Largest U-boat victims


HMS Barham sinking after U-331's torpedo hits

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

Merchant ships

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 (Brüller)
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).