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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- SHIPS of the GERMAN NAVY --

U-47 (Submarine, 1938-1941)

U-47, a 753-ton Type VIIB submarine built at Kiel, Germany was commissioned in December 1938. On 14 October 1939, in a carefully planned operation, she made a daring penetration of the British fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow and sank the battleship Royal Oak. This feat made U-47 and her commanding officer, Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien, World-famous. Over the following year and a half, the two achieved continued successes against Allied shipping. Finally, on 8 March 1941, while attacking a convoy south of Iceland, U-47 was destroyed by the British destroyer Wolverine, killing Prien and his entire crew.

This page features our only views of the German submarine U-47.

If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 97503

U-47
(German Submarine, 1938-1941)

Arrives at Kiel, Germany, on 23 October 1939, with her crew at quarters. The battleship Scharnhorst is in the background.
U-47 was returning from the mission in which she sank the British battleship Royal Oak inside Scapa Flow on 14 October.
This is a halftone image, copied from a contemporary publication.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 445 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 102539

German submarine, probably U-47


Photographed from or near the battleship Scharnhorst circa late 1939 or early 1940. The original caption states that this submarine was returning to Kiel, Germany, from a war patrol.
Note insignia on the conning tower, which looks very much like U-47's "Bull of Scapa Flow" emblem.

Copied from the contemporary German photo album "Meine Kriegserinnerungen auf Schlachtschiff Scharnhorst", page 19.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 100KB; 740 x 500 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 17 March 2001