U Boat Captain Prien

Despite a short career one of the greatest u boat aces of wwii.

U boat captain prien.

Prien günther born 16 01 1908 in osterfeld was one of three children of a judge. Günther prien joined the reichsmarine in january 1933 after several years in the merchant navy at first as a seaman on full rigger sailing ships. U 47 günther prien superior cap. Günther prien commanding officer u 47.

U boat captains hat very worn. Unmarked u boat captains cap. O on the peaceful sunday afternoon of october 1 1939 exactly a month into world war two a small launch motored across the harbor at kiel germany to tie up beside the depot ship weichsel. An accomplished seaman he d won his master s papers in the german merchant marine at 24 but could find no work which compelled him to join the national socialists in 1932 and the kriegsmarine in 1933.

He was also the first u boat commander to earn the knights cross of the iron cross when he slipped u 47 into britain s scapa flow and sunk the battleship royal oak. Günther prien was a german u boat commander during world war ii. Prien is famous for several reasons. It was germany s highest military decoration at the time of its presentation to prien note 1 under prien s command the submarine u 47 was credited with sinking over 30 allied ships totaling about 200 000 gross register tons.

He was the first u boat commander to receive the knight s cross of the iron cross and the first member of the kriegsmarine to receive the knight s cross of the iron cross with oak leaves of nazi germany. Prien joined the handelsflotte german merchant marine in mid 1923 after several years of work and study as a seaman prien passed the required examinations and became the fourth officer on a passenger liner. After a year on the light cruiser königsberg he transferred to the u boat force in october 1935. German submarine u 47 was a vii b type u boat built in 1937 in kiel germany and commissioned in 1938 under capt.

Hartmann patrolling in spanish waters during the civil war. He scored the second u boat kill of the war sinking the british ship bosnia in september 1939. Deutsche u boot kapitäne schirmmütze. Korvettenkapitän u 156 werner hartenstein.

Germany kriegsmarine u boat commander. During its career u 47 sank 31 enemy vessels including the british battleship hms royal oak at scapa flow in scotland on 14 october 1939. U 380 u boat cap kptlt.