British and German Naval Strenght.

Naval Strenght of Germany and Great Britain on September 1939


Germany

Battleships: 4
Pocket battleships: 3
Light cruisers: 6
Heavy cruisers: 4
Destroyers: 25
Torpedo boats: 17
Carriers: -
TOTAL: 59
Submarines: 98

Great Britain

Battleships: 18
Pocket battleships: -
Light cruisers: 62
Heavy cruisers: 15
Destroyers: 205
Torpedo boats: 39
Carriers: 10
TOTAL: 349
Submarines: 70

 

Merchant Ships sunk by Germany


1939

September: 29
October: 21
November: 22
December: 23

1940

January: 24
February: 21
March: 13
April: 19
May: 31
June: 61
July: 64
August: 56
September: 62
October: 63
November: 73
December: 61

1941

January: 75
February: 100
March: 139
April: 154
May: 126

TOTAL: 1.237

 

Very interesting figures! Do you know where all those ships were located on the first of September.

 

1939 off course.

 

No, I don't. But I have more interesting figures:

On September 3rd 1939, U-30 of Julius Lemp torpedoed and sank the 13.500 tons transatlantic RMS Athenia because it was thought to be an armed merchant cruiser. 112 lives were lost.

On september 17th 1939, the aircraft carrier HMS Corageous is torpedoed and sunk by U-29 of Otto Schuhart.

On October 4th 1939, the battleship HMS Royal Oak is torpedoed and sunk in its base at Scapa Flow by U-47 of Günther Prien. 786 of its sailors die. Also, Günther Prien and his tripulation become the first to sink 200.000 tons of shipping.

U-48 of Herbert Schultze is the first to sink 100.000 tons. Just in 1941 they sank 10 vessels and the armed merchant cruiser HMS Forfar, along with U-99 of Otto Kretschmer on December 2nd 1940.

 

The Queen Elizabeth Class battleship HMS Barham was damaged on December 28th 1939 by Julius Lemp's U-30 and was finally sunk in November 25th 1941 by Hans Diedrich Freiherr von Tiesenhausen U-331. (Everybody should have seen the film in which HMS Barham to port side and blows up).

On November 13th 1941, 22.000 tons aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal was torpedoed and sunk by Friedrich Guggenberger's U-81.

On December 21st 1941, the 11.000 tons aircraft carrier HMS Audacity was torpedoed and sunk by Gerhard Bigalk's U-751.

Just a few days before, on December 19th 1941, the destroyer HMS Stanley was sunk by Dietrich Gengelbach's U-574. A few hours later, U-574 was depth-charged and when it went out to the surface it was rammed and sunk by the destroyer HMS Stork.

 

Thanks for this information. I will geave the top 5 of the U-Boats that sunk the most tonnages.

 

Commander Patrols Ships sunk Ships damaged

1. Wolfgang Lüth 15 patrols 46 ships (225.204 tons) 2 ships (17.343 tons)

2. Otto Kretschmer 16 patrols 40 ships (208.869 tons) 8 ships (55.614 tons)

3. Erich Topp 12 patrols 34 ships (197.200 tons) 4 ships (32.317 tons)

4. Heinrich Liebe 9 patrols 34 ships (187.267 tons) 1 ship (3.670 tons)

5. Viktor Schütze 7 patrols 35 ships (180.073 tons) 2 ships (14.213 tons)

6. Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock 10 patrols 24 ships (170.237 tons) 3 ships (24.752 tons)

7. Karl-Friedrich Merten 5 patrols 27 ships (170.151 tons)

8. Herbert Schultze 8 patrols 26 ships (169.709 tons) 1 ship (9.456 tons)

9. Günther Prien 10 patrols 30 ships (162.768 tons) 8 ships (62.751 tons)

10. Heinrich Bleichrodt 8 patrols 26 ships (157.897 tons) 2 ships (11.684 tons)

11. Georg Lassen 4 patrols 26 ships (156.082 tons) 5 ships (34.419 tons)

12. Joachim Schepke 14 patrols 36 ships (153.677 tons) 5 ships (19.434 tons)

13. Carl Emmermann 5 patrols 26 ships (152.778 tons)

14. Robert Gysae 8 patrols 24 ships (136.266 tons) 1 ship (2.588 tons)

15. Werner Henke 7 patrols 21 ships (131.769 tons) 4 ships (13.972 tons)

16. Johann Mohr 6 patrols 27 ships (129.292 tons) 3 ships (26.167 tons)

17. Adolf Cornelius Piening 8 patrols 25 ships (126.664 tons) 1 ship (6.736 tons)

18. Helmut Witte 4 patrols 23 ships (119.684 tons) 1 ship (265 tons)

19. Reinhard Hardegen 5 patrols 22 ships (115.805 tons) 5 ships (46.500 tons)

20. Werner Hartmann 4 patrols 26 ships (115.338 tons)

21. Ernst Bauer 5 patrols 24 ships (111.664 tons) 5 ships (38.300 tons)

22. Klaus Scholtz 8 patrols 24 ships (111.546 tons)

23. Ernst Kals 5 patrols 17 ships (111.249 tons) 1 ship (6.986 tons)

24. Hans Jenisch 6 patrols 17 ships (110.139 tons) 3 ships (22.749 tons)

25. Günter Hessler 3 patrols 19 ships (108.411 tons)

26. Richard Zapp 5 patrols 16 ships (106.200 tons) 1 ship (12.502 tons)

27. Victor Oehrn 4 patrols 23 ships (103.821 tons) 1 ship (9.494 tons)

28. Jürgen Oesten 13 patrols 19 ships (101.741 tons) 4 ships (51.668 tons)

29. Erwin Rostin 2 patrols 17 ships (101.321 tons) 2 ships (15.264 tons)

30. Hans-Ludwig Witt 3 patrols 19 ships (100.773 tons)

31. Harald Gelhaus 11 patrols 19 ships (100.373 tons) 1 ship (10.068 tons)


On 230 war patrols these 31 men sank 792 ships for a total of 4.333.968 tons.