Ships hit by U-boats in WWII

Largest ships hit by U-boats


The Swedish Motor merchant Amerikaland. She was hit by U-106 (Hermann Rasch) on 3 Feb 1942.


Since the tonnage between merchants and warships cannot be directly compared this list is shown in parts.

Largest Merchants ships hit by U-boat

Allied merchant ships of 15,000 GRT and more sunk by German U-boats during the Second World War. This list includes auxiliary warships such as armed merchant cruisers (AMC's).

DateName of vessel and U-boat responsible
28 Oct 1940Empress of Britain (42,348 GRT)
a steam passenger ship sunk by U-32 (Jenisch)
21 Dec 1942Strathallan (23,722 GRT)
a troop transport sunk by U-562 (Hamm)
10 Oct 1942Orcades (23,456 GRT)
a troop transport sunk by U-172 (Emmermann)
7 Mar 1941Terje Viken (20,638 GRT)
a whale factory ship sunk by U-99 (Kretschmer)
6 Jun 1940HMS Carinthia (20,277 GRT)
an Armed Merchant Cruiser sunk by U-46 (Endrass)
10 Oct 1942Duchess of Atholl (20,119 GRT)
a steam passenger ship sunk by U-178 (Ibbeken)
14 Nov 1942Warwick Castle (20,107 GRT)
a troop transport sunk by U-413 (Poel)
12 Sep 1942Laconia (19,695 GRT)
a troop transport sunk by U-156 (Hartenstein)
11 Nov 1942Viceroy of India (19,627 GRT)
a troop transport sunk by U-407 (BrĂ¼ller)
3 Nov 1940HMS Laurentic (F 51) (18,724 GRT)
an Armed Merchant Cruiser sunk by U-99 (Kretschmer)
7 Dec 1942Ceramic (18,713 GRT)
a steam passenger ship sunk by U-515 (Henke)
13 Jun 1940HMS Scotstoun (17,046 GRT)
an Armed Merchant Cruiser sunk by U-25 (Beduhn)
17 Mar 1944Dempo (17,024 GRT)
a troop transport sunk by U-371 (Mehl)
29 Oct 1942Kosmos II (16,966 GRT)
a whale factory ship sunk by U-624 (Soden-Fraunhofen)
10 Aug 1940HMS Transylvania (F 56) (16,923 GRT)
an Armed Merchant Cruiser sunk by U-56 (Harms)
13 Apr 1941HMS Rajputana (F 35) (16,644 GRT)
an Armed Merchant Cruiser sunk by U-108 (Scholtz)
2 Dec 1940HMS Forfar (F 30) (16,402 GRT)
an Armed Merchant Cruiser sunk by U-99 (Kretschmer)
8 Sep 1944Empire Heritage (15,702 GRT)
a steam tanker sunk by U-482 (Matuschka)
2 Jul 1940Arandora Star (15,501 GRT)
a steam passenger ship sunk by U-47 (Prien)
3 Feb 1942Amerikaland (15,355 GRT)
a motor merchant sunk by U-106 (Rasch)
27 Aug 1940HMS Dunvegan Castle (15,007 GRT)
an Armed Merchant Cruiser sunk by U-46 (Endrass)

21 ships larger than 15,000 GRT sunk (409,996 total GRT)

Warships

Warships of 4,000 tons and more sunk by German U-boats during the Second World War.

DateName of vessel and U-boat responsible
25 Nov 1941HMS Barham (04) (31,100 tons)
a battleship sunk by U-331 (Tiesenhausen)
14 Oct 1939HMS Royal Oak (08) (29,150 tons)
a battleship sunk by U-47 (Prien)
13 Nov 1941HMS Ark Royal (91) (22,600 tons)
an aircraft carrier sunk by U-81 (Guggenberger)
11 Aug 1942HMS Eagle (94) (22,600 tons)
an aircraft carrier sunk by U-73 (Rosenbaum)
17 Sep 1939HMS Courageous (50) (22,500 tons)
an aircraft carrier sunk by U-29 (Schuhart)
15 Nov 1942HMS Avenger (D 14) (13,785 tons)
a escort carrier sunk by U-155 (Piening)
21 Dec 1941HMS Audacity (D 10) (11,000 tons)
a escort carrier sunk by U-751 (Bigalk)
29 May 1944USS Block Island (CVE 21) (9,393 tons)
a escort carrier sunk by U-549 (Krankenhagen)
11 Mar 1942HMS Naiad (93) (5,450 tons)
a light cruiser sunk by U-565 (Jebsen)
16 Jun 1942HMS Hermione (74) (5,450 tons)
a Light cruiser sunk by U-205 (Reschke)
18 Feb 1944HMS Penelope (97) (5,270 tons)
a light cruiser sunk by U-410 (Fenski)
15 Dec 1941HMS Galatea (71) (5,220 tons)
a light cruiser sunk by U-557 (Paulshen)
24 Nov 1941HMS Dunedin (D 93) (4,850 tons)
a light cruiser sunk by U-124 (Mohr)

13 warships larger than 4,000 tons sunk (188,368 total tons).