U Boat Captain Prien

In 1938 he served on u 26 under kptlt.

U boat captain prien.

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. Despite a short career one of the greatest u boat aces of wwii. 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. 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 380 u boat cap kptlt. Deutsche u boot kapitäne schirmmütze. 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. To dönitz mind prienchen prien at 31 a seven year veteran of u boats was the ideal skipper for the job.

Germany kriegsmarine u boat commander. Günther prien commanding officer u 47. U 47 günther prien superior cap. 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.

Prien günther born 16 01 1908 in osterfeld was one of three children of a judge. Albrecht brandi knights cross winner u 566 hans hornkohl she wolf brunswick tradition badges. Hartmann patrolling in spanish waters during the civil war. 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 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. He scored the second u boat kill of the war sinking the british ship bosnia in september 1939. German submarine u 47 was a vii b type u boat built in 1937 in kiel germany and commissioned in 1938 under capt. 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.

Günther prien was a german u boat commander during world war ii. Prien is famous for several reasons. Unmarked u boat captains cap.