U-47
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.
It had a displacement of 761 metric tons, 865 tons submerged. It was powered by two 1400 PS (1 MW) diesel engines and two 375 PS (280 kW) electric motors. Its speed was 17 knots (31 km/h) on the surface and 7.6 knots (14 km/h) submerged. Its underwater armament consisted of 4 torpedo tubes in the bow and 1 torpedo tube in the stern. The deck artillery consisted of an 88 mm gun and a 20 mm machine gun. The vessel's range was 6500 nautical miles (12,000 km).
U-47 carried out ten combat patrols and spent a total of 238 days at sea. She sank 30 enemy merchant ships and damaged eight more.
U-47 became famous when, on October 14, 1939, under the command of Günther Prien, she entered the base of the British home fleet at Scapa Flow, and sank HMS Royal Oak.
She was sunk on March 8, 1941 by the British destroyer HMS Wolverine west of Ireland.
