During the war German U-boats planted over 100 small minefields. The Battleship HMS Nelson (28) was hit by a mine and seriously damaged on 4 Dec laid by U-31 on 27 Oct 1939. Nelson was badly damaged and under repairs until June 1940. The light cruiser HMS Belfast (35) was damaged on 21 Nov 1939 by mine laid by U-21 on 4 Nov 1939. HMS Belfast was so badly damaged she was rebuilt until Dec 1942.
Most successful Minelaying operations
U-boat | Commander | Ships | Tons | Departure | Arrival |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
U-31 | Kptlt. Johannes Habekost | 3 | 34,110 | 21 Oct 1939 | 31 Oct 1939 |
U-30 | Kptlt. Fritz-Julius Lemp | 6 | 33,182 | 23 Dec 1939 | 17 Jan 1940 |
U-701 | Kptlt. Horst Degen | 5 | 31,607 | 20 May 1942 | 7 Jul 1942 |
U-118 | KrvKpt. Werner Czygan | 6 | 26,934 | 25 Jan 1943 | 26 Feb 1943 |
U-13 | Kptlt. Karl Daublebsky von Eichhain | 3 | 22,203 | 2 Sep 1939 | 6 Sep 1939 |
U-32 | Kptlt. Paul Büchel | 2 | 17,525 | 5 Sep 1939 | 30 Sep 1939 |
U-26 | Kptlt. Klaus Ewerth | 3 | 17,414 | 29 Aug 1939 | 26 Sep 1939 |
U-561 | Kptlt. Robert Bartels | 3 | 15,797 | 4 Apr 1942 | 5 May 1942 |
U-117 | KrvKpt. Hans-Werner Neumann | 2 | 14,269 | 31 Mar 1943 | 13 May 1943 |
U-21 | Kptlt. Fritz Frauenheim | 2 | 13,766 | 22 Oct 1939 | 8 Nov 1939 |
This table shows ships sunk or damaged by mines during each patrol.
Allied tonnage sunk by U-boats mines
Year | Ships sunk | Ships damaged | Operations | U-boats | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1939 | 27 | 75,420 GRT | 6 | 78,311 GRT | 23 | 19 |
1940 | 17 | 81,430 GRT | 2 | 13,959 GRT | 11 | 10 |
1941 | 1 | 2,879 GRT | 0 | 0 GRT | 2 | 1 |
1942 | 9 | 24,140 GRT | 7 | 28,334 GRT | 22 | 17 |
1943 | 17 | 48,772 GRT | 6 | 41,051 GRT | 36 | 22 |
1944 | 2 | 1,682 GRT | 1 | 7,177 GRT | 16 | 11 |
1945 | 1 | 200 GRT | 0 | 0 GRT | 2 | 2 |
74 | 234,523 GRT | 22 | 168,832 GRT | 112 |
During the war 96 ships of 403,355 GRT were hit by mines laid by German U-boats.
Map of ships hit by U-boat mines
Please note that we only show the locations of ship losses where we have accurate position for (96 ships).
Legend
1939.
1940.
1941.
1942.
1943.
1944.
1945.
Click on any marker to see the detail on mine hit. Left double-click to zoom-in. Right double-click to zoom-out.