(March, 5, 2021) Eighty years ago, this week, U-47 commanded, by Günther Prien, was attacked and sunk in the North Atlantic, west of Ireland, by destroyers HMS Wolverine and HMS Verity. This happened not long after Prien was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander.
Prien, nicknamed the Bull of Scapa Flow, was one of the most daring U-boat commanders, and, by many accounts, probably the most daring submarine commander of any navy in World War II.
In 1939, he and his U-47 became famous for his audacious sinking of the British battleship HMS Royal Oak in the heavily defended British Home Fleet main harbor at Scapa Flow on Oct. 14.