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Unterseeboot 36 (usually abbreviated to U-36) was a German Type VIIA submarine of the Kriegsmarine built for service in the Second World War. She was constructed in the earliest days of the U-boat arm of the Kriegsmarine at Kiel in 1936, and served in the pre-war Navy in the Baltic Sea and North Sea under her pre-war captain Klaus Ewert. In October 1938, Wilhelm Fröhlich took command and continued in the role until his death when the boat was lost.

War Patrols

The U-36 departed Kiel early on the 13 August 1939 for her first patrol, in anticipation of the oncoming outbreak of war. This she recieved soon afterwards, and patrolled the North Sea for a month, hoping to catch ships travelling between Britain and Scandinavia carrying war supplies. In this role, she sank two steamers, one British, the other a neutral Swede carrying British produce. SHe returned to her berth at Kiel at the end of September, where she remained until December.

In December, the U-36 departed on her second war patrol, intending to catch British shipping trading with Norway. It was whilst lurking on the surface near the Norwegian port of Stavanger that U-36 was spotted, two days out of Wilhelmshaven by the British submarine HMS Salmon. Salmon then fired one torpedo at her unwitting counterpart, sinking her and all 40 of the sailors aboard.

Raiding Career

References

• Sharpe, Peter, U-Boat Fact File, Midland Publishing, Great Britain: 1998. ISBN 185780072.
• U-boat.net webpage for U-36

• See Also: List of U-boats
• For other submarines with this designation, see Unterseeboot 36