German submarine U - 124 ( 1940 ) German submarine " U - 124 " ( nickname " Edelweisseboot " ) was a Type IXB U - boat of the Nazi German " Kriegsmarine " during World War II . She operated in the Atlantic as part of the 2nd U - boat flotilla , both west of Scotland and east of the eastern US coast . She was also present off northern South America . She was sunk with all hands west of Portugal in 1943 . Service history . " U - 124 " was laid down on 11 August 1939 at the AG Weser yard in Bremen as ' werk ' 956 . She was launched on 9 March 1940 and commissioned on 11 June , with " Kapitänleutnant " Georg - Wilhelm Schulz in command . He was relieved on 8 September 1941 by " Korvettenkapitän " Johann Mohr . He remained in command until the boat ' s loss in 1943 . Operational history . " U - 124 " conducted 11 war patrols , sinking 46 ships , totalling and sinking two warships , totaling 5 , 775 tons . She also damaged four ships , totalling 30 , 067 GRT . She was a member of two wolfpack s . 1st patrol . " U - 124 " s first patrol began with her departure from Wilhelmshaven on 19 August 1940 . Her route took her across the North Sea and through the ' gap ' between the Faroe and Shetland Islands . She attacked three ships northwest of Scotland ; the " Stakesby " , the " Harpalyce " and the " Firecrest " , all on the 25th . To avoid retaliation from , the boat dived to . The Royal Navy dropped 12 depth charge s . Striking rocks on the sea - bed , the boat lay there for an hour , the corvette lost contact , but the collision had damaged three of her torpedo tubes . As a result , she spent the rest of the patrol reporting on the weather . The submarine docked at Lorient on the French Atlantic coast , on 16 September . 2nd patrol . " U - 124 " s second foray was conducted further northwest of the Scottish mainland . Her first victim was the " Trevisa " ; sunk on 16 October 1940 west of Rockall . The next day , 17 October , the Royal Navy fired three torpedoes at her . All missed , and " U - 124 " remained unaware of the attack . " U - 124 " went on to sink another four ships ; the " Cubano " , the " Sulaco " ( there was only one survivor ) both on 20 October , the " Rutland " on the 31st and the on 1 November . The latter ship ' s four survivors , on a raft when the U - boat came to investigate , played dead as they did not wish to be taken prisoner . 3rd patrol . On her third sortie , " U - 124 " ' only ' managed to boost her score by one , sinking the " Empire Thunder " north - northeast of Rockall on 6 January 1941 . 4th patrol . On her fourth patrol the boat sank 11 ships , four on the same day north of the Cape Verde Islands on 8 March 1941 ; the " Nardana " , the " Hindpool " , the " Tielbank " and the " Lahore " . She then destroyed another seven vessels southwest of Freetown , in Sierra Leone . They were : the " Umona " on 30 March , the " Marlene " on 4 April , the " Portadoc " on 7 April , the " Tweed " a day later , the " Aegeon " on the 11th , the " St . Helena " on the 12th and the on the 13th . The " Corinthic " was first struck by a dud torpedo , but another functioned correctly and sank the ship . 5th patrol . " U - 124 " drew a blank on her fifth sortie , failing to destroy a single target . She scoured the central Atlantic southwest of Gibraltar , but found nothing . 6th patrol . She was back in the money for her sixth patrol . Mohr , ( her new commander ) , rather ambitiously claimed two ships totalling 15 , 000 tons sunk and a third vessel of 8 , 000 tons damaged . The reality was rather different . The " Baltallin " ( 1 , 303 tons ) on 20 September 1941 and the " Empire Moat " ( 2 , 922 tons ) also on the 20th , were both lost from Convoy OG - 74 ; they went down north northheast of the Azores . < br > In addition , the " Empire Stream " was sunk on 25 September . Among the dead were two stowaways . A final effort on 26 September accounted for three more ships , also near the Azores : the " Petrel " , the " Cortes " and the " Siremalm " , ( there were no survivors from the latter vessel ) . " U - 124 " returned to Lorient on 1 October . 7th patrol . After almost a month in her base , " U - 124 " started her seventh patrol on 30 October 1941 . On 24 November , she was engaged by the Royal Navy which , with two consorts , had been searching for the Armed Merchant Raider " Atlantis " and her supply ship " Python " . " Dunedin " was hit by two torpedoes , despite being outside the theoretical range of the U - boat ' s projectiles and sank 17 minutes later . 419 men died ; there were 67 survivors . The submarine remained in the South Atlantic and sank the US " Sagadahoc " on 3 December . She was the fourth and last of the so - called neutral ships to meet her end . Her demise followed a six hour chase and her lights not being set correctly . " U - 124 " was shelled by the coastal battery at Fort Thornton , Georgetown on Ascension Island on 9 December ; no damage was sustained . 8th patrol . A change of operational area saw the boat deploy to the Eastern United States seaboard following the success of Operation Drumbeat ( " Paukenschlag " ) ; leaving Lorient on 21 February 1942 . Like the original ' drumbeaters ' , Mohr found the US defences easy to penetrate . The boat scored her first victory before reaching her destination ; sinking the " British Resource " about north of Bermuda on 14 March . She then sank seven ships and damaged two more – all in March . One of them , the " E . M . Clark " , was hit in such a way that her whistle sounded continuously until the ship went down . Another , the " Esso Nashville " , was hit by a torpedo which failed to detonate , but a subsequent torpedo broke the tanker ' s back . She was held together only by deck plates and piping . The bow and stern sections soon separated , and the bow soon sank . The stern was towed to Baltimore where it was fitted with a new fore - part and the ship returned to service in March 1943 . Two more ships were hit before " U - 124 " returned to Lorient . It was her most successful patrol ; 68 , 215 tons of shipping was lost or incapacitated . 9th patrol . It was back to the mid - Atlantic for the boat ' s ninth patrol , beginning on 4 May 1942 . Four ships met their end on the 12th . " U - 124 " s next victim was the Free French corvette " Mimosa " which was sunk with heavy loss of life on 9 June . Many of the casualties came from St . Pierre et Miquelon . The impact of the sinking had a lasting effect in the community . Two more ships were sunk before the boat returned to Lorient on 26 June . 10th patrol . Another change of operational zone , this time to the northern coastal area of South America . The submarine left Lorient on 25 November 1942 . She sank the " Trewloras " about east of Port of Spain , Trinidad on 28 December . The boat was attacked by a US Catalina flying boat on 1 January 1943 east of Port of Spain . No damage was caused . She sank four more ships ; the " Broad Arrow " , the " Birmingham City " , the " Collingsworth " and the " Minotaur " , all on the 9th . " Collingsworth " ' s helmsman swung the ship to port so hard that one torpedo missed by about . Unfortunately this torpedo then hit the " Minotaur " despite strenuous evasive action by her helmsman . 11th patrol and loss . " U - 124 " left Lorient for the last time on 27 March 1943 . Heading southwest , she had hardly left the Bay of Biscay when she was attacked and sunk by two British warships , the " Flower " - class corvette and west of Oporto in Portugal . All 53 crew members died .