G%C3%BCnther Prien

Gnther Prien was a German Uboat ace of the first part of the Second World War, and the first Uboat commander to receive the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross and the first member of the Kriegsmarine to receive the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. The Knights Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. It was Germanys highest military decoration at the time of its presentation to Gnther Prien.

Prien was one of three children of a judge. Born in Osterfeld, Prussian Province of Saxony and after his parents divorced raised in Leipzig, Prien joined the Handelsmarine in mid1923, studying for three months at the Seamans College in Finkenwerder in Hamburg, before going to sea as a cabin boy on the full rigged threemaster Hamburg. His first voyage touched at the Azores, Pensacola, Hobart and Falmouth. While sailing to Cork in October 1925, the ship was caught in a storm and ran aground near Dublin. The vessel was abandoned and later declared a wreck. Prien and the crew were taken to Bremerhaven and then Hamburg, where Prien was given his papers as seaman and found the cost of items he had drawn on board exceeded his six months wages.

Source: Wikipedia