German submarine U-27 (1936)

U-33, a typical Type VIIA boat
History
Nazi Germany
Name:	U-27
Ordered:	1 April 1935
Builder:	DeSchiMAG AG Weser, Bremen
Cost:	4,189,000 Reichsmark
Yard number:	908
Laid down:	11 November 1935
Launched:	24 June 1936
Commissioned:	12 August 1936
Fate:	Sunk by British warships, 20 September 1939
General characteristics
Class and type:	Type VIIA submarine
Displacement:	626 tonnes (616 long tons) surfaced 745 t (733 long tons) submerged
Length:	64.51 m (211 ft 8 in) o/a 45.50 m (149 ft 3 in) pressure hull
Beam:	5.85 m (19 ft 2 in) o/a 4.70 m (15 ft 5 in) pressure hull
Height:	9.50 m (31 ft 2 in)
Draught:	4.37 m (14 ft 4 in)
Installed power:	2,100–2,310 PS (1,540–1,700 kW; 2,070–2,280 bhp) (diesels) 750 PS (550 kW; 740 shp) (electric)
Propulsion:	2 shafts 2 × diesel engines 2 × electric motors
Range:	6,200 nmi (11,500 km; 7,100 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced 73–94 nmi (135–174 km; 84–108 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged
Test depth:	220 m (720 ft) Crush depth: 230–250 m (750–820 ft)
Complement:	4 officers, 40–56 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems:	Gruppenhorchgerät
Armament:	5 × 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes (four bow, one stern) 11 × torpedoes or 26 × TMA or 39 × TMB tube-launched mines 1 × 8.8 cm (3.46 in) deck gun (220 rounds) 1 × 2 cm (0.79 in) AA gun (4,380 rounds)
Service record
Part of:	2nd U-boat Flotilla 12 August 1936 – 20 September 1939
Identification codes:	M 08 129
Commanders:	K.Kapt. Hans Ibbeken 12 August 1936 – 4 October 1937 Kapt.z.S. Johannes Franz 5 October 1937 – 5 June 1939 Kapt.z.S. Hans-Georg von Friedeburg 6 June – 8 July 1939 Kapt.z.S. Johannes Franz 8 July – 20 September 1939
Operations:	One: 23 August – 20 September 1939
Victories:	Two commercial ships sunk (624 GRT)

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 HMS Fortune, Faulknor and Forester. 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 as part of 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 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, which was commissioned a few months earlier), on 12 August under the command of Korvettenkapitän Hans Ibbeken.