Who killed Prien?

Bilge_Rat · 03-07-11, 07:55 AM

70 years ago today, march 7,1941, Gunther Prien, arguably the most famous U-boat commander of the war disappeared.

This much is known, he filed his last position report on 0440, attacked a 20,000 ton ship in convoy Outbound 293, hitting her with two torpedoes, then U-47 disappeared for all time.

initially the Admiralty gave the credit to "Wolverine" for a DC attack at 0400 on march 8, however this would have meant Prien had chased the convoy far to the west for 24 hours which is unlikely given that he was low on torpedoes.

According to Clay Blair, the most likely explanation is that U-47 was destroyed during the many DC attacks "Wolverine" and/or " Verity" launched on U-47, U-70 and U-99 on march 7.

Among the other possibilities are that U-47 was sunk by a circular running torpedo, by crew error or for unknown causes on the way back to Lorient with a defective
radio.

U-47 had sailed on February 20 after 76 days in port. There had been a substantial turnover in the crew and little opportunity to train before sailing, so crew error is a real possibility.

03-07-11, 07:55 AM	#1
Bilge_Rat Silent Hunter Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: standing watch... Posts: 3,855 Downloads: 344 Uploads: 0	Who killed Prien? 70 years ago today, march 7,1941, Gunther Prien, arguably the most famous U-boat commander of the war disappeared. This much is known, he filed his last position report on 0440, attacked a 20,000 ton ship in convoy Outbound 293, hitting her with two torpedoes, then U-47 disappeared for all time. initially the Admiralty gave the credit to "Wolverine" for a DC attack at 0400 on march 8, however this would have meant Prien had chased the convoy far to the west for 24 hours which is unlikely given that he was low on torpedoes. According to Clay Blair, the most likely explanation is that U-47 was destroyed during the many DC attacks "Wolverine" and/or " Verity" launched on U-47, U-70 and U-99 on march 7. Among the other possibilities are that U-47 was sunk by a circular running torpedo, by crew error or for unknown causes on the way back to Lorient with a defective radio. U-47 had sailed on February 20 after 76 days in port. There had been a substantial turnover in the crew and little opportunity to train before sailing, so crew error is a real possibility. __________________ Last edited by Bilge_Rat; 03-07-11 at 08:29 AM.