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).
| Date | Name of vessel and U-boat responsible |
| 28 Oct, 1940 | Empress of Britain (42.348 GRT) a steam passenger ship sunk by U-32 (Jenisch) |
| 21 Dec, 1942 | Strathallan (23.722 GRT) a troop transport sunk by U-562 (Hamm) |
| 10 Oct, 1942 | Orcades (23.456 GRT) a troop transport sunk by U-172 (Emmermann) |
| 7 Mar, 1941 | Terje Viken (20.638 GRT) a whale factory ship sunk by U-99 (Kretschmer) |
| 6 Jun, 1940 | HMS Carinthia (20.277 GRT) an Armed Merchant Cruiser sunk by U-46 (Endrass) |
| 10 Oct, 1942 | Duchess of Atholl (20.119 GRT) a steam passenger ship sunk by U-178 (Ibbeken) |
| 14 Nov, 1942 | Warwick Castle (20.107 GRT) a troop transport sunk by U-413 (Poel) |
| 12 Sep, 1942 | Laconia (19.695 GRT) a troop transport sunk by U-156 (Hartenstein) |
| 11 Nov, 1942 | Viceroy of India (19.627 GRT) a troop transport sunk by U-407 (Brüller) |
| 3 Nov, 1940 | HMS Laurentic (F 51) (18.724 GRT) an Armed Merchant Cruiser sunk by U-99 (Kretschmer) |
| 7 Dec, 1942 | Ceramic (18.713 GRT) a steam passenger ship sunk by U-515 (Henke) |
| 13 Jun, 1940 | HMS Scotstoun (17.046 GRT) an Armed Merchant Cruiser sunk by U-25 (Beduhn) |
| 17 Mar, 1944 | Dempo (17.024 GRT) a troop transport sunk by U-371 (Mehl) |
| 29 Oct, 1942 | Kosmos II (16.966 GRT) a whale factory ship sunk by U-624 (Soden-Fraunhofen) |
| 10 Aug, 1940 | HMS Transylvania (F 56) (16.923 GRT) an Armed Merchant Cruiser sunk by U-56 (Harms) |
| 13 Apr, 1941 | HMS Rajputana (F 35) (16.644 GRT) an Armed Merchant Cruiser sunk by U-108 (Scholtz) |
| 2 Dec, 1940 | HMS Forfar (F 30) (16.402 GRT) an Armed Merchant Cruiser sunk by U-99 (Kretschmer) |
| 8 Sep, 1944 | Empire Heritage (15.702 GRT) a steam tanker sunk by U-482 (Matuschka) |
| 2 Jul, 1940 | Arandora Star (15.501 GRT) a steam passenger ship sunk by U-47 (Prien) |
| 3 Feb, 1942 | Amerikaland (15.355 GRT) a motor merchant sunk by U-106 (Rasch) |
| 27 Aug, 1940 | HMS 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.
| Date | Name of vessel and U-boat responsible |
| 25 Nov, 1941 | HMS Barham (04) (31.100 tons) a battleship sunk by U-331 (Tiesenhausen) |
| 14 Oct, 1939 | HMS Royal Oak (08) (29.150 tons) a battleship sunk by U-47 (Prien) |
| 13 Nov, 1941 | HMS Ark Royal (91) (22.600 tons) an aircraft carrier sunk by U-81 (Guggenberger) |
| 11 Aug, 1942 | HMS Eagle (94) (22.600 tons) an aircraft carrier sunk by U-73 (Rosenbaum) |
| 17 Sep, 1939 | HMS Courageous (50) (22.500 tons) an aircraft carrier sunk by U-29 (Schuhart) |
| 15 Nov, 1942 | HMS Avenger (D 14) (13.785 tons) a escort carrier sunk by U-155 (Piening) |
| 21 Dec, 1941 | HMS Audacity (D 10) (11.000 tons) a escort carrier sunk by U-751 (Bigalk) |
| 29 May, 1944 | USS Block Island (CVE 21) (9.393 tons) a escort carrier sunk by U-549 (Krankenhagen) |
| 11 Mar, 1942 | HMS Naiad (93) (5.450 tons) a light cruiser sunk by U-565 (Jebsen) |
| 16 Jun, 1942 | HMS Hermione (74) (5.450 tons) a Light cruiser sunk by U-205 (Reschke) |
| 18 Feb, 1944 | HMS Penelope (97) (5.270 tons) a light cruiser sunk by U-410 (Fenski) |
| 15 Dec, 1941 | HMS Galatea (71) (5.220 tons) a light cruiser sunk by U-557 (Paulshen) |
| 24 Nov, 1941 | HMS 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) | |