During the First World War, U-boats of the German Imperial Navy () and the Austro-Hungarian Navy () sank over 6,000 Allied and neutral ships totaling over 14,200,000 tons.Gibson and Prendergast, pp. 380, 382. Many additional ships that are not included in those totals were damaged, but were able to return to service after repairs. This list contains the approximately 100 ships over 10,000 tons that were either damaged or sunk by U-boats by torpedoes, submarine-laid mines, gunfire, or other means.
List Ships listed are presented in descending order on the tonnage figure. Those that were damaged are indicated with an asterisk after their names. Three ships—, , and —appear on the list twice. Justicia was damaged by on 19 July 1918 and sunk while under tow the following day by . Celtic was damaged by and in separate incidents in February 1917 and March 1918, respectively. Southland was seriously damaged by in September 1915 and sunk by in June 1917. All U-boats listed are German unless otherwise noted in the table.
Kapitänleutnant (Kptlt.) Otto Weddigen in sank three Royal Navy cruisers that appear on the list—, , and —in a little more than an hour during the action of 22 September 1914.Gibson and Prendergast, pp. 7–9. The first three victims of UB-14s career—the , the British troopship , and the troopship (which was seriously damaged) in July, August, and September 1915, respectively—are all on the list.
Four U-boat commanders appear four or more times on the list. Kptlt. Hans Rose in sank two ships and damaged two others between June 1917 and April 1918, while Kptlt. Otto Steinbrinck in did the same between March and July 1917. Between October 1916 and October 1918, Kptlt. Wolfgang Steinbauer sank three ships on the list in and damaged a fourth in . Kptlt. Gustav Sieß—responsible for sinking the largest ship on the list, the hospital ship struck a mine and sunk (the younger sister ship of and )—topped the list with five entries, four (including Britannic) sunk in and a fifth sunk in , all between April 1916 and April 1917. Other notable commanders that appear on the list are Kptlt. Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière (three times) who sank the most tonnage of any submarine commander ever,Tarrant, p. 146. and Linienschiffsleutnant Georg Ritter von Trapp of the Austro-Hungarian Navy (two times), known as the patriarch of the family made famous in The Sound of Music and its subsequent film adaptation.
+Largest ships hit by U-boats in World War IShipTypeNationalityMerchant ship tonnages are in gross register tons. Military vessels are listed by tons displacement TonsDateU-boatCommanderNotesHospital ship48,758Gustav SießSunk by MineTroop ship32,234Otto von SchraderDamaged, taken under towTroop ship32,234Hans Oskar WutsdorffSunk while under tow from 1st attack Passenger ship30,396Walther SchwiegerSunk with great loss of lifeBattleship22,189Egon LerchReturned to port under own powerTroop ship/Passenger ship20,904Alfred von GlasenappStruck mine, returned to port under towCargo ship20,904Wilhelm MeyerTorpedoed, returned to port under towDecoy19,380Ernst von VoigtDecoy disguised as , sunkPassenger ship18,565Otto SteinbrinckStruck mine, returned to portTroop ship18,510Wolfgang SteinbauerTorpedoed while emptyBattleship18,400Wolfgang SteinbauerLightly damaged by 2 torpedoesTroop ship18,372Heinrich MiddendorfHeavy damage, returned to port under own powerBattleship18,300Robert MorahtTorpedoed and sunkTroop ship18,168Walter RemyTorpedoed and sunk, most lives savedPassenger ship18,099Gerhard BergerBattleship18,000Otto DröscherBattleship16,350Heinrich KukatTroop ship16,339Helmut Brümmer-PatzigPassenger ship15,801Rudolf SchneiderCruiser15,544Karl VesperBattleship15,000Rudolf SchneiderTroop ship14,966Lothar von Arnauld de la PerièreBattleship14,900Otto HersingArmed merchant cruiser14,892Alfred von GlasenappPassenger ship14,348Otto SchultzeTroop ship14,348Wilhelm MeyerMinnewaskaTroop ship14,317Johannes KirchnerCruiser14,300Otto RohrbeckTroop ship14,278Wolfgang SteinbauerCruiser14,150Hans TrenkBattleship14,000Gustav SießBattleship14,000Kurt HartwigTroop ship13,936Gerhard SchulzPassenger ship13,911Arthur MetzTroop ship13,753Lothar von Arnauld de la PerièrePassenger ship13,714Karl EdelingCruiser13,680Richard FeldtPassenger ship13,603Wilhelm WernerTorpedoedTroop ship13,543Lothar von Arnauld de la PerièreTroop ship13,528Robert MorahtBattleship13,500Gustav SießArmed merchant cruiser13,441Ernst WilhelmsBattleship13,427Franz BeckerTroop ship/Passenger ship13,405Egon von WernerPassenger ship13,405Leo HillebrandCargo ship13,370Walther SchwiegerArmed merchant cruiser12,927Ernst HashagenBattleship12,750Hans WaltherTroop ship/Passenger ship12,644Hermann von FischelTroop ship12,527Egon von WernerArmed merchant cruiser12,515Johannes SpießMissanabiePassenger ship12,469Karl PetriPassenger ship12,431Matthias Graf von SchmettowCruiser12,416Georg Ritter von TrappPassenger ship12,350Thomas BieberTroop ship12,222Helmut GerlachCargo ship12,097Friedrich MoeckeArmed merchant cruiser12,077Karl PetriTroop ship12,045Karl PetriTroop ship12,036Hans DegetauAuxiliary cruiser12,009Gustav SießHospital ship12,002Herbert PustkuchenCruiser12,000Otto WeddigenCruiser12,000Otto WeddigenCruiser12,000Otto WeddigenTroop ship11,999Herbert PustkuchenBattleship11,985Otto HersingTroop ship11,899Heino von HeimburgPassenger ship11,899Otto WünscheTroop ship11,635Alfred SaalwächterCargo ship11,495Franz BeckerPassenger ship11,484Walter RoehrCargo ship11,483Otto SteinbrinckCargo ship11,477Georg Ritter von TrappHospital ship11,423Helmut Brümmer-PatzigCargo ship11,140Ralph WenningerTroop ship11,137Walter RoehrTroop ship11,120Max ViebegTroop ship11,117Heino von Heimburg11,106Hans RoseBattleship11,100Wolfgang SteinbauerCruiser11,000Otto SteinbrinckTroop ship10,963Gustav SießYasaka Maru10,932Max ValentinerPassenger ship10,920Walther SchwiegerCruiser10,850Max ValentinerCruiser10,850Curt BeitzenTroop ship10,798Otto SteinbrinckArmed merchant cruiser10,757Ernst Killmann10,644Martin Schwab10,509Otto von Schrader10,435Hans RosePassenger-cargo ship10,422Wilhelm BartenPassenger-cargo ship10,402Hans Rose10,320Carl-Siegfried Ritter von Georg10,289Waldemar Kophamel10,160Max Valentiner10,157Hellmuth JürstCruiser10,118Heino von Heimburg10,064Hans Rose10,040 Walter WarzechaCargo ship10,037Karl Kroll
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