N a v a l O r d e r o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s – S a n F r a n c i s c o C o m m a n d e r y Mission: History Studiorum Historiam Praemium Est 5 March 2001 HHHHHH Volume 3, Number 3 U-4U7- 47 1941: U-boat War Gets Its Nam e Prim e M inister Aim ed 1819: Congress Asks At Threat to Britain’s President to Suppress Lifeline to New World Piracy in West Indies ‘The Battle of the Atlantic Following the Napoleonic Wars and the American War of 1812 with the Brit- Has Begun,’ Churchill Says ish, both ending in 1815, Spanish posses- sions in the Western Hemisphere began In March of 1941 the struggle to keep clamoring for independence. It is diffi- open Great Britain’s lifeline to the New cult to escape the conclusion, now unac- World was given a name and notable ceptable in the salons of the elite, that victories were achieved in that struggle. North America was settled by a higher The Battle of Britain had been won in class of man than other parts of the New England’s skies the previous year, but World. now the U-boat menace was a mortal In the words of Francis B. C. Bradlee danger. in his 1923 book, Piracy in the West Hitler, always bellicose, had said in a Indies and Its Suppression, speech in Berlin “In the spring, our U- “Revolutionary governments are, at best, boat war will begin at sea, and they (the generally attended by acts of violence, Günther Prien who, in 1939, took his U-47 British) will notice that we have not been but when undertaken by the ignorant and into Scapa Flow and sank the British battle- sleeping.” depraved people of the South American ship HM S Royal O ak, had accounted for 30 Early in March, exceptionally heavy colonies it not only … led to rapine and other ships by the tim e he was sunk in losses were reported to Britain’s War piracy, but adventurers and outlaws from M arch 1941. Cabinet by Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, all over the world flocked to these prov- the First Sea Lord. Meeting with Pound inces as soon as the standard of rebellion soon ignored the fine line that separates in the Prime Minister’s room at the was raised, ostensibly to serve against the privateer from the pirate. These free- House of Commons, Winston Churchill Spain, but in reality attracted by the booters based themselves on the many said to the admiral “We have got to lift prospects of plunder.” unsettled islands of the Caribbean and in this business to the highest plane, over Spain’s colonies in Central and South coves and estuaries of the mainland, in- everything else.” America, upon declaring their independ- cluding the Mississippi River delta and On 6 March 1941, Churchill issued ence and lacking navies of any sort, lent the protected bays of Florida’s Gulf the directive that gave the U-boat war its their authority to scores of privateers that Coast. name. (Continued on page 3) (Continued on page 2) Page 2 M i s s i o n : Hi s to r y 5 March 2001 Five U-Boats Sunk in Western Approaches Following PM ’s Address The place where the German U-boat 47 was sunk with all hands by the de- Submarine Commander sank the British battleship Royal Oak stroyer HMS Wolverine on 8 March. was none other than the middle of Scapa (Recently, doubt has been cast on Wol- Who Sank HMS Royal Oak Flow, Britain's greatest naval base! It verine’s claim for the kill, but there has sounds incredible. Is Himself Sent to Bottom A World War I submarine commander been no evidence suggesting a more told me tonight that the Germans tried plausible alternative.) (Continued from page 1) On 12 March 1941, a U-boat wolf- In view of various German statements, twice to get a U-boat into Scapa Flow we must assume that the Battle of the during the last war, but both attempts pack was operating southwest of Iceland. Atlantic has begun. failed and the submarines were lost. Kapitänleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp in U- The next four months should enable Captain Prien, commander of the sub- 110 spotted convoy HX112 consisting of us to defeat the attempt to strangle our marine, came tripping into our afternoon about 50 deeply-laden merchantmen, food supplies and our connection with the press conference at the Propaganda Min- eastbound in calm but frigid weather. He United States. For this purpose – istry this afternoon, followed by his crew told the other German pigboats about We must take the offensive against the – boys of eighteen, nineteen, twenty. Prien is thirty, clean-cut, cocky, a HX112 and they spent several days plan- U-boat and the Focke-Wulf (Fw. 200 ning their attack. What they didn’t know Condor) wherever we can and whenever fanatical Nazi, and obviously capable. was the convoy was guarded by five we can. The U-boat at sea must be Introduced by Hitler's press chief, Dr. hunted, the U-boat in the building yard or Dietrich, who kept cursing the English destroyers and two corvettes. Lemp had in dock must be bombed. The Focke- and calling Churchill a liar, Prien told us reported only two escorts. Wulf and other bombers employed little of how he did it. At dusk on 15 March, Kapitänleutnant against our shipping must be attacked in He said he had no trouble getting past Joachim Schepke in U-100 approached the air and in their nests. the boom protecting the bay. I got the impression, though he said nothing to Churchill continued, specifying in justify it, that he must have followed a another 12 paragraphs how the Battle of British craft, perhaps a minesweeper, into the Atlantic was to be won and ways in the base. which existing resources could be used British negligence must have be more effectively. He had given the battle its name and, having a name, the battle acquired a focused strategy. Five U-boats were sunk in the West- ern Approaches during March, inspiring Churchill to say “though we suffered grievous losses, amounting to 243,000 tons by U-boat … the first round of the Battle of the Atlantic may be said to have ended in a draw.” Perhaps a little better than a draw, for among the U-boats sunk was U-47, com- manded by Germany’s most dangerous submariner, Korvettenkapitän Günther Prien. U-47 Prien and had sunk 31 ships for Joachim Schepke was said to be Germ any’s a total of 193,808 tons and damaged handsom est U-boat com m ander. He was eight others during 10 patrols which had also one of its m ost successful and, it fol- him at sea for 238 days during the 17 lows, m ost decorated. months of war he lived through. He had been the first U-boat commander to be HX112 on the surface, fired a spread of awarded the Knight’s Cross by Hitler. Günther Prien is decorated by his Führer on torpedoes at the overlapping ships and 18 O ctober 1939 with the Knights Cross for Prien, as a Kapitänleutnant, had fled. In action the following night, 16-17 sinking a British battleship at her m oorings March, the wolfpack accounted for five gained worldwide fame for his 14 Octo- in Scapa Flow. ber 1939 sinking of the British battleship Allied ships, but Germany lost two of its HMS Royal Oak where she lay in the something terrific. most celebrated U-boat captains. Some theoretical safety of the Home Fleet an- Prien left St. Nazaire on 20 February reports credit the five merchant ship chorage at Scapa Flow. Four days later 1941 for his 10th patrol in U-47 and re- sinkings all to Korvettenkapitän Otto he was in Berlin for a press conference. ported attacking a convoy (OB290) on Kretschmer in U-99. That may be – his American reporter William L. Shirer was 24 February. The last radio message boat had gone unnoticed while the escort there and described it in his book Berlin from U-47 was received in the morning commander dealt with Schepke. Diary. of 7 March 1941. Churchill wrote that U- Royal Navy Captain Donald Macin- (Continued on page 6) 5 March 2001 M i s s i o n : Hi s to r y Page 3 Public Outrage Forces President’s Hand, Navy Ordered Against Pirates (Continued from page 1) Between 1815 and 1822, more than 3,000 ships were attacked by these pi- rates, and this does not include hundreds of ships listed by insurers as “missing” on their voyages. Public outrage in the United States led Congress on 3 March 1819 to pass legislation authorizing the president to suppress piracy in the West Indies. President James Monroe was already negotiating the acquisition of Florida from the Spanish and didn’t want pirates in his new territory, but at the same time wanted to avoid interfering with the sovereignty of the newly inde- pendent nations. Monroe began by sending a squadron under the command of the hero of Lake Erie, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, to Angostura, Venezuela, to protest let- ters of marque which allowed many pi- rates to fly the Venezuelan flag. He ac- complished his mission but was stricken with yellow fever and, on 23 August 1819, died on the way to Trinidad, end- ing the expedition.