At the beginning of World War II, the ship was initially deployed to blockade the Polish coast, but she was quickly transferred to the German Bight to lay minefields in German waters. In late 1939 and 1940 the ship made multiple successful minelaying sorties off the English coast that claimed 21 merchant ships. "Eckoldt" participated in the early stages of the Norwegian Campaign by transporting troops to the Trondheim area in early April 1940. The ship was transferred to France later in the year. "Eckoldt" returned to Germany in late 1940 for a refit and was transferred to Norway in June 1941 as part of the preparations for Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The ship spent some time at the beginning of the campaign conducting anti-shipping patrols in Soviet waters, but these were generally fruitless. She escorted a number of German convoys in the Arctic later in the year. "Eckoldt" escorted several German heavy cruisers at the beginning and end of their anti-shipping raids in 1942. She was part of a German surface fleet which attacked Convoy JW 51B on 31 December near the North Cape, Norway. After sinking the minesweeper , "Eckoldt" mistook the British light cruiser for the German heavy cruiser and was taken completely by surprise when the cruiser opened fire. The ship sank with all hands without returning fire.