FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Who informed you of that command as C. O. of the U-boat flotilla?
DÖNITZ: Admiral Raeder.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Did Admiral Raeder on that occasion issue the order that the U-boat arm should be prepared for a specific war?
DÖNITZ: No. I merely received the order to fill in that gap from 1918, to train the U-boats for the first time in cruising, submersion, and firing.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Did you prepare the U-boats for war against merchant shipping?
DÖNITZ: Yes. I instructed the commanders as to how they should behave if they stopped a merchantman and I also issued an appropriate tactical order for each commander.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: Do you mean to say that the preparation for war against merchantmen was a preparation for war according to Prize Regulations?
DÖNITZ: Yes.
FLOTTENRICHTER KRANZBÜHLER: That is to say, the preparations were concerned with the stopping of ships on the surface?
DÖNITZ: The only instruction which I gave concerning the war against merchantmen was an instruction on how the U-boat should behave in the stopping and examining, the establishing of the destination and so on, of a merchantman. Later, I believe in the year 1938, when the draft of the German Prize Regulations came, I passed this on to the flotillas for the instruction of the commanders.