They Hold a very special place in my heart always. I only long to have known them all in this life. They give the hope and faith I need. They give me all the reasons to belive. They taught me how to forgive. They taught me, there is a tomorrow, dreams do bring hope. They taught me to have strength and not to give up. They did not. They taught me there is pain in victory. There is also pain in losing thoes you love and care about.  They taught me to learn from my mistakes never make the same one twice. History does not have to repeat itself.  They gave me pride and self esteem. Most of all they gave me love and to hold what is dear. Suddenly tomorrow may not come and daylight will nevermore be seen again. Life can be suddenly taken for you.

Grand Admiral Karl Donitz

Grand Admiral Karl Donitz  has benn condemned by many as a fanatical Natzi leader, not true, true he was adopted by the Natzi party. He met Hitler only twice, he was a great Naval Commander. He was had many vitues of honorable loyality. Devotion and duty. He was a very successful person had determantion and charisma. His men found him to be very likeable. Leading personal example, it was he who built the formidable U-boot service, and that devotion of his men was maintained to the very end of his life in December 1980 in spite the fact that the U-boots endured the highest loss rates of all German armed forces in the war. A quoet for Grand Admiral Karl Donitz:" Also doch!......Ich habe es immer befrurchter......Wenn auch die Experten immer weider, wir es schien uberzeugend,  nachweisen, dass es andere Grunde fur verdachtigen Beobachtungen gabe, konnten sie meine letzten  Zweifel nie ganz ausraumen........Erst nach dem Kriege hat mich das Ausbleiben von Berichten auf  alliierter Seite langsam beruhight.......Ja nun werdet Ihr Historiker wohl von vorn beginnen mussen!!........... Admiral Dontiz was sentenced to ten years imprisonment for although personally innocent of any participation in illegal or crimnal acts he had been leading a member of the Third Reich heirarchy. He was released from spandau prison in 1956. He never did commit any crimes at all. He was unjustly condemed! In my eyes this was very unfair to this to do this to him without any proof of a crimnal act commited. He said he was afraid that something like this might happen. He was great person someone to be admired and looked up to a true hero. Still is in my eyes. How can anyone judge someone without truly getting to know them is wrong. I can see if he was a criminal but he was not. He was innocent!!!

The Bismarck

The Bismarck was the greatest Battleship ever built. She was named after Otto Von Bismarck. Launched Febuary 14th 1939. Commissed August 20th 1940. Sunk May 27th 1941.  In August 24 th 1940 The Bismarck joins The Kriegsmarines her commissioning day. Beneath a cloudy sky, a strong chilly wind from the east bank of the Elbe was raising  whitcaps in the river and sweep over the stern of the ship, whose port side was still made fast to a wharf of Blohm &Voss building yard. Her Kaptian was  Zur See Ernst Lindemann. For Reconnaissance she spotted of shot, and liason with friendly forces , The Bismarck carried four single engine, low wing Arodo-196 aircraft with twin floats which also served as fighters. The planes were stored in the hanger in the beneath the main mast. The planes were launched by catapult located between the stack and the main mast. This installation ran laterally across the deck as a double catapult, so that launching could be to either starboard or port. The crew consisted of 103 officer's, including the ships surgeons and midshipmen and 1,962 petty officers and men. It was divided into 12 divisons, whose numerical strength varied from 180 to 220 men. The battle Stations of Divsion 1 through Division 4 were the main and secondary batteries. Divion 5 and Division 6 manned the antiaircraft guns. Divsion 7 consisted of what we called function- aries that is specialists as master carpenters yoemen cooks and cobblers. Division 8 consisted of the ordnancemen, and Divsion 9 combined signalman raidiomen and quatermasters. Divsion 10 through 12 were the engineers.  The Bismarck made fast to the main outfitting wharf of Blohm & Voss, Hamburg which she left for the first time on September 15th 1940. Early morning the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen it was the morning of May 23th ented the Denmark Straight. Suddenly 1811 alarm bells souned throught out the Bismarck vessels to Starboard! It was only iceburgs that time. On May 19th it was the Suffolk and the Norfolk that was in contact with the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen. The Bismarck has just fired salvo at Admiral Holland's force at full speed. The famous warship in the world The Bismarck the largest in the world. Lindemann could not restrain himself said.  "I will not let my ship be shot from under my ass." Then the last words he gave were permission to fire. Both German ships were concentrated their fire on the Hms Hood. The Prinz Eugen also. Turrets Ceasar and Dora fire on the Prince Of Wales. The Bismarck has pulled port of the Prinz Eugen and her guns now point at a bearing of about 310 degrees. Someone shouted She blowing up! That could only be the Hood.The Bismarck and The Priz Eugen sunk the HMS Hood. The wreckage of the hood still burns as The Prince Of Wales comes under fire by the Bismarck. The Bismarck was leaving but she was hit. She was down by the bow and pitching heavily as a result of a forward hit. The Prinz Eugen was tried to detremine how much oil was leaking into the Bismarck's wake. On the morning of May 24th. The signal to excute order fot yhe two ships to seprate is given for the second time at 18:14 Hours. As the Bismarck turns sharply for calm seas. The two ships sunk the Hood less than 5 minutes. We in the Bismarck have heavy hearts as we parted with faithful Prinz. Only reluctantly   did we4 leave her to her own destiny. In retrospect, it might be considered fortunate that weee did, for against the concentration oh Heavy British ships that we later encountered we could not have been of much help to one another. Had we not seprated, we probably would have lost the Prinz Eugen as well as the Bismarck on May 27th. As it was, she was able to reach the port of Brest undamaged on June 1st. Bismarck attacked by Swordfish Torpedo Planes. Since the fruitless action with the Prince Of Wales, which took place little after 1900 hours on May 24th, the Bismarck had held steady on her southerly course. Before long a report came over the ship's loud speaker that theree wass proably an aircraft carrier in the area. All antiaircraft gun crews   immediiiaatelly  went on full alert. Then around 2230 hours- it was still light as day*---several pairs oof airrcraft weree seen approaching on the port bow. They were beneath a layer of clouds and we could see them clearly, getting into formation to attack us. Naturally we did not know it then but  they   wereeee from the Victorious, the carrier that accompanied Tovey's force out of Scapa Flow on evening of May 22. Tovey's objective was to event that, after Admrial Holland's attack with the Hood and the Prince of wales interception would still be necessary. It was.  Aircraft alarm! In seconds every after other, the planes came toward us, nine Swordfish, torpedoes under their fuselages. Daringly they flew through our fire, nearer to the fire-spitting mountain of the Bismarck, always nearer and nearer still. watching through my director, which having been designed for surface targets, had a high degree of magnificattion  but only a narrow field. I could not see all the action. I could see only parts of it, and that only so far  as the swirling smoke of our guns allowed. But what I could see was exciting enough. Our antiaircraft batteries fired anything that would that would fit into their barrels. Now and again one of our 38- cemtimeter turrets and frequently our 15-centimeter turrests fired  into the water ahead of the aircraft, raising massive waterspouts. To fly into one of thoes spouts would mean the end. And the aircraft: they were moving so slowly that they seemed to be standing still in the air, and they looked so antiquuated. Incredible how pilots pressed their attack with sucidal courage, as if they did not expect ever again to see a carrier. In meanwhile wee had increased speed to 27 knots and begun to zigzag sharply to avoid the torpedoes that were spalshing into the water. This was an almost impossible task because close range and low altuide from which the torpedoes were launched. Nevertheless the Kaptian and the quatermaster, Moatrrosenhauptgfreiterr* Hans Hansen, who was steering from the open bridge, did a brilliant job. Some of the palnes were only two meters above the water and did not release their torpedoes until they had closed to 400 or 500 meters. It looked to me as though many of them intened  to fly on over us after making their attack. The height of impudence,  I thought. The enemy's tactics were such that torpedoes were coming at us from several dircetions at the same time and , trying to avoid one, we were liable to run into another. Back and forth we zigzaged. All of our guns and the Bismarck gave a slight shudder. at the moment, I was only aware that whatever had caused it must have taken place forward of my duty station. Although I silently cursed what I suppposed was a torpedo hit, my immediate reaction was that it had not possibly have reached its set depth- it would be dangerous to us if it had--but had probably struck in the area where our armor belt was the strongest: at the waterline amidships. That armor, I was sure, would not be bothered by a little areial topedo. Nonetheless, I took a careful look at the speed and rudder position indicators. Thy showed that the engines and ruddder were intact---Thank God! What happened? A torpedo, perhaps the last one launched and a surface runner at that, had struck the armor belt amidships  on the starboard side and exploded, creating a tall waterspout. It was delivered by a pilot who left his wingman and came in, unnoticed by us in the glare of the setting sun. The concussion of the hit hurled Oberbootsman Kurt Kirchberg, who was handling ammunition  in the immediate vincinityy    of the explosioon against something hard. He was killed instantly: the first man to die aboard the Bismarck.  His death made a deep impression on all his ship mates in that fatality, but it was especially distresssing to thoes who come to know him as a strict but capable and undterstanding superior. Although we weathered the Swordfish attackquiet well, it cannot be said that we came out oif the Swordfish attack unscathed. On May 26 when dispositions were being made to support the Bismarck in her increasing critical situation, new instructions were sent to U-boots in the Bay Of Biscay. One of thoes boots was U-556 whoes commanding officer was Kaptianleuutant Herbert Wohlfarth, was ordered to reconnoiter and operate in the area of the Bismarck's most recently reported position. When Wohlfartth received thoes oreders, he was on his way home from a patrol that began on May 1. Therefore he was low on fuel and on his way to the Bismarck he would have to be extermely econmical with what he had left. Furthermore, he had expended all his torpedoes agaist British convoys. Wohlfarth reached the immediatee area  around the Bismarck on the evening of May 26. Around 19:50 hours he saw Renown and Ark Royal coming out of the mist at high speed- the big ships of force H. Nothing for it  but to sumerge. "Enemy bows on ten degrees to starboad, without distoyers, without zigzaging." As Wolhfarth described it later. He would not run to launch torpedoes. All he had to was position himself between the Renown and the Ark Royal and fire at both simultaneously. Only if he had some torpedoes! Around 6:30 hours Wohlfarth sighted the U-74 one of the U-boots that had been in the Bay Of Biscay. Optically  and by megaphone he transfered the mission of maintaing contact with the Bismarck to commanding officer Kapitanleutnant Eitel-Friedrich Kentrat. He gave Kentrat the Bismarck's position, which based on his observations of the star shells fired during the night, adding."I have not seen her directly. You assume contact. "I have no more fuel." And after blinking a greeting he turned away. The Bismarck's last battle: Swordfish torpedo planes flying over the King George V on the morning  of 27th May. Twelve aircraft were launched from the Ark Royal to make another strike  on the Bismarck but, when they reached the area they decided to stay clear lest they be hit by the gunfire being diirected at the German Battleship. Where the action was, ordered the Dorsetshire to torpedo the Bismarck. Two minutes earlier, Captain Martin acting on his own initative fired two torpedoes at the Bismarck's starboard side at a range of 3,000 meters. one was observed to hit below trhe bridge, the other astern. Thereafter, the Dosetshire went over to the battleship's port side and at 10:36 hours launched a third torpedo at 2,200 meters. This was the last of all the projectiles fired at the Bismarck on May 27th.  The sinking of the Bismarck. Suppressing a desire to retrive a few personal belongings from my stateroom, which was not far away  on the port side. I joined a little group of men assembled to starboard, forward of turret Dora, where they waiting to jump overboard. For the moment that seemed the best refuge, Many men were already in the water, thoes with me were wondering whether this was the  moment for them to jump. We're sinking slowly, The sea is running high and we'll have to swim a long time, so it's best if we jump as late as possible. I'll tell you when. Before joining the group, I had seen the King George V and the Rodney steaming away   to the north in line ahead and concluded that thy would not take part in rescuing our survivors. But that otherrr ships would do so, I was firmly convinced."Some help will surely come along and pick us up." Had I given false them false hope? Looking around us far and wide, I saw only empty ocean. Although we all must have heard many of the same terrifying sounds   and must have shared a sense oof incredible desolation that morning, we did not have the same experiences or see the same things. Here then are accounts from other survivors that stand out most vividly in the memories of some of the survivors. Soon after the battle water started pouring in through the ventilator shafts into the Junkank's action station, the central turbine room, below the armored deck in compartment VIII. There were occasional explosions. "The last order given was clear ship for scuttling." At this moment he entire communications systems broke down. When the scuttling charges had been brought to the cooling water intakes and things became quieter above. By this time the enemy was doing very little firing. Our ensign still flew from the mainmast but seawater was spilling over the quaterdeck and the ship was sinking deeper. All that was left of our proud ship was a ruin. Some of the crew was very badly burned. They were lying on the deck. Malhberg climed turret Dora he saw some of the burned crew sitting and lying on the deck. "Just look what's happened to my Turret!" Oberstuuckmeister Friedrich Albert Schubert one of the men burned called to him." Get away it's going to blow up any minute!" Mahlberg went back to the upper deck. "It's over It's over!" He knew the young mate well knew he was happily married. Wilhelm Generozky.  He was very proud of German Naval architecture. When abandon ship was ordered Gerenrotzky climbed too compartment X of the battery deck, where some sixty men were already waiting to use the companionway to the upper deck. Kaptianleuuttnant  Ingenieurwesen Albert Hasselmayer. Fregattenkaptian Oles said: "Don't go up there it was certain death." Muffled explosions below encourged the men to make the greatest possible haste. Finally Generozky's turn came. He pulled himself up. When he got a hold on the upper deck his hands were in a pool of blood. He stood up inside the demolished superstuctuer and found himself surrounded by dead bodies three and four deep they lying where they had fallen. But he was out of the frightningcoffin the Bismarck had become.Zicklbein could see down to the main deck everyone is dead here.Most of the crew of the Bismarck was dead! Maschinenmatt Erich Vogel Zickelbein Petty officerHans Silberling they carried the wouned out . They heard Marinestabarzt Avrid Theile say." Leave them where they sleep better here." Everyone knew what he meant. The dead. The campaionway was a mess when a shell slamed into it. There was nothing even the doctor could do for them. Topside the Bismarck looked scap metal all on fire a ruin. Maschinenoberfreiterr Hans Sringborn gave the generators and the diesel engines a final inspection shortly before scuttling charges went off. He wanted to ensure that there would be light right up to the end and there was. Amid the devastion on the upper deck he saw the wounded men lying on stretchers. Maschinengefreiter Herman Budich was wouned but not seriously he was layed on the deck outside. No suvivor saw Fleet Commander during the last battle. I assume that Admiral Lutjens and his staff fell at their action stations. The Bismarck sinks. While the little group I was with was waiting, to starboard, forward of turret Dora, the Bismarck sank still deeper by her stren and her list port increased. The gradual emergence of more and more of her hull on starboard side told me that the moment to jump was apporoaching,."It's time."  "I said, inflate your life jackets, prepape to jump." Just  as eariler it was vital not to go over the side too soon, now it was vital not to delay so long that we would be sucked down with the ship when she finally sank. "A salute to fallen comarades. "I called. We all snapped our hands to our caps, glanced at the flag and jumped. In the water we were pushed together in bunch as we bobbed up and own like corks. At first we swam away from the sinking ship as hard as we could to escape the suction. When I got clear by some 150 meters, I stopped and turned around for one last look and to take in everything I could about her. What I saw was that the Bismarck was listing to still more, she had no stability left. She was also deeper down by her stern, her bow rearing steeply out of the water. The whole starboard side of her hull, all the way to the keel. was out of the water. I scrutinized it for signs of battle damae and was surprised that I saw no trace of any. Her port side had borne the blunt of the battle and that side of her hull may have told a different story.  When wimmers close to the bow of the ship looked back, they saw Lindemann standing on the forcastle in front of Turret Anton. His messanger, a seaman, was with him. Soon, both men went forward and begun climbling s steadily increasing slop. Lindemann's gestures began showed that he was urging his companion to go overboard and save himself. The man refused and stayed with his commanding officer until thet reached the jackstaff. Then Lindemann walked out to starboard side of the stem which, though rising ever higher, was becoming more level as the ship lay over. The Bismarck now lay completely on her side. Then, slowly, slowly she and the saluting Lindemann went down. Later a machinist wrote." I always thought such things happened only books, but I saw it with my own eyes."  The time was 10:39 hours and the Battleship's postion was approximately 48 degrees 10' North and 16 degrees 12' West. The sight of the sinking Bismarck and thought of so many comrades who had gone down with her cut deep into my heart. Another thought that came to me was that a Lenbach portrait  of Prince Bismarck had sunk with the ship. It hung in the gaurd outside the commanding officer's stateroom was posted. For us in the water the scene changed quickly. We found ourselves being continously swept from one cluster of men to another. In distance I saw the familiar faces of Kapitanleutnant Werner Schock, commander of Divsion 12 and second damage control officer and Oberleutnant Gerhard Hinz, commander of Division 8 and the ship's technical gunnery officer.I saw them briefly then they were lost from sight forever. "Careful, Careful."he called out don't get too close to me. "I've lost a foot."Listen I replied."We'll soon be aboard a Briton and they'll take care of you." Shortly afterward he disappeared in the swells. They still had hope to cling to and did not give up. Repeatedly called to the men near me, " Stay together, as soon as a ship comes we'll swim over and climb aboard it was not much encouragement but it was better than none. The horrible thing being was the fuel oil from our sunken ship it burned our eyes noses and our ears. Luckly it was not burning. It blackned our faces. The water tempture was 13 degrees centigrade cool enough. I was fully dressed so it kept me warm. When almost an hour passed, from the crest of wave I sighted a three stack cruiser, her ensign still in the wind. The Dorsetshire, urged my companions to hold on. "Cheer up.", we'll soon be aboard her. The Dorsetshire, steered for the thickest concentration of survivors and stopped shortly before reaching it. Soon she lay athwart the waves, drifting and rolling ratherly heavily. I had a long way to go to get to her. I told the men in my vicinity to be sure to head for the port, or lee side of the ship and stay there.  The dorsetshire threw lines over, a few of which had bowlines on the end. Lines and bowlines became so slippery from the oil in which they dangled that it was difficult to handle them, but it was that or nothing. I had a vision of a wide net up which a lot of men could climb at the same time, as they would ratlines. But it was only a vision. At last, the Dorsetshire lowered a retangular wooden raft for us to hold on to so we could catch our breath. Getting up thoes lines was not easy even for experiened seaman. Not only were they slippery eels but, because of the rolling of the ship, they were in the water one second anf the next they were too far above our outstreached hands for us to grab. Most men I saw were technicians who had proably not had to use lines since they were in basic training, so I advised them to choose thoes that bowlines. That too was easier said than done. I found soon that here was a limit to what the best advice intentioned adviced could accomplish. The men of the Dorsetshire saed all 800 of us from the fate of drowning. Now we were POW's all of us. Mashinenmatt Wilhelm Generotzky who was standing on the superstructure deck saw men jumping overboard into the water, among them his best friend. He also saw Luftwaffe sargeants shoot themselves and heard a chief engineer say. " If I had a pistol, I'd do the same thing." Then there were shouts."She sinking!" and " Turret Dora's blowing up." The deck was trying to slide out from under him. He and several others leapt down and went into the water from th estarboard side of the upper deck. At almost the same moment that side of the ship rose completelt out of the water.  The jump must have brought a quick end to many of thoes men. Generotzky's leap took him to a considerable depth and, as he fought hi way to the surface, kept telling himself . " I'll get light any minute now." When that finally that happened, he shot halfway out of the water and sucked precious air into his lungs. He saw the Bismarck some 100 meters away, floating keel-up. Hissing jets of water escaping from verious apertuers in her hull  soaring  into the air. While he watched, her stern sank, her bow rose,  as if in a last farewell, and with a gurling sound, The Bismarck slid below the waves.  All that was left were the men in the water, hundreds of them fighting a desperate battle with the elements. Generotzky did not expect to be resuced. He lost his socks and cold pressed ever deeper into his body. His legs became numb. Floating oil burned his face and hands and forced its replusive way into his mouth. It took forty minutes to reach the dorsetshire and many lines had been thrown out to him. But in the trough of the waves he lost his hold and fell helplessly back into the cold bath. Several times he tried in vain. As more and more reached the ship, a struggle to survive broke out. In the scramble someone stepped on Generotzky's head and while he was under water a wave threw him against the ship's hull and he injuring his leg. Noticing that a British seaman aft were tying eyes in more lines, he floated to the surface in that direction, managed to get his foot through one of them, and clamped both hands on the line. Seaman pulled him on board.  Machinenobergefreiter Hans Springborn saw many men dive overboard headfirst, hit the bilge keel, and keep falling into the water with broken necks. he wasn't going to let that happen to him, so he slid down the hull from the upper deck to the bilge keel and jumped into the water from there. When the Bismarck rolled over on her side, strong currents pulled him under and he was violently whriled around before he mannaged to regain the surface. That experience told him to get away from the ship as fast as he could. After sometime he saw the British destroyer Maori and had the luck to drift over to her. After serveral tries he got hold of a line, and was hoisted to safety by two seamen. I racked my brain but the only was the horror that our men in the water hundereds of them before whose eyes the Dorsetshire was moving away, were being sentenced to death just when safety seemed within reach. My God what a narrow escape I had. There was nothing that a prisoner of war could do. After a while, we survivors were led to the wardroom, where we sat around a big table and were given hot tea. We were still not very talkative, but the tea helped. When we were finished. Kaptianleutnant Juanck, Oberfahnrich Zur See Hans Georg Stiegler, Nautischer Assistent Lothar Balzer and I-- just four of the Bismarck's ninety officers ---were taken aft to our allotted quaters. The eighty one petty officers and men were taken forward.  That afternoon we rested. I lay on my bunk in a strange state between waking and sleeping. I could not take in all the terrible things that happened in the last few hours. Did they really happen? So many good men had been lost. Why they and not I? As the senior-ranking survivor aboard, I received the next morning a hand written note fron Captain B.C.S Martin the commanding officer of the Dorsetshire. I will be glad if you visit your men this morning with my commander and then come to the bridge with him to see me.If there is anything you require for your personal needs let me know, I hope you slept well and feel none worse for swim. The time on the Dorsetshire passed quickly and on our 4th day 30th May, she arrived in Newcastle. The Maori had seperated from her at sea and had gone to clyde. The last time I talked with Commander Byas, he warned me that the army, which would take us into custody at Newcastle, would not treat as well as the Dorsetshire had. Naturally, he was right. From many peacetime associations. I was aware of the bond, between our two navies. Although we were then at war, this feeling came to the surface under certain circumstances. The fight that the Bismarck put up to the bitter end earned the admiration of British seamen, which proably accounts for good accommodations we were given and the way we were treated on board ship. The fact that Captain Martin may also have it just as good. The attitude of his crew was the same. The British seamen were always pleasant and helpful. " You  today us tomorrow." they said. The fact that Captain Martin was well treated as a prisoner of war in Germany in World One may have something to with fact. Their tommorrow was not long in coming. On August 4 1942 the Dorsetshire, under a new  commanding  officer Captain A.W.S. Agar, was sunk by Japanese bombs southwest of Ceylon. On the morning of May 31, the petty officers and the men were the first to dismbark. We officers followed and were piped over the side as the ship's watch presented arms, a cermony usually reserved for peacetime. Our journey to the prisoner of war camp had begun.  Many of  the wounded had died aboard ship and were commened to the deep. This is a survivors story and actual account of what happened on the Bismarck.

Prinz Eugen

Prinz Eugen was laid down in 1935. Launched 1937 and completed in January 1940. Prinz Eugen was one of the ships in the Admiral Von Hipper class. She was extermely powerful and heavily armed with both guns and Torpedoes. She also had anti Torpedo bulges on her hull.  She was in the Battle with the Bismarck and between the two ships sunk the Hms Hood within 5 minutes. It was the not  Hsm hood that sunk the Bismarck.  She very fortunate to have the Prinz Eugen there during the Battle. 

Technical specification for the Prinz Eugen.

Dimensions: 654 ft 6 in wl, 690 ft 4 in oax71 ft 25 ft 11 in max

Machinery: 3- shaft Brown - Boveri geared tubines  La Mont Boilers 132,000 shp= 32 knots

Amor: Belt 3.9 in- 5.9 in, deck 2.75 in turrets 4.7 in-5.5 in barbettes 5.5 in- 5.9 in

Armament: 8-8in/ 60 (4x2) 12-41 in dp (6x2) (4x3) 3 aircraft

Complement: Same As Above

Range: 6,800 mm

As you can see from the technical  specs on Prinz Eugen She was built for speed. Her speed was 32 knots but she made 33.4 knots during her trials. Which was very good. Although she was criticized for her range being short, The Admiral Von Hipper class seemed to have been generally regarded by The German Admiralty as more valuable than the simlar sixe deutchland Class.

The U-47 and the Sharnhorst.

Kaptian Prien of the U-47 meets up with the Sharnhorst after he leaves the Scapa Flow. The is a very rare picture of the two together. Another of our great U-Boot Kaptains and our great battleships seeing each other at the same time. They hail each other. I am very proud of this picture and to all the Kriegsmarines and the deutche Marines. Ich Liebe!

The Admiral Graff Speer

Another one of our great ships. That got sunk she was beautiful. She was named after Admiral Maximilian Von Speer. This picture her nad her crew relaxing in the sun enjoying themself before the storm hits. Her end is just as sad and heartfelt as the Bismarck when she sank and the Tirpitz and the Sharnhorst and the Gneisenau. The pride of the Kriegsmarines battleships. The kriegsmarines U-boots nothing but good can be said about them. God Bless our German Navy then and now. The Kriegsmarines and the Deutche Marines and thoes that Command them!

Facts about the Admiral Graf Spee

She had an outstanding record. What her and her crew did was nothing less than perfect. I am proud of you,Dankshane Ich Liebe! Now the facts. What made her and her crew great.

Admiral Graf Spee

October 1 1932- The keel of the Admiral Graf Spee was laid down in Reichmarinewerft in Wehelmshaven.  June 30 1934- Admiral Graf Spee is launched. January 5 1935- Admiral Graf Spee is commissioned. January through May 1936- Admiral Graf Speer undergoes her trial runs. June 1936- Admiral Graf Spee conducts various operations in the Atlantic Ocean. August 20 through October 9 1936- Admiral Graf Spee is involved in the first Spanish Operations for the Battleship. December 13th 1936 through Febuary 14 1937- Admiral Graf Spee takes part in the second Spanish Operation. March 2 through May 6 1937- Admiral Graf Spee is involved in the third Operation into Spanish waters. May 15 through May 22- Admiral Graf Spee is present to participate in International Fleet parade at Spithead. June 23 through August 7 1937- Admiral Graf Spee is involved in the fourth Spain Operation. Febuary 7 through febuary 18 1938- Admiral Graf Spee under goes training Operations around Norway. October through November 1938- Admiral Graf Spee is ordered to engage in the Atlantic ocean. April through May 1939- Admiral Graf Spee departs Welhelmshaven and moves toward south Atlantic.  September 11 through September 25- Admiral graf Spee is stationed about 800 miles to the west of Bahia. Setember 26 1939- Admiral Graf Spee receives orders to engage and attempt to sink any Allied merchant vessels. Setember 30 1939- Admiral Graf Spee sinks British steamer Clements, near Pernabuco. October 5 1939-Admiral Graf Spee succeeds in sinking the Newton beach. October 7 1939- Admiral Graf Spee sinks the Ashlea. October 10 1939- Admiral graf Spee succeeds in sinking Trevania. November 1939-Admrial graf Spee moves into the Indian Ocean, where she sinks a small british Steamer the Africa Shell. December 1939- Admiral graf  Spee sinks Doric Star. December 1939- Admiral graf Spee distoryers the Taioria. December 7 1939- Admiral graf Spee sinks Steronshaln. December 13 1939- Admiral Graf Spee spots British cruisers Exeter and Ajax, as well as Norwegian cruiser Achilles and engages. The Battleships scores hits on the Exeter, badly damaged the ship. Admiral graf Spee scores serveral hits on the other two cruisers as well, receiving serveral hits in retlation, most of which failed to pentrate the ships armor. December 14 1939- Admiral Graf Spee arrives in Motevideo around 0615 hours pending, reports that the Royal Navy was arriving in force nearby. Almost two hours later the Battleship is scuttled in La Platte Estuary.

This very sad as we lost another of our great ships and crew. I feel very sad and yes and when I read and these pictures of our losses I cry. I cried over the loss of all our U-boot crews and the loss of the Bismarck really made feel  very sad when I had to write the actual accounts I just broke down cried. On the pervious page is, a poem I wrote myself all about the Scapa Flow. So many lost that will never ever get to see home again.  To this very day it greatly sadens me. I am still in Mourning. Yes it still hurts as if it just happened yesterday, the wound is still fresh in my heart and always will be. Thoes I loved were lost. This is the only way I have to pay my respects to them. Ich Liebe mein herz hurts Ich vermissen. Als die masse benotist die sonne warend das Tages. Wir die sonne den mond nachts benotist. Sehen sie, was Ich sehen? Fine reflexion auf dem meer am sonnenuntergang. Fine reflexion des sternlights nach dem wasser nachts. Dunkelheist, aber schones diese reflexionem die letzten in kalten meer. Diese ist fur alle thoes, die unter den ozeantiefen parished. Ich Liebe!

Lieutenant Commander Guenther Prien 24 year old U-boot  Commander and the 41 members of his crew in theit Type VII U-boot. Their tatget being the North Sea in 150 feet 3 mile entry  to the Scapa Flow. The Giant British Naval Base. Guenther Prien was an instrument of Admiral Karl Dontiz. When Cammander Wellner arrived at Welhelmshaven he was  ordered to appear at once on board the flagship. He revelaed all his treasures to the fascinated U-boot chief. Dontiz got out his file and( requested one delt with Goering's Luftwaffe). A new servey of The Scapa Flow. Within a week he had it and could sit down to dream. If a small canoe could manage to do what Wellner had done and remain undiscovered what could a Type VII U-Boot do inthoes waters? Wellner had noticed that the patrol vessels were slow in getting in and out and that the interval while the nets and boomswere open much longer than the Germans would ever toerate in their home waters. He was sure a submarine or even a patrol craft could ever pass after a large ship had entered. And he noticed that the patrol craft seemed remarkable unalert just outside the fleet anchorage. For several days Admiral Donitz's quaters were turned intoma clutter of maps and charts photographs and reports. On October 13th at 6:45 am Admiral Donitz had chosen to breach the British defences at Scapa Flow assembled the  crew of the of the U-47 in the forward Torpedo room. The silence below was unearthly. The boat rocked a little on the soft bottom of the sea, and they had been long enough that it got hot in the glare of the greenish lamps behind their metal grills. The boat was sweating inside its pressure hull, as were the men.  The U-47 sunk the Royal Oak at 1:16 am. Kaptain Guenther Prien was liked by everyone. His crew liked him and looked up to him and respected him.  In life Guenther Prien was a very good person. 

Guenther Prien's U-Boot

U-47 was a Type VIIC U-boot. Of the Kriegsmarines. Kaptain Guenther Prine age 24.  Was the Pride of Admiral Karl Dontiz and he gave the order to Kaptian Geunther Prien to go through the Scapa flow located in the North Sea. Scapa Flow the impregnable deep water anchorage Okney Island it was a British Naval Base. Course 54 degrees  30 degrees North Lat. 7 degrees 42 degrees North Long. kaptain Geunther Prien was liked by all his crew and was a very undertstanding person and very caring about all his crew. They made it through the scapa flow to bring vital information. Later on The Sharnhorst and the Gneisenau and the Bismarck went through the Scapa flow.  So did other U-boot crews also the Prinz Eugen went through the scapa flow to. Thank You Geuthner Prien.