Günther Prien
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| Günther Prien | |
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| 16 January 1908 – 7 March 1941 (aged 33) | |
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| Nickname | Der Stier von Scapa Flow, Prientje |
| Place of birth | Osterfeld |
| Place of death | Unknown |
| Allegiance | Germany |
| Service/branch |  Kriegsmarine |
| Years of service | 1933-1941 |
| Rank | Korvettenkapitän |
| Unit | 7. Unterseebootsflottille |
| Commands held | U-47, 1938-12-17 – 1941-03-07 |
| Battles/wars | Second Battle of the Atlantic |
| Awards | Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub |
Korvettenkapitän Günther Prien (16 January 1908 – 7 March 1941) was one of the outstanding German U-boat aces of the first part of the Second World War, and the first U-boat commander to win the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Under Prien's command, the submarine U-47 sank over 30 Allied ships totaling about 200,000 tons. By far his most famous exploit, however, was the sinking of the British battleship HMS Royal Oak at anchor in the Home Fleet's anchorage in Scapa Flow.
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[edit] Early Naval Career
Born in Osterfeld, Prussian Province of Saxony (Germany) and raised in Leipzig, Prien joined the Handelsmarine (German Merchant Navy) in the summer of 1923, studying for just three months at the Seaman's College in Finkenwarder in Hamburg, before going to sea as a cabin boy on the full rigged three-master Hamburg. His first voyage touched at the Azores, Pensacola, Hobart (Tasmania) and Falmouth. While sailing to Cork in October 1925 the ship was caught in a storm and ran aground near Dublin, the vessel was abandoned and later declared a wreck. Prien and the crew were taken to Bremerhaven and then Hamburg, where Prien was given his papers as seaman and found the cost of items he had drawn on board exceeded his six months of wages. Aiming for his master's certificate he quickly signed on the Oldenburg, which was another full rigger (as noted in Jost Metzler's "The Laughing Cow"[1]). Jost Metzler, who later commanded U-69, was taken under Prien's wing when an ordinary sailor aboard the sailing ship Oldenburg (now the Suomen Joutsen). He relates at the beginning of his book "The Laughing Cow: The Story Of U-69" how his relationship with Prien was "very strained" at first, and how Prien, as a young seaman, "could on occasion be very hard and unjust." Later they would become good friends. He obtained his mate's ticket and a wireless operator's certificate, becoming Fourth Officer of the San Francisco out of Hamburg, again, the ship was involved in a collision with another vessel in fog near the Hoheweg lighthouse. As look-out Prien was summoned to an enquiry at the Marine Court the Nautical Court House in Bremerhaven, where the weather was blamed.
Prien passed his captain's examination in January 1932 but could not find work as German shipping severely contracted during the Depression years. He returned to Leipzig and, failing to find work, went to the Assistance Board. In March 1932 he joined the National Socialist Party. (In "Wolf Pack: The Story of the U-Boat in World War II, Gordon Williamson states that the Navy did not accept members of the NSDAP or the SS and one was obliged to revoke their membership in these parties before joining the Navy.) In August, he joined the voluntary labor corps of Vogtsberg at Olsnitz. In January 1933 he joined the Reichsmarine, which was bringing in Merchant Navy personnel in order to quickly increase its strength after the loss of the Niobe. Prien was accepted as an ordinary sailor, but with officer aspirations. He underwent normal training and served on the light cruiser Königsberg before he was posted for U-Boat training at Kiel. At the end of training he was posted to U-26 at Deschimag in Bremen as First Officer of the watch.
Prien progressed steadily in rank, from Fähnrich zur See (midshipman) in 1933, to Oberfähnrich zur See (senior midshipman) in 1935, Leutnant zur See (sub-lieutenant) also in 1935, then Oberleutnant zur See (lieutenant) in 1937. He was appointed to the command of the new Type VIIB U-47 on her commissioning (17 December 1938) and promoted to Kapitänleutnant (lieutenant) on 1 February 1939.
[edit] Scapa Flow
On 14 October 1939 Prien risked shallow water, unknown shoals, tricky currents and detection by defenders to penetrate the Royal Navy's primary base, Scapa Flow. Although most of the Home Fleet was at sea, Prien sank the battleship Royal Oak and returned home to instant fame. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, the first member of the Kriegsmarine to receive this award. The mission into Scapa Flow called for volunteers only; Prien had no hesitation in accepting the mission. In a token to the voluntary nature of the mission, Prien spoke to his crew whilst U-47 was lying off Scapa Flow, and having briefed them, he announced that anyone not wishing to volunteer could leave the boat immediately. Unsurprisingly no one accepted the offer to disembark in the middle of the North Sea.[citation needed] Prien received the nickname Der Stier von Scapa Flow ("The Bull of Scapa Flow"); the emblem of a snorting bull was painted on the conning tower of U-47 and soon became the emblem of the entire 7. Unterseebootsflottille.
Kept secret by the German naval command was the fact that Prien had fired a total of seven torpedoes at his target, of which five failed because of long-standing problems with their depth steering and their magnetic detonator systems. These problems continued to bedevil the German submariners for a long time and particularly during the German invasion of Norway, when the U-boats were unable to keep the Royal Navy at bay.
Prien narrated the attack in the book Mein Weg nach Scapa Flow (1940, Deutscher Verlag Berlin).
[edit] Later career
Following later patrols and raids on Allied merchant shipping, Prien was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross in 1940. Not long after being promoted to the rank of Korvettenkapitän (lieutenant commander), the U-47 went missing on March 7, 1941 whist attacking Convoy OB-293. She was once thought to have been sunk by the British destroyer HMS Wolverine west of Ireland, but new research suggests that the ship attacked there was actually the U-A, part of the Foreign U-Boats corps. To date, there is no official record of what happened to the U-47 or her 45 crewmen, though a variety of possibilities exist, including mines, a mechanical failure, a victim of her own torpedoes, or possibly a later attack that didn't confirm any kills - by the corvette team of HMS Camellia and HMS Arbutus.
Although he was at sea for less than two years, Prien's record stands high among the U-boat aces during the Second World War. He spent 238 days at sea, sinking 30 enemy vessels for a total tonnage of 193,808 GRT.
[edit] References
- Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945. Friedburg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas, 2000. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5.
- Kurowski, Franz. Knight's Cross Holders of the U-Boat Service. Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 1995. ISBN 0-88740-748-X.
- Prien, Günther - U-Boat Commander (Deutscher Verlag, 1969)
