GUNTHER PRIEN
(1908 - 1941) Germany's first U-Boat ace who snuck his U-47 into the British anchorage at Scapa Flow and sank the Royal Oak with a huge loss of life. He went on to sink a total of 28 merchant ships before meeting his end in a depth charge attack. Excellent, very rare signed original painting by Prien, 10 1/2" x 7" matted to 12 1/2" x 9 1/2" bearing captions by Prien as well. Using a black ink wash, Prien has executed a dramatic naval encounter of World War I showing four vessels, a German battleship in the foreground and a sinking vessel in the distance at left. At bottom, Prien captions his artwork on the mount (in German): "The Battle of Skagerrak [Jutland] German heavy battleship destroys an English armored cruiser." Signed "Prien" at lower-left, though a bit difficult to distinguish due to the dark background. Mat lightly soiled, else near fine. Set into a simple frame. Although the British Navy lost more men and ships at Jutland, the German Navy was never in a position again to put to sea during the war.