U47, a Type VIIB U-boat, was one of the most successful U-boats of the Second World War. She sank 31 vessels and damaged 8 more, including the famous attack on the British battleship Royal Oak in Oct 1939 under the command of Guenther Prien who was subsequently nicknamed "der Stier von Scapa Flow" (the Bull of Scapa Flow).
In this painting U47 is returning to her home port of Kiel, passing by Schleswig-Holstein, a Deutschland-class battleship which served in both World Wars.
Schleswig-Holstein fired the first shots of WW2 when she attacked the Westerplatte Polish base on 1 September 1939. For most of the war however she was used as a training ship until she was sunk by British bombers in December 1944. |