KapitainLeutenant Gunther Prien was born in Germany in 1908. He won his papers in the German merchant marine at the age of 24, but could not find work. He joined the Nazi Party in 1932 and the Kriegsmarine the following year. He scored the first official U-Boat victory in the war and on his first patrol sunk three Allied ships. He was awarded the Iron Cross First Class when he stepped ashore from the Scapa Flow mission. He quickly capitalized on his fame by publishing his memoirs entitled ‘I Sank the Royal Oak’. After Scapa Flow, he was credited with destroying 28 merchant ships. While leading a U-Boat wolf pack attack on an Allied convoy in March 1941, he was killed when U-47 was sunk.
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