#38: U-47: The Submarine That Raided Scapa Flow
On the night of October 14, 1939, Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien navigated U-47 through the supposedly impenetrable defenses of Scapa Flow, the Royal Navy's main anchorage in Scotland, and torpedoed the battleship HMS Royal Oak. The 29,000-ton warship capsized in just 13 minutes, killing 833 men. It was one of the most audacious submarine raids in military history.
The attack stunned Britain. Scapa Flow was considered untouchable, protected by blockships, nets, booms, and patrol craft. Prien threaded his Type VIIB submarine through a narrow gap in the blockships at night, fired his torpedoes, and escaped on the surface as the Northern Lights flickered overhead. He returned to Germany a national hero, received the Knight's Cross from Hitler personally, and became the most famous submarine commander of the early war. U-47 went on to sink over 160,000 tons of shipping before being lost with all hands in March 1941.
