U-47 And Scharnhorst

Commanded by Gunther Prien; on October 14, 1940 U-47 achieved one of the great asymmetric victories of the Second World War. Prien's victory was actually two part: first in penetrating Scapa Flow's formidable defenses and second, in sinking the Battleship H.M.S. Royal Oak. Scapa Flow had been the Royal Navy's primary anchorage since the First World War. Her defenses were formidable and included not just anti-submarine nets, mines, ships sunk to block the channels, searchlights, and regular patrols, but also dangerous waters and tides in the channels leading to the vast anchorage. Ironically, the opportunity offered by Prien's superb navigational accomplishment in sneaking into Britain's foremost naval anchorage was almost lost from faulty torpedoes. Prien however proved as meticulous as he was daring and he overcame the absurd technical difficulties he faced.

After slipping into the middle of the great British naval base Prien chose the Royal Oak as his target, and carefully maneuvered his U-boat into firing position. At about 1:00 am he lined up U-47 to fire his first salvo of 4 torpedoes from the surface, in clear conditions, and at a distance of a mere 4,000 yards. Prien disgustedly watched as one torpedo malfunctioned and remained in the torpedo tube, two others missed, and another struck just a minor blow. Undaunted Prien calmly and grimly ordered his crew to reload the tubes - a process taking a full twenty minutes. Finally, with reloading complete, Prien lined up his vast, immobile target one more time and fired another salvo of three torpedoes. All three struck the British battleship in an enormous explosion of water, flame, and ship parts. The Royal Oak capsized and sank beneath the waves, taking 800 men down with her - from the 1,400-man crew. Even with torpedoes as ineffective as Germany's, Prien had demonstrated the U-boat's efficacy as an asymmetric weapon against an otherwise superior naval opponent.