Iron Duke as she lay beached at Lyness. When the attack commenced it is claimed that the ship was already listing heavily and had a large hole in the bow. Metal Industries were engaged in pumping out the vessel and patching the hull. The British Admiralty never confirmed that HMS Iron Duke had been hit but it has been argued that it was deemed too sensitive to report that the Fleet's Flagship had also been torpedoed on the same night as Royal Oak was lost (Wood, 2008, p.93). Later it was discovered that Prien never subscribed to many of the claims attributed to him. His ghost-written account was inevitably embellished by propaganda and it has taken some work to untangle his original account.

In 1978 Karl Dönitz, who became head of the German navy during World War II, said that Prien’s identification of the HMS Repulse at anchor came from the German High Command: "Lt Prien arrived home safely, was told he had torpedoed Repulse, heard the evidence and didn’t like it. Except when cornered by questions he avoided positive identification of Repulse wherever possible." (Weaver, 1980, p.135). Despite conspiracy theories that HMS Royal Oak sank as a result of sabotage, involving a bomb in the explosives store, the damage to the ship has been confirmed as external. Moreover, the gaping torpedo holes reveal why she sank so quickly. The vessel's torpedo bulge, although modernised in 1934, had been fitted in 1922 and was designed to withstand torpedoes with 450 to 500 pounds of explosives (Rickard, 2007). By World War II torpedoes were more powerful and so ships like HMS Royal Oak could fall prey to a few well-placed torpedoes.

In a film recording of Prien discussing his actions he says: "Inside of Scapa Flow, the harbour of the English sea force, it was absolutely dead calm in there. The entire bay was alight because of bright northern lights. We then cruised in the bay for approximately one and a half hour, chose our targets, fired our torpedoes. In the next moment there was a bang and the next moment the Royal Oak blew up. The view was indescribable. And we sneaked out, in a similar fashion as we got in, close past the enemy guards, and they did not see us. You can imagine the excitement and happiness we all felt, about the fact that we managed to fulfil our task and achieve such a huge victory for Germany." The realisation that U-47 had entered Scapa Flow through Kirk Sound prompted the immediate sinking of further blockships. By 1940 the Churchill Barriers were under construction and, when completed, they permanently blocked the eastern entrances to Scapa Flow.

History of U-47 U-47, a type VII submarine, was laid down in Kiel on 27 February 1937, launched on 29 October 1938 and commissioned on 17 December 1938 under command of Günther Prien. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross First Class by Adolf Hitler. He commanded U-47 through 10 patrols, sinking 30 ships in the process. The last radio message from U-47 was received on the morning of 7 March 1941 from the North Atlantic near the Rockall Banks. The sinking of U-47 has always been attributed to the British destroyer HMS Wolverine. What actually happened remains confusing, but accounts indicate that the destroyer kept up a sustained attack on an unknown U-boat resulting in its probable destruction. All that is definitely known is that U-47 failed to report back to headquarters after 7 March 1941. Click on the thumbnail images to enlarge.

Resources Torpedo on seabed linked to sinking of Royal Oak in Scapa Flow - BBC News BBC News Torpedo on seabed linked to sinking of Royal Oak in Scapa Flow 2 March 2016 Image copyright Sula Diving Image caption The torpedo was found during a routine seabed survey A torpedo found on the seabed of Scapa Flow in Orkney "was likely" to have been among those fired at HMS Royal Oak in World War Two. The British battleship was sunk by German U-boat U47 on 14 October 1939. More than 800 men died in the attack. A seven metre (22ft) long object found during a routine seabed survey earlier this week has been confirmed as a German torpedo. Royal Navy divers have begun work to dispose of the weapon. Brian Archibald, Orkney Island Council's harbour master and head of marine services, said: "Now that we know that the torpedo is German, we believe it is highly likely that it was among those fired at HMS Royal Oak by the U-boat U47 in October 1939.

"Its location in Scapa Flow is in the vicinity of the area where, from historical accounts, U47 is thought to have carried out the attack." Image copyright Orkney Library and Archive Image caption The battleship HMS Royal Oak When the Royal Oak was torpedoed in the early hours of 14 October most of the 1,200 crew were asleep below deck. Under the command of Günther Prien, the submarine U47 had slipped undetected into Scapa Flow, an area of sheltered water. A first salvo of three torpedoes was fired from the U-boat. Two missed but the one that struck caused those on board Royal Oak such surprise that many assumed the impact was an internal problem and not an attack. A second salvo failed to find its target, before a third saw all three strike the battleship. Less than 15 minutes later, the battleship disappeared beneath the water, claiming the lives of 833 seamen, more than 100 of them "boy sailors" aged under 18. The torpedo was discovered on Saturday.

A remote-operated vehicle (ROV) has also captured video footage of the weapon, which is lying 32m (104ft) below the water's surface. Ships have been advised not to anchor in the area where it was found. Scapa Flow was used as a Royal Navy base in both world wars and is now popular with divers due to the British and German relics lying on the seabed. More than 50 German ships were deliberately sunk in the area at the end of World War One by their commanders to stop them being divided among the Allies.

Ahoy - Mac's Web Log - The Sinking of British Battleship, HMS Royal Oak, at Scapa Flow, by German Submarine, U-47 The Sinking of British Battleship, HMS Royal Oak, at Scapa Flow, by German Submarine, U-47 This Marshall Islands stamp depicts Gunter Prien sinking Royal Oak, after he penetrated Scapa Flow Over two World Wars, Scapa Flow in the Orkneys, was the main Fleet Anchorage in the British Isles for the Royal Navy, During WW1, the German Submarine UB-116 commanded by Oberleutnant Hans Joachim Emsmann had, in October 1918, attempted to penetrate this British Base, but had come to grief on a mine, and was lost with all hands. Just after going to war against Britain in September 1939, the German U-Boat Commander, Admiral Donitz, was keen to upset both the Royal Navy, and her First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, by breaching the defences of Scapa Flow and sinking a major Naval Vessel.

In September 1939, U-14 had carried out a patrol in that area and brought back valuable information about the approaches to this major Fleet Base. In addition, the Luftwaffe, on the 26th. of September, had managed to obtain excellent photographs of this seemingly impregnable anchorage. At least the British believed it was inviolable; but not so, thought Donitz. The defences of Britain's major naval base were still not complete 6 weeks after the commencement of hostilities with Germany. Donitz studied the reconnaissance photographs, and decided that a 50 foot gap existed between the blockships which had been sunk in the northern end of the most eastern entrance in Kirk Sound, and he thought that a surfaced Submarine could penetrate this narrow access at the time of slack water. But, a night attack would be mandatory. On Sunday the 1st. of October 1939, Donitz sent for one of his best submarine Captains, Kapitanleutnant (equivalent to our Lieutenant Commander) Gunter Prien, and offered him the mission of taking his U-Boat, U-47, into Scapa Flow to sink a major British warship.

Prien had been born at Leipzig in Saxony in 1909 , and left school at 14, to become a cabin boy at sea. He rose to be a Merchant Marine officer, but come the depression, he was out of a job. Somewhat embittered by being unemployed in his early twenties, Prien joined the Nazi Party in 1932, and in the following year joined the Navy as an Ordinary Seaman. He was quickly seen as Officer material, became a Cadet, joined the Submarine service and by 1938 had risen to command level. When WW2 broke out, Prien was in command of U-Boat 47, and had recently been married. It was made quite clear to Prien, that he could refuse this task without damaging his bright career, but Prien after studying the plans overnight, decided to accept this formidible challenge. On the 8th. of October 1939, Prien took U-47 through the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal and cleared her into the North Sea. Whilst enroute to Scapa Flow he took particular care to avoid any vessels that might betray his whereabouts.

At 2331 (11.31 PM) on the 13th of October (obviously not a superstitious sailor) Prien commenced his run into the British Naval stronghold. Because of the strong currents obtaining in this area, he chose the slack water period (the time in between the tide changing from ebbing to flowing or vice versa, when there is no actual water movement) and navigated his boat on the surface, between vessels sunk in the channels by the British, designed to stop such a passage by a U-Boat or any other enemy craft. At one stage of Prien's approach, he was so close to the shore that a passing car's headlights illuminated his crawling submarine, but he continiued undetected.

Just after midnight on the 13/14th of October, he noted in his War Diary at 0027 (2.27 AM) " WIR SINDIN SCAPA FLOW!!" (WE are in Scapa Flow!!) For the Royal Navy it was fortunate that the major units of the Home Fleet had not yet returned to Scapa Flow after chasing a strong German Naval Force, led by the Battlecruiser Gneisenau, which had sortied into the North Sea. Inside the anchorage, Prien looked for any likely targets and sighted two large ships to his north. At 0058 (58 minutes past midnight) he fired a spread of 3 torpedoes, and after 3.5 minutes, one explosion was heard. Prien was pleasantly suprised when it did not appear to attract any attention from the British. He swung his boat, and then fired the stern tube, but without any success. His crew rapidly reloaded the torpedo tubes and at 0122 (1.22 AM) another 3 fish were fired.

3 minutes later, explosions were heard, and the 31,000 ton Battleship, HMS Royal Oak sank in 13 minutes, leaving only 375 survivors. She took 24 Officers and 809 Sailors with her to a watery grave. Amongst her survivors was the only Australian on board. Lieutenant Commander F.N. Cook RAN. Royal Oak was the second largest ship sunk in the war by a German U-Boat. Notwithstanding the swift incoming currents, Prien was able to pilot his U-47 away from the hunting British Destroyers, and he slipped out of Scapa Flow to head for home. The British wrongly announced that they had sunk the offending U-Boat. On the 14th. of October, the BBC announced : "This is the BBC Home Service. Here is the news bulletin. As it was reported late this morning, the Secretary of the Admiralty regrets to announce that HMS Royal Oak has been sunk, it is believed by U-Boat action.

Fifteen survivors have been landed....." Prien had achieved a magnificent coup, he took his boat back to Wilhelshaven, arriving there on the 17th of October at 1144, (11:44 AM ) The entire crew were flown to Berlin to be personally greeted by Hitler, and Prien was awarded The Knight's Cross, and Hitler entertained the crew to lunch. Prien in his U-Boat career, sank 31 ships for a total of 194,103 tons, and was involved in 10 patrols, spending 237 days at sea on this duty. He went missing on the 7th of March 1941, in the North Atlantic, near the Rockall Banks, it is not certain how he or U-47 died, but for many years it was believed that HMS Wolverine was responsible for sinking this U-Boat. Later intelligence suggests that Wolverine actually attacked a different German Submarine. The loss of U-47 may have been caused by mines, by its own circling torpedoes, or by an attack by HMS Camellia and HMS Arbutus, both Royal Navy corvettes.

By whatever means he was killed, Gunter Prien, who had lived by the Sword, had now died by the Sword. Germany had lost one of her U-Boat aces. Appendix 1 is an extract from Gunter Prien's Log of U-47, covering his penetration of Scapa Flow, and sinking of the British Battleship HMS Royal Oak, in September 1939. Appendix 1 Extract from Log of U-47, 15th Sept. - 21st Oct. 1939. Time Position, Wind, etc. Incidents 8/10/39 1100 Heligoland Bight. Wind SE 1. Cloudy Left port (Kiel) on special operations, Operational Order North Sea No. 16, through Kiel Canal, Heligoland Bight, and Channel 1. Exact positions cannot be given as under special orders all secret documents were destroyed before carrying out of order 9/10/39 South of Dogger Bank. Wind SSE 4-5. Overcast, very dark night. Lying submerged. After dark, surfaced and proceeded on our way. Met rather a lot of fishing vessels.

10/10/39 North of Dogger Bank. Wind SSE 7. Overcast. During day lay submerged; at night continued on course. 11/10/39 Devil's Hole. Wind ESE 7-8, Overcast During day lay submerged off Orkneys. Surfaced in the evening and came in to the coast in order to fix exact position of ship. From 2200 to 2230 the English are kind enough to switch on all the coastal lights so that I can obtain the most exact fix. The ship's position is correct to within 1.8 nautical miles, despite the fact that since leaving Channel 1 there was no possibility of obtaining an accurate fix, so that I had to steer by dead reckonings and soundings. 13/10/39 E. of Orkney Islands. Wind NNE 3-4, light clouds, very clear night, Northern Lights on entire horizon. At 0437 lying submerged in 90 meters of water. Rest period for crew. At 1600 general stand-to. After breakfast at 1700, preparations for attack on Scapa Flow.

Two torpedoes are placed in rapid loading position before tubes 1 and 2. Explosives brought out in case of necessity of scuttling. Crew's morale splendid. Surfaced at 1915. After warm supper for entire crew, set course for Holm Sound. Everything goes according to plan until 2307, when it is necessary to submerge on sighting a merchant ship just before Rose Ness. I cannot make out the ship in either of the periscopes, in spite of the very clear night and the bright lights. At 2331, surfaced again and entered Holm Sound. Following tide. On nearer approach, the sunken blockship in Skerry Sound is clearly visible, so that at first I believe myself to be already in Kirk Sound, and prepare for work. But the navigator, by means of dead reckoning, states that the preparations are premature, while I at the same time realize the mistake, for there is only one sunken ship in the straits. By altering course hard to starboard, the imminent danger is averted. A few minutes later, Kirk Sound is clearly visible. 13/10/39 contd. It is a very eerie sight.

On land everything is dark, high in the sky are the flickering Northern Lights, so that the bay, surrounded by English mountains, is directly lit up from above. The blockships lie in the sound, ghostly as the wings of a theatre. I am now repaid for having learnt the chart beforehand, for the penetration proceeds with unbelievable speed. In the meantime I had decided to pass the blockships on the Northern side. On a course of 270 I pass the two-masted schooner, which is lying on a bearing of 315 in front of the real boom, with 15 meters to spare. In the next minute the boat is turned by the current to starboard. At the same time I recognize the cable of the northern blockship at an angle of 45 degrees ahead. Port engine stopped, starboard engine slow ahead, and rudder hard to port, the boat slowly touches bottom. The stern still touches the cable, the boat becomes free, it is pulled round to port, and brought on to course again with difficult rapid maneuvering, but; we are in Scapa Flow. 14/10/39 0027 It is disgustingly light.

The whole bay is lit up. To the south of Cava there is nothing. I go farther in. To port, I recognize the Hoxa Sound coastguard, to which in the next few minutes the boat must present itself as a target. In that event all would be lost; at present South of Cava there is no shipping; so before staking everything on success, all possible precautions must be taken. 0055 Therefore, turn to port is made. We proceed north by the coast. Two battleships are lying there at anchor, and further inshore, destroyers. Cruisers not visible, therefore attack on the big fellows. Distance apart, 3000 meters. 0116 (time queried in pencil, 0058 suggested) Estimated depth, 7.5 meters. Impact firing. One torpedo fixed on the northern ship, two on the southern. After a good 3 1/2 minutes, a torpedo detonates on the northern ship; of the other two nothing is to be seen. 0121 (queried to 0102) (suggested time 0123, in pencil) About!

Torpedo fired from stern; in the bow two tubes are loaded; three torpedoes from the bow. After three tense minutes comes the detonation on the nearer ship. There is a loud explosion, roar, and rumbling. Then come columns of water, followed by columns of fire, and splinters fly through the air. The harbor springs to life. Destroyers are lit up, signaling starts on every side, and on land 200 meters away from me cars roar along the roads. A battleship has been sunk, a second damaged, and the other three torpedoes have gone to blazes. All the tubes are empty. I decide to withdraw, because: (1) With my periscopes I cannot conduct night attacks while submerged. (See experience on entering.) (2) On a bright night I cannot maneuver unobserved in a calm sea. (3) I must assume that I was observed by the driver of a car which stopped opposite us, turned around, and drove off towards Scapa at top speed. (4) Nor can I go further north, for there, well hidden from my sight, lie the destroyers which were previously dimly distinguishable. 0128 At high speed both engines we withdraw.

Everything is simple until we reach Skildaenoy Point. Then we have more trouble. It is now low tide, the current is against us. Engines at slow and dead slow, I attempt to get away. I must leave by the south through the narrows, because of the depth of the water. Things are again difficult. Course, 058, slow - 10 knots. I make no progress. At high speed I pass the southern blockship with nothing to spare. The helmsman does magnificently. High speed ahead both, finally 3/4 speed and full ahead all out. Free of the blockships - ahead a mole! Hard over and again about, and at 0215 we are once more outside. A pity that only one was destroyed. The torpedo misses I explain due to faults of course, speed, and drift. In tube 4, a misfire. The crew behaved splendidly throughout the operation. On the morning of 13/10, the lubricating oil was found to have 7-8% water in it. All hands worked feverishly to change the oil, i.e. to get rid of the water and to isolate the leaking point.

The torpedo crews loaded their tubes with remarkable speed. The boat was in such good form that I was able to switch on to charge in the harbor and pump up air. 0215 Set SE course for base. I still have 5 torpedoes for possible attacks on merchantmen. 0630 57° 58' N, 01° 03' W Lay submerged. The glow from Scapa is still visible for a long time. Apparently they are still 1935 ENE 3-4, light clouds, occasional rain, visibility bad towards land, otherwise good dropping depth charges. Off again, course 180°. This course was chosen in the hope that we might perhaps catch a ship inshore, and to avoid U-20. 15/10/39 0600 56° 20' N, 0° 40' W Submerged and lay at 72 meters. From 1000 onwards, depth charges were dropped from time to time in the distance. 32 depth charges were definitely counted. So I lie low, submerged, until dusk.

1823 Wind NE 5, sea 4, swell from E, cloudy, visibility good. Surfaced. On surfacing, Norwegian steamer "METEOR" lies ahead. W/T traffic from the steamer is reported in error from the W/T office; I therefore fire a salvo far ahead of the steamer which is already stopped. The steamer is destined for Newcastle on Tyne, with 238 passengers. Steamer immediately allowed to proceed. It is reported later by the W/T office that the steamer did not make any signals. 16/10/39 0702 54° 57' N, 2° 58' E, Wind NNW 2-3, visibility good. General course 180°. Submerged on the Dogger Bank. 3 drifting mines sighted, 54° 58' N, 2° 56' E. No measures taken, owing to the proximity of fishing vessels. Proceeded submerged throughout the day. 1856 54° 51' N, 3° 21' E, Wind NW 2, light clouds, visibility good.

Surfaced. Course 128°. Steered course of 128° into Channel 1. 17/10/39 0404 Channel 1 passed. From 0404 to 0447 chased fishing vessel escort ship no. 808; gave recognition signal eight times - no reply received. This fool did not react until V/S was used at a distance of 500-600 meters. With such guardships, an incident such as my operation could occur in our waters also. 1100 Entered port - Wilhelmshaven III. 1144 Tied up. 1530 Crew flown to Kiel and Berlin 20/10/39 1600 Crew returned. Sailed for Kiel. 2330 Met an armed fishing trawler at anchor with riding lights in the stretch between Elbe I and Elbe II. I pass him with darkened ship at a distance of 40 meters. Apparently he sees nothing, because no recognition signal is made. 21/10/39 0120 Tied up at Brunsbüttel Lock.

1300 Tied up at Holtenau Lock. Operation completed. Britains Pearl Harbor - U-47's attack on the Battleship Royal Oak in Scapa Flow October 1939 | Wargamer Britains Pearl Harbor - U-47's attack on the Battleship Royal Oak in Scapa Flow October 1939 By John Dudek 11 Jun 2015 0 Just after midnight on the cold moonless night of 14 October 1939, Captain Gunter Prien stood on the conning tower of his Type VII-B submarine U-47 as it cruised along the surface of the calm waters of England's primary naval base and anchorage, Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands of northern Scotland. In spite of the lack of any moonlight, the night skies were aglow with the ethereal, unworldly light of the Aurora Borealis' Northern Lights. Prien silently cursed the unwanted illumination as his submarine closed in upon two large targets at anchor in the distance. He judged them to be British battleships given their silhouettes against the gently lighted sky line behind them.

As he probed the surrounding waters further, no other ships were seen at anchor and he was surprised to find the fleet out of port and at sea. He'd hoped to turn Scapa Flow into a torpedo shooting gallery of sinking and exploding British warships. However, he was also satisfied that no threats lurked in the darkness. Prien turned to port and proceeded north along the coast towards the two anchored warships sighted earlier. At 3,000 yards he fired his four forward torpedo tubes in a spread so as to hit both overlapping stationary targets. Only three of the four torpedoes launched properly as the fourth remained hopelessly jammed in its tube. Three and a half minutes later, a single torpedo explosion was seen striking the northernmost ship at its bow. Prien ordered his sub to come about, so as to fire its single stern torpedo tube at the now damaged battleship. As the stern tube fired, the forward torpedo tubes were reloaded.

The stern shot too was a miss “Verdamnt!!" Prien cursed bitterly with impotent rage “What sort of fool goes to war with bad torpedoes!!?" He remembered all the dockyard talk and rumors he'd heard about faulty German torpedoes, but until now he'd paid them no heed. Suddenly, his submarine stood outlined in the bright glare of a car's headlights from the nearby headland shore. Recognizing the German U-boat submarine in these restricted waters, the car turned around and drove quickly towards the town of Scapa. Prien knew he had little time and but one final chance of making telling hits upon the targets before patrolling British destroyers and other anti submarine craft arrived and quickly terminated his existence in the waters of this much storied British naval base. He grimaced as he prepared to fire his final salvo of torpedoes. Scapa Flow naval base held great significance to both Great Britain's Royal Navy and Germany's new Second World War Kriegsmarine. It was here that Kaiser Wilhelm's German High Seas Fleet of 74 battleships, cruisers and destroyers were interned immediately following the end of the First World War.

As part of the Armistice and the later Versailles Treaty ending the war, Germany had to turn over its entire navy to the victorious Allies and promise to build no new warships as part of the hated document's "War Guilt Clause." The shame and unfairness of this clause remained a painful bone in the throat of the German Navy long after the signing of the treaty. However, in one last glorious and supreme act of utter defiance, the German crews still aboard ship scuttled their warships to prevent the Allies from seizing them. While the British were able to eventually beach the German battleship BADEN along with two light cruisers and 18 destroyers, the remaining 52 warships were sunk in the murky waters of Scapa Flow. Nine German sailors were killed when British sailors fired upon them as they scuttled their ship. These were the last casualties of WWI. Germany never forgot the shame, degradation and insult to their nation's honor and it proved to be a catalyst for war to future dictator Adolf Hitler. One of Hitler's ardent followers who never forgot this insult to Germany's national honor was Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz.

He'd served in U-Boats during the First World War and was taken prisoner when his sub was sunk by British destroyers in the Mediterranean in 1918. Doenitz remained in the post war German Navy and served in a variety of functions before being promoted to commodore and Commander of Submarines in January 1939. Despite the many roles and responsibilities in Doenitz's new job, the idea of one audacious and gallant operation remained ever green in the back of his mind. It was the possibility of U-Boats infiltrating and attacking British warships in England's main naval base of Scapa Flow. During WWI, two U-boats had attempted to do so but were sunk. In spite of this, Doenitz remained adamant that such an operation could be successfully carried out with the right men and the proper moon and tidal conditions. Soon after the start of the Second World War, German long range reconnaissance aircraft had flown over Scapa Flow, taking extensive photographs of the base's defences and the block ships of deliberately sunken ships at its channel entrances. The reconnaissance photos detailed its weaknesses and strong points.

Even with this information in hand, any submarine attack would need in Doenitz's words, men with "...nerves of steel and the highest level of skill to carry out this boldest of bold enterprises." Not only would captain and crew have to overcome the bases anti-submarine defences, block ships, nets and booms at its entrances, they would also have to battle shallow uncharted waters and powerful, unpredictable currents that could carry a U-boat onto its rocky shore. Located in the Orkney Islands north of Scotland, Scapa Flow was the main fleet anchorage of the Royal Navy and had been seen by most as something of an impregnable fortress, particularly against submarine attack. Indeed, The Flow had not been used as a base between the wars, with the defensive mines being exploded in 1919; the last ship from the Home Fleet to lower its flag left the following year. However by the late 1930s and the re-emergence of German naval power, Scapa Flow was given a new lease of life. However, the idea that the base was impregnable was not shared by Admiral Sir Charles Forbes, who in 1938 had carried out an inspection of the defences.

There and then Forbes himself purchased a large concrete barge, one of 100 to serve as additional blockships, but his recommendations for securing the defensive loopholes that remained went unheeded. Nevertheless, the base was once again to become the home of the Home Fleet in September 1939, something that was confirmed with Churchill being appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. With the latest aerial intelligence and other information firmly in hand, Doenitz decided the only way into the naval base would be through the waters of Holm Sound and that could only happen at night and during the proper tidal conditions. He wrote: "Holm Sound is protected exclusively by two apparently sunken ships lying obliquely in the navigable water of Kirk Sound, together with one ship lying on the north side. South of these obstructions as far as Lamb Holm there is a gap, 170 metres wide, 7 metres in depth up to the shallow water. Also north of the sunken ships there is a small gap. The shore on both sides is practically uninhabited. I hold that a penetration at this point on the surface at the turn of the tide would be possible without further ceremony.

The main difficulty concerns navigation." The final sticking point was finding the proper captain and crew to carry out the mission, given all the risks entailed in getting in and out of Scapa Flow. Doenitz wrote: "On this [intelligence] I decided to allow an attempt to be made. My choice fell upon Lieutenant-Commander Prien, the captain of U-47. He, in my opinion, possessed all the personal qualities and the professional ability required. I handed over to him the whole file on the subject and left him free to accept the task or not, as he saw fit." Prien was given 48 hours to study the dossier file before making a final decision. He later wrote: "I felt a tremendous tension within me. Would it be possible to bring it off? My common sense calculated and questioned the chances, but by will had already decided that it could be brought off. At home, supper was already on the table. Absentmindedly I greeted my wife and child, for my thoughts were obsessed with the single idea of Scapa Flow." "What do you think of it, Prien?" Doenitz soon asked. Prien grinned as he nodded in the affirmative.

U-47 was readied for sea and given a load of new G-7 electric wakeless torpedoes. Her sailing date was set as Friday the 13th of October. Upon receiving this departure date, it was immediately changed to the preceding Sunday to ward off any old superstitions. On the journey north to the Orkney Islands, maximum security conditions were practiced. U-47 lay on the bottom during daylight hours and surfaced to run only during the night. Strict radio silence was maintained. After nightfall on 13 October U-47 slowly entered the restricted waters of Kirk Sound, cautiously maneuvering around the sunken block ships and booms. In spite of all precautions, the U-boat ran aground in shallow shoal water and it took some time to break free. At 0027 Prien wrote in his log book "Wir sind in Scapa Flow!" (We are in Scapa Flow!) The scene was now set for one of the most dramatic incidents of the war. U-47 soon headed towards a pair of what appeared to be battleships in the distance.

HMS ROYAL OAK was one of five R (Revenge) class battleships built during the First World War. A veteran of the Battle of Jutland, she lived a much storied career both during war and peacetime. Although modernized a number of times during her 25 year lifetime, the ship fitters could not overcome and correct her lack of speed that all her newer sisters now possessed and she was relegated into secondary roles as a training and school ship for men and ship's boys. In October 1939 ROYAL OAK had a complement of 1,234 men and boys aboard when she anchored in Scapa Flow for the last time. The torpedo that struck the ship's bow at 0104 hours that morning shook the battleship and awoke its crew. Little visible damage was observed, though the starboard anchor chain was severed by the blast. The chain clattered loudly to the bottom of the harbor. It was first suspected that there had been an explosion in the ship's forward inflammable stores up forward. A submarine attack was never considered given the impregnability and imperviousness of Scapa Flow's defences.

Aside from an announcement made over ROYAL OAK'S public address system to check on the temperatures in the forward magazine, nothing further was done. Many if not most of her sailors returned wearily to their hammocks, completely unaware that the ship was under attack. At 0116 three more torpedoes slammed into the battleship amidships, blowing massive holes through her armor plate, flooding her engine room and causing immediate loss of power. In addition, a magazine explosion sent a rolling fireball of cordite throughout the ships lower passageways. Thirteen minutes after Prien's second full salvo of torpedoes were fired, ROYAL OAK rolled over and sank with 833 men and her admiral still aboard. Over a hundred of her dead were Boy Seamen under the age of 18 years. 1000+ images about U boot U47 on Pinterest | Toy soldiers, Boats and Wwii Forward Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien, regresando a Alemania tras el hundimiento del HMS Royal Oak.

Le llamaban "El Toro de Scapa Flow" recibiría la condecoración de Caballero de la Cruz de Hierro por sus acciones, y el U-47 hudió 30 buques y dañó a otros 8 más bajo su dirección, fue uno de los submarinos más exitosos de la guerra. Como la mayoría de los tripulantes de submarinos de la Kriegsmarine, Prien y el U-47 no sobrevivieron. Desaparecieron frente a la costa de Islandia en Marzo de 1941. See More Gunther Prien and His Crew's Bold Strike at the Heart of the Royal Navy in Scapa Flow German U-Boat U 47 and the Raid that Sank the HMS Royal Oak written by: AMT • edited by: Lamar Stonecypher • updated: 2/18/2011 Early in the Second World War, the German Navy, the Kriegsmarine, launched a daring raid into the anchorage of the Royal Navy's major base at Scapa Flow in Scotland.

After a harrowing navigation of the channels into the harbor, U-Boat U 47 captained by Gunther Prien sank the HMS Royal Oak at anchor. slide 1 of 8 The Vulnerable Kriegsmarine Targets Scapa Flow When World War II began, the Kriegsmarine was in a tight spot. Badly outnumbered by the Royal Navy's Home Fleet, the outbreak of war in 1939 meant that "Plan Z" - an attempt to build a navy capable of directly opposing the Royal Navy - would not be completed in time to be of use to Germany in its battle to defeat Britain. The result was that Germany had only the two Scharnhorst class battlecruisers and the three Deutschland class pocket battleships to oppose the most powerful navy in the world. Even when the battleships Bismarck and Admiral von Tirpitz came online over the next two years, Germany would still not be capable of beating the Royal Navy. Because of its complete inferiority in terms of firepower and hulls, the German navy faced a stark choice: remain primarily a coastal defense force until attrited to irrelevance, or conduct bold strikes in the desperate hope of throwing the Royal Navy off balance.

The latter being judged more suitable, plans were drawn up to attack the Royal Navy in such a way that its relentless patrols of the North Sea would be disrupted, allowing surface raiders and U-Boats greater access to the Atlantic shipping lanes. A raid on the Home Fleet's primary base at Scapa Flow in Scotland was judged to be the best means of achieving this. slide 2 of 8 U 47: Gunther Prien's Type VII U-Boat Raids on Scapa Flow had been attempted in the past. During the First World War two submarine raids were launched but inflicted no damage due to British patrols and the underwater obstacles guarding the entrances to the anchorage. Aware of the extreme difficulties that would have to be overcome, Karl Donitz, the head of the German U-Boat arm, chose Gunther Prien and the crew of the U 47 to launch the raid. U 47 was a Type VII U-Boat, which was to be the most heavily produced class of German submarines with over seven hundred members - of which the majority were sunk in the perilous Battle of the Atlantic. This vessel carried a crew of around 50 and displaced under a thousand tons even when submerged.

Roughly 220 feet long and 20 feet wide, the Type VII U-Boats could dive to nearly 1000 feet and make nearly 18 knots on the surface and 8 knots submerged. They were armed with five torpedo tubes (4 in the bow and one in the stern) and carried fourteen torpedoes in all. The U 47 and its siblings were meant to provide the primary commerce raiding arm of the Kreigsmarine. With a long range and good maneuverability, these U-Boats were to form the backbone of the German submarine force right up until the end of the war, and very nearly won the Battle of the Atlantic. slide 3 of 8 HMS Royal Oak: The Ill Fated Battleship Sunk in Scapa Flow World War Two was revolutionary in many ways, but one of the most important involved the complete movement from infantry based warfare backed by spotter aircraft, artillery, and naval engagements between battleships to the modern style of warfare that revolves around tanks, attack aircraft, aircraft carriers, and submarines. The raid on Scapa Flow was one of the earliest indicators of this radical shift.

The Royal Navy's Home Fleet was tasked with bottling up Germany's navy in port, blockading German merchant shipping, and destroying any German vessels daring enough to put to sea. To accomplish this it was equipped with two aircraft carriers, two battlecruisers, and a full six battleships. One of these was the HMS Royal Oak, a Revenge Class battleship that was also a veteran of the Battle of Jutland, fought in 1916. Though old, the Royal Oak still represented the potency of battleships. She weighed in at over thirty thousand tons, was over 600 feet long, and was armed with eight fifteen inch and twelve six inch naval guns. She was better armed than the largest German capital ships at the time, and was deficient as a naval asset mostly in her 21 knot maximum speed which kept her and her crew of over 1000 relegated to second-line duties. slide 4 of 8 Scapa Flow was both a symbolic target as well as a practical one - the bulk of the German High Seas Fleet was scuttled there at the end of World War 1, and by destroying a vessel at anchor there the German navy would be delivering a powerful message.

Gunther Prien took his vessel through the treacherous approaches to the harbor which were littered with sunken ships and wracked by dangerous currents. Under the cover of darkness, U 47 managed to sneak through the dangers unharmed, and found itself undetected and loose in Scapa Flow. His crew identified the battleship Royal Oak lying at anchor, and commenced the attack. Though it took several tries due to defective torpedoes, a third attack involving three torpedoes struck home, tearing enormous holes in the hull of the HMS Royal Oak and detonating internal stores. The battleship was completely destroyed, and took most of her crew with her to the bottom. Gunther Prien brought U 47 home to Germany, where he was acclaimed a hero. slide 5 of 8 HMS Royal Oak's Fate Approaches: Gunther Prien takes U 47 into Scapa Flow Scapa Flow was considered by the Royal Navy to be near-impervious to submarine attack for two reasons. First, there were sunken ships in the channels leading to the anchorage that prevented any underwater entry.

Some were placed there specifically to make it a difficult harbor to penetrate, and others were remnants of the German High Seas Fleet of World War I, which was scuttled in Scapa Flow after the end of that conflict (which made Scapa Flow a symbolic as well as practical target). Second, the channels were subject to wild currents that made them perilous to navigate without an experienced pilot aboard who knew the ins and outs of the harbor. So it was that there was a low alert level inside the anchorage on the night of October 13th when Gunther Prien and crew brought U 47 into the base of the Home Fleet. It was not an easy task. The submarine ran aground on a sandbar once, and the unpredictable currents very nearly carried her out of the channel and into a dead-end sound. Threading through the blockships while on the surface, U 47 was vulnerable to being spotted from the shore or by anything afloat near to the submarine. It is largely because of the sheer daring on the part of the crew of the submarine that the attack on Scapa Flow has taken on a near legendary status in the pantheon of naval history.

slide 6 of 8 Two Failed Torpedo Attacks, Then a Terrible Explosion Once through the channels U 47 was free and clear. Searching for a target, the submarine's crew found two: HMS Royal Oak and an old seaplane tender, the Pegasus (mis-identified as a battlecruiser in the darkness of the harbor). Under the northern lights, the U-Boat approached the Revenge Class battleship, fully aware of her size and strength. It was now the morning of the 14th of October, and after taking careful aim, U 47 unleashed a spread of three lethal torpedoes at the battleship and supposed battlecruiser from three of the forward tubes (the fourth tube malfunctioned). The crew waited, watching, counting down the seconds it would take for the torpedoes to reach their targets... And there was an explosion - but only one, and it was muffled.

U 47 turned towards the exit to the harbor, fully expecting the British vessels to come alive and attack - and as the stern torpedo tube was unmasked by the vessel's turn, Gunther Prien ordered its torpedo fired at the targets while the forward tubes were reloaded, hoping that he might get another shot before the defenses began attacking. This torpedo missed as well. But to the shock of U 47's crew, there was no response from the British. Unbeknownst to them, one of their torpedoes did hit HMS Royal Oak's bow, and tore a hole in it. But the crew of the massive ship simply assumed normally combustible items stored in this part of the ship had detonated, and those not engaged in managing the damage incurred went back to sleep. U 47 turned in the night, and fired three more torpedoes. All struck the Royal Oak, and she exploded with a thunderous roar.

slide 7 of 8 The Sinking of the HMS Royal Oak: Consequences More than 800 sailors died in the sinking of the Royal Oak, including over one hundred Boy Seamen under the age of 18 - it had up until that time been a standard Royal Navy practice to bring apprentice sailors on board warships in port. This practice was ended soon after the HMS Royal Oak went down. The site of her wreck, still leaking oil, has been designated a war grave by the British government. U 47 and Gunther Prien returned home to Germany as heroes, and the attack served its role, in part. The Royal Navy was forced to expend additional effort on developing its anti-submarine forces which materially affected the blockade. Soon after German vessels were slipping through into the Atlantic, and wreaked their share of havoc on British commerce. This, one of the first meetings of battleship and submarine in combat, was a signal moment in naval history and a transition point to the modern incarnation of naval warfare, where the battleship has been retired as a vessel of war.

slide 8 of 8 Sources and Image Credits Sources: Janes Fighting Ships of World War II, 1946 Janes Publishing Company, 1994 reprint edition Barrie Pitt, The Battle of the Atlantic, 1977 Time Life Books Winston Churchill, The Second World War, 1959 Time Life Images all via Wiki Commons, respectively contributed by Darkone, Deutsches Bundesarchiv (German Federal Archive), the United Kingdom Government, and BillC ◄ ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ►

Question: Where was the British ship Royal Oak sunk by German submarine U47 in October 1939?
Answer: Scapa Flow