U-47 Photograph Album
Section I (23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour)
I01. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
This good quality image provides an excellent frontal view of the 88mm deck gun. The lanyard wrapped around the barrel was attached to a waterproof tompion that was usually located in the gun’s muzzle. The tompion prevented salt water from rusting the inside of the gun barrel. When the gun was being prepared for use, the tompion would be removed and the lanyard unravelled from around the barrel. The lanyard would then be wrapped around two small hooks on the front face of the mount (below the recoil tray); the tompion was then inserted into a specially-designed circular receptacle at the bottom of the front face of the mount. Though the receptacle is just out of shot, the two small hooks can just be seen at the very bottom of the photo. Also visible are the four U-shaped padded gunlayer's harnesses and the four circular control wheels. (Haie cover, Landser 784)
View Photograph: I01. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
I02. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
The Kriegsmarine battleship Scharnhorst is in the background. Sister ship of the Gneisenau, the formidable 31,552-ton, 772-foot long battleship Scharnhorst dwarfs the little U-47. By way of comparison the 218.2-foot long Type VIIB U-boats displaced 753 tons on the surface (with full and water tanks full) and 857 tons when submerged.
Comparisons with E01 prove that in the group of medium-sized free-flooding holes on the casing above the saddle tanks, there were 4 holes on the port side that were not present in the same area of the starboard side. (Int 1)
View Photograph: I02. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
I03. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
Another shot of the Scharnhorst moored behind U-47. The number of crew required to man these vessels varied drastically. At the start of U-47's career in December 1938, the complement listed 39 men; by the end of the U-boat's career in March 1941, 44 men were deemed to be necessary. The number of men required in 1943 to crew the Scharnhorst totalled 1,968. (Trojca Hardback, Ubootwaffe Part 1)
View Photograph: I03. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
I04. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
Arguably the most famous photograph of U-47, this shows the crew of the battleship Scharnhorst parading along the edge of the deck in honour of the U-boat crew's daring penetration of the main Royal Navy anchorage in Scapa Flow. Several months earlier, in July and August of 1939, the Scharnhorst's straight stem was replaced by a larger and more angled "Atlantic" stem. This refit was carried out in a 40,000-ton floating drydock. The sailors parading near at the Scharnhorst's bow accentuate the battleship's newer "Atlantic" stem.
U-47 is very similar in colour to the battleship's medium blue-grey Dunkelgrau 51 (RAL7000) hull; certainly it is darker than the battleship's light grey Hellgrau 50 (RAL7001) superstructure. (Stier, Phantom, Landser 784, Miller)
View Photograph: I04. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
I05. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
The caption in German U-Boat Type VII: Grey Wolves Of The Sea by Heinz J. Nowarra states that the battleship in this photo is the Bismarck. However, the fact that the Bismarck did not leave Blohm & Voss - the Hamburg shipyards which constructed the mighty 822-foot battleship - until the 15th September 1940 proves that the Bismarck could not possibly have appeared in this October 1939 image. Upon close inspection it can be determined that it is the Scharnhorst which appears to the left of the small, dark U-47. (Schiffer)
View Photograph: I05. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
I06. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
This particular shot of U 47 was taken by a sailor on the Scharnhorst itself during the period when the previous few shots were taken. (Int 8)
View Photograph: I06. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
I07. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
This magnified portion of I06 allows the conning tower to be seen in greater detail. (Int 8)
View Photograph: I07. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
I08. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
The position of the crewmembers is very similar to that which can be seen in I06, so this image is likely to have been taken from the Scharnhorst. The smoke which is rising from the stern of the U-boat is the smoke from the diesel exhaust outlets. There was one round outlet per side, along the main group of drainage holes. In 1940 these two round exhaust outlets were modified to be oval in shape. This new style of hole, which can be seen in U03, was above the main aft drainage holes. Other VIIBs such as U-48 and U-99 had their original round exhaust outlets modified in the same fashion. Some VIICs such as U-96 and U-552 had a shroud added over their original exhaust outlets. Preventing the smoke from rising into the air, these shrouds helped to hinder detection from enemy forces. (Ebay)
View Photograph: I08. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
I09. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
The light cruiser Emden lies behind U-47. The 5,600-ton Emden was the first newly-built warship to be commissioned into the German Navy after the First World War. It bore an Iron Cross on her bows in memory of the famous First World War raider of the same name. Although construction began in 1921, political and financial difficulties delayed her launched until the 7th January 1925. The Emden was used as a sea-going training ship, taking many cadets on voyages around the world. In some versions of this same photograph, such as the one published in The Phantom Of Scapa Flow by Alexandre Korganoff, the bull is larger than in this, the original and correct version. For some reason the bull had been altered in the Korganoff version of the photo. (Ubootwaffe Part 1, Weg, Phantom, Snyder)
View Photograph: I09. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
I10. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
U-47 passes the 12,300-ton Schleswig-Holstein. Commissioned in 1908, the 419-ft pre-dreadnought battleship was obsolete by the mid-1930s, and was converted into a cadet training ship in 1936. The aged battleship's main claim to fame was when it fired upon the Polish fortified depot at Westerplatte, the first shots of World War II. The U-boat looks as dark as the Dunkelgrau 51 hull of the ship, and certainly darker than the Hellgrau 50 superstructure. A few of the white waterline markings are just visible on the tops of the saddle tanks, directly below the free-flooding holes on the hull casing. These were added on top of the dark grey anti-fouling paint (Schiffsbodenfarbe III Grau, RAL7016) that had been recently applied to the lower hull and the upper surfaces of the saddle tanks. Only two rungs are located on the starboard tower walls, as opposed to the four that can be seen on the port side in E04. (Breyer)
View Photograph: I10. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
I11. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
The four small free-flooding holes that are missing above the saddle tanks on the port side of the Amati kit can be seen in this photo. Also missing from the Amati kit is the free-flooding oval hole above the 17th hole forward of the saddle tanks.
When the tompion was removed from the barrel, it was kept in a receptacle at the bottom of the front face of the 88mm mount. The shadow cast on the inside of the receptacle allows us to see it in this photo. (Rössler cover, Trojca Hardback)
View Photograph: I11. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
I12. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
All that was required for passage aboard Günther's Pleasure Cruise around Kiel harbour was to be present during U-47's mission to Scapa Flow. When told their destination, the excitement of many of the crew would have been tempered by a great deal of apprehension. Their minds may have preyed upon the two failures by German U-boats to penetrate Scapa Flow during the First World War. In November 1914, Kapitänleutnant Heinrich von Hennig tried to guide his U 18 through the Hoxa boom in the wake of a steamer carrying supplies. He was detected by a patrol boat which rammed and sank him; all but one crewman were taken prisoner. The attempt by Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Joachim Emsmann in UB 116 fared even worse: all members of the crew were killed when the defenders' hydrophones set off a net of mines. (Phantom)
View Photograph: I12. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
I13. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
The triangular supports that kept the jumping wires higher off the deck face outboard on the Amati kit. This photo shows that U-47 had these supports facing inward. Only the later VIIs had the supports facing outboard. (Int 5)
View Photograph: I13. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
I14. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
The part on the foredeck in between the capstan and the bollards is a thick canvas-type bag which has been pulled over the KDB (Kristalldrehbasis Gerät) for protection when in port. The KDB consisted of a T-shaped piece (which included six acoustic hydrophones) that was rotated. It was intended to overcome the weakness of the GHG (Gruppenhorchgerät – group listening apparatus), which consisted of a cluster of hydrophones arranged in a semi-circle above both of the bow plane guards. The quality of the direction-finding provided by this crude GHG system was dependent on the direction of the noise source. By comparison, the bearings obtained by the KDB system were far more accurate, particularly towards the bow or stern. (Ubootwaffe Part 1)
View Photograph: I14. 23rd October 1939, sailing around Kiel harbour
