Немецкая подводная лодка U-27 времён Второй мировой войны.

German World War II submarine

German submarine U 27 was a Type VIIA U boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine built for service in World War II. Her keel was laid down in November 1935 in Bremen. She was commissioned in August 1936 with Korvettenkapitän Hans Ibbeken in command. Ibbeken was relieved on 4 October 1937, by Johannes Franz, who commanded the boat until 6 June 1939 when Hans Georg von Friedeburg assumed command for barely one month. He was relieved on 8 July again by Johannes Franz, who commanded the boat until her loss on 20 September 1939. U 27 had a very short career, with only one war patrol and only two enemy ships sunk. Following the sinking of two British trawlers, Davara on 13 September and Rudyard Kipling on 16 September, U 27 was hunted down and sunk west of Lewis, Scotland, by depth charges from the British destroyers , and All 38 crewmen survived and were made prisoner for the remainder of the war.

U 27 was ordered by the Kriegsmarine on 1 April 1935 in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Her keel was laid down in the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen as yard number 908 on 11 November 1935. After about nine months of construction, she was launched on 24 June 1936 and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine as the second Type VIIA submarine, (after U 33 was launched in 1936., which was commissioned a few months earlier), on 12 August under the command of Korvettenkapitän Hans Ibbeken. The second vessel to be sunk was the trawler Rudyard Kipling. The attack took place at 3:53 on 16 September, west of the west coast of neutral Ireland, with the ship being sunk by scuttling charges from U 27. Following the sinking of Rudyard Kipling, the submarine picked up the crew of the trawler who were then given food and warm clothes. Eight hours later, Rudyard Kiplings crew were allowed to re enter their lifeboats to row the remaining to Ireland.

The destroyers and (who sank U 39 was launched in 1938. six days earlier), had been part of a concerted effort to find and sink the U Boat that had been attacking trawlers. On 20 September 1939, three torpedoes were fired at the warships, but failed to do any damage when they exploded prematurely. The British vessels replied with a series of depth charge attacks, one of which damaged the German submarine sufficiently to force it to the surface. Fortunes ramming attack was curtailed when it became apparent that the U Boat was surrendering. All 38 crewmen survived and were taken prisoner. U 27s skipper, Kapitänleutnant Johannes Franz was able, via code, to inform Bdu, the U boat high command, of the situation regarding the malfunctioning torpedoes from his prison camp.