German submarine U-36 (1936)

German submarine U-36 was a Type VIIA U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine which served during World War II. She was constructed in the earliest days of the U-boat arm at Kiel in 1936, and served in the pre-war Navy in the Baltic Sea and North Sea under Kapitänleutnant (Kptlt.) Klaus Ewerth. Korvettenkapitän (K.Kapt.) Wilhelm Fröhlich took command in October 1938 and continued in the role until the boat was lost.

During her service, U-36 undertook three patrols (1 pre-war and 2 war), but was sunk by a torpedo fired by HMS Salmon (N65). She was lost with all hands.

Construction
U-36 was ordered by the Kriegsmarine on 25 March 1935 as part of the German Plan Z and in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Her keel was laid down in the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen as yard number 559 on 2 March 1936. After about eight months of construction, she was launched on 4 November 1936 and commissioned on 16 December under the command of Kptlt. Klaus Ewerth.

Design
Like all Type VIIA submarines, U-36 displaced 626 t while surfaced and 745 t when submerged. She was 64.51 m in overall length and had a 45.50 m pressure hull. U-36's propulsion consisted of two MAN 6-cylinder 4-stroke M6V 40/46 diesel engines that totaled 2100 –. Her maximum rpm was between 470 and 485. The submarine was also equipped with two Brown, Boveri & Cie GG UB 720/8 electric motors that totaled 750 PS. Their maximum rpm was 322. These engines gave U-36 a total speed of 17 kn while surfaced and 8 kn when submerged. This resulted in a range of 6,200 nmi while traveling at 10 kn on the surface and 73 – at 4 kn when submerged. The U-boat's test depth was 220 m but she could go as deep as 230 – without having her hull crushed.

U-36's armament consisted of five 53.3 cm torpedo tubes (four located in the bow and one in the stern). She could have up to 11 torpedoes on board or 22 TMA or 33 TMB mines. U-36 was also equipped with a 8.8 cm SK C/35 naval gun and had 220 rounds for it stowed on board. Her anti-aircraft defenses consisted of one 2 cm anti-aircraft gun.

First war patrol
U-36 was at sea when the war broke out, having set out from Wilhelmshaven on 31 August 1939. She arrived in Kiel on 6 September and the following day departed for her first war patrol. She then patrolled the North Sea for three weeks, hoping to catch ships traveling between Britain and Scandinavia carrying war supplies. During this patrol, the boat sank two steamers, SS Truro and SS Silesia—one British and the other from neutral Sweden—carrying British produce.

HMS Seahorse (98S), a British submarine, later fired on U-36 and subsequently claimed to have sunk her, although in fact the torpedo missed. On 27 September Fröhlich and his crew captured another Swedish vessel, SS Algeria, which he proceeded to escort back to Germany as the patrol came to an end. She returned to her berth in Kiel at the end of September, where she remained until December.

Second war patrol
On 17 November 1939, Naval High Command (SKL) issued orders for U-36 and GS U-38 (1938) to scout the location for Basis Nord, a secret German naval base for raids on Allied shipping located off the Kola Peninsula and provided by the Soviet Union. The mission required coded messages to be flashed to Soviet naval vessels patrolling the area preceding a Soviet escort to the prospective base location.

However, U-36 never left the Norwegian Sea. On 4 December 1939, two days out of Wilhelmshaven, she was spotted on the surface near the Norwegian port of Stavanger by the British submarine HMS Salmon (N65). Salmon then fired one torpedo at her unwitting counterpart. It sank U-36, all 40 of the sailors aboard were lost. During the same patrol, the Salmon also torpedoed the light cruisers GERMAN CRUISER Leipzig and GERMAN CRUISER Nürnberg.

Following the loss of U-36, U-38 continued towards the Kola Peninsula, successfully reaching the location and accomplished the scouting mission for Basis Nord.