German submarine U-36 (1936)

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 while surfaced and when submerged. She was in overall length and had a pressure hull. U-36s propulsion consisted of two MAN 6-cylinder 4-stroke M6V 40/46 diesel engines that totaled . 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 . Their maximum rpm was 322. These engines gave U-36 a total speed of while surfaced and when submerged. This resulted in a range of while traveling at on the surface and at when submerged. The U-boat's test depth was but she could go as deep as without having her hull crushed. U-36s armament consisted of five 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 FlaK 30| anti-aircraft gun. ==Service history==

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, and —one British and the other from neutral Sweden—carrying British produce. , 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, , which he proceeded to escort back to Germany as the patrol came to an end. Second war patrol On 17 November 1939, Naval High Command (SKL) issued orders for U-36 and 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. During the same patrol, the Salmon also torpedoed the light cruisers and . 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. ==Summary of raiding history==