| abstract | - Its longest serving captain was Max Valentiner, who was awarded the Pour le Mérite while in command of U-38. Valentiner was in command of U-38 in November and December 1915 when she sank the passenger liners SS Ancona and SS Persia; both were controversial since the ships were sunk by torpedoes without warning, in defiance of the then-current Prize rules, which stated that merchant vessels carrying passengers be given an opportunity to evacuate their passengers before being sunk. Valentiner was succeeded as commander of U-38 by Wilhelm Canaris, who later went on to become an Admiral and head of the Abwehr from 1935 to 1944.
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