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.

U-47 had a displacement of 761 metric tons, 865 tons submerged. She was powered by two 1400 PS (1 MW) diesel engines and two 375 PS (280 kW) electric motors. Her speed was 17 knots (31 km/h) on the surface and 7.6 knots (14 km/h) submerged. Her 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 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.

U-47 carried out ten combat patrols and spent a total of 238 days at sea. She sank 30 enemy merchant ships (164,953 tons) and damaged eight more.

She was sunk on March 8 1941 by the British destroyer HMS Wolverine west of Ireland.

External link

u47.org