Taking on a list of 15 degrees, her open portholes were submerged, worsening the flooding and increasing the list to 45 degrees Royal Oak sank within 15 minutes with the loss of over 800 men. After reloading the bow tubes the last salvo of three torpedoes struck the British warship, causing severe flooding. Her first two salvos did nothing more than sever an anchor chain. Once she had spotted Royal Oak, she opened fire with her torpedoes. Although most of the Home Fleet was not at the base at the time, U-47 managed to find a target, the battleship HMS Royal Oak. On October 14th, 1939, (six days after leaving port), she succeeded in penetrating the Royal Navy's primary base at Scapa Flow. Historical Account: "The Bull of Scapa Flow" - On October 8th, 1939, U-47 began her second patrol. Pictured here is a 1:350 scale replica of a German Kriegsmarine Type VIIB U-Boat. Submarines of the Type VII were the most widely used boats of the war and were the most produced submarine class in history, with over 700 built. The design of the Type I was however further used in the development of the Type VII and Type IX. The production of Type I was cut down only after two boats, the reasons for this are not certain and range from political decisions to faults of the type. These designs led to the Type VII along with Type I, the latter being built in AG Weser shipyard in Bremen, Germany. Type VII was based on earlier German submarine designs, designed through the Dutch dummy company Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw den Haag (I.v.S) (set up by Germany after World War I in order to maintain and develop German submarine know-how and to circumvent the limitations set by the Treaty of Versailles) and built by shipyards around the world the Finnish Vetehinen class and Spanish Type E-1. Type VII U-boats were the workhorses of the German World War II U-boot-waffe. Grand Admiral Karl Donitz, Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, May 24th, 1943 The enemy air force played a decisive role in inflicting these high losses." Atlas Editions ATL7169101 German Kriegsmarine Type VIIB U-Boat - U-47, Germany, 1939 (1:350 Scale) "Our losses have reached an intolerable level.
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