German submarine U - 48 ( 1939 ) German submarine " U - 48 " was a Type VIIB U - boat of the Nazi German " Kriegsmarine " during World War II , and the most successful that was commissioned . During her two years of active service , " U - 48 " sank 55 ships for a total of 321 , 000 tons ; she also damaged two more for a total of 12 , 000 tons over twelve war patrols conducted during the opening stages of the Battle of the Atlantic . " U - 48 " was built at the Germaniawerft in Kiel as " Werk " 583 during 1938 and 1939 , being completed a few months before the outbreak of war in September 1939 and given to " Kapitänleutnant " ( Kptlt . ) Herbert Schultze . When war was declared , she was already in position in the North Atlantic , and received the news via radio , allowing her to operate immediately against Allied shipping . She was a member of two wolf packs . " U - 48 " survived most of the war and was scuttled by her own crew on 3 May 1945 off Neustadt in order to keep the submarine out of the hands of the advancing allies . War patrols . 1st patrol . " U - 48 " left her home port of Kiel on 19 August 1939 , before World War II began , for a period of 30 days . The submarine travelled north of the British Isles , into the North Atlantic and eventually into the Bay of Biscay . She then proceeded to cruise to the west of the Western Approaches , two days after Britain and France declared war on Germany . It was here that she spotted her first target , the 5 , 000 ton SS " Royal Sceptre " . " U - 48 " attacked the merchant ship with her deck gun on 5 September 1939 . All of the crew took to the lifeboats except the Radio Officer who remained transmitting " SOS " . He was taken prisoner by " U - 48 " , but then released to the lifeboats as Schultze praised his courage . He verified that the lifeboats were provisioned with food and water . " U - 48 " then stopped the SS " Browning " . The crew abandoned their vessel , but Schultze told them to return to their ship and pick up the crew of " Royal Sceptre " . However " Browning " was en route to Brazil , so it was not immediately realised that they had survived . Winston Churchill , then First Lord of The Admiralty , assumed the worst , that the crew and sixty passengers were lost . He declared the sinking to be " U - 48 " stopped , searched and released several neutral ships before encountering and sinking " Winkleigh " on 8 September 1939 after her crew had taken to the lifeboats . On 11 September " U - 48 " sank the " Firby " . Some of the crew required medical attention following the sinking . " U - 48 " provisioned the lifeboats , gave medical assistance and radioed : Churchill , wrongly , told the House of Commons that the U - boat captain who had sent the message had been captured . After 30 days at sea , " U - 48 " returned to Kiel on 17 September 1939 . During her first war patrol , she sank three ships for a total of 14 , 777 tons . 2nd patrol . " U - 48 " s second patrol was even more successful . Having left Kiel on 4 October , she proceeded to follow the same course as her previous voyage . During her second patrol , " U - 48 " sank a total of five enemy ships , including the large French tanker SS " Emile Miguet " on 12 October , " Heronspool " and " Louisiane " on 13 October , " Sneaton " on 14 October and " Clan Chisholm " on 17 October . Following the sinking of the " Clan Chisholm " , " U - 48 " attacked the British steamer " Rockpool " with fire from her deck gun on 19 October at 1 : 32 pm . However , the steamer returned fire . In order to avoid being hit , " U - 48 " crash - dived . She subsequently re - surfaced and attempted to sink the steamer again when an Allied destroyer came upon the engagement . " U - 48 " then broke off the fight with the " Rockpool " and submerged once more to leave the area . Following the sinking of five enemy merchant ships for a total of 37 , 153 tons as well as the engagement with the " Rockpool " , " U - 48 " returned to the safety of Kiel on 25 October 1939 after spending 22 days at sea . 3rd patrol . " U - 48 " left Kiel for her third patrol on 20 November 1939 . During this voyage , she sank a total of four vessels including two merchant ships from neutral nations . The first ship to fall victim to the U - boat was the 6 , 336 - ton neutral Swedish motor tanker . She was attacked by " U - 48 " on 27 November west - northwest of Fair Isle . The wreck was later sunk by an escort vessel . One person died , 33 of her crew survived . The tug HMS " St . Mellons " attempted to salvage her , however the " Gustaf E . Reuter " eventually had to be sent to the bottom by HMS " Kingston Beryl " on 28 November . Following the sinking of the " Gustaf E . Reuter " , " U - 48 " sank the British freighter " Brandon " on 8 December off the southern coast of Ireland . The next day , she attacked the British tanker " San Alberto " . The ship was so badly damaged that she had to be sunk by . Finally on 15 December 1939 " U - 48 " stopped the neutral Greek freighter " Germaine " which had been chartered by Ireland and was also neutral , to carry maize to Cork . Schultze maintained that she was going to England , so he sank her . " U - 48 " returned to Kiel on 20 December 1939 after sinking a total of 25 , 618 tons and spent a total of 31 days at sea . 4th patrol . After a break over the Christmas period , the boat put to sea again , sinking the British Blue Star Line liner SS " Sultan Star " in the Western Approaches , it was only carrying freight . She laid a string of mine s off St Abb ' s Head which failed to have any effect , but two neutral Dutch ships were added to her tally shortly afterwards , as well as a Finnish ship , all of them operating in the North Atlantic in cooperation with the Allied convoy system . 5th and 6th patrols . Her fifth patrol , in June 1940 was one of her most successful , making full use of the situation in Europe following the Fall of France . " U - 48 " was commanded by Hans Rudolf Rösing , as Herbert Schultze was hospitalised with a kidney and stomach complaint . She attacked three ships off the Donegal coast ; the " Stancor " carrying fish from Iceland , the " Eros " carrying 200 tons of small arms from America and the " Frances Massey " with iron ore . 34 sailors lost their lives on the " Frances Massey " . The cargo on the " Eros " was particularly important following the losses at Dunkirk . The badly damaged " Eros " was taken in tow by , assisted by and " Volunteer " and headed to the Irish coast , where the " Muirchú " and " Fort Rannoch " were waiting for them . The " Eros " was beached on Errarooey strand . While she was being repaired , Irish troops guarded the site . Germany learned that a troop convoy , including and were bringing 25 , 000 Australian soldiers to Britain . " U - 48 " was ordered to Cape Finisterre where a U - boat ' wolf pack ' was being assembled to intercept the convoy . However the U - boats attacked other ships in the vicinity , alerting the convoy to their presence , so they altered direction , avoiding the ' wolf pack ' . On 19 June 1940 , convoy HG - 34 was attacked . " U - 48 " sank " Baron Loudoun " ( three died ) , " British Monarch " ( all 40 on board died ) and " Tudor " ( one death ) . Convoy HX - 49 dispersed ; " U - 48 " sank " Moordrecht " which had been in that convoy ; 25 died . Ireland had chartered neutral Greek ships ; " U - 48 " sank " Violando N . Goulandris " ( six died ) while " U - 28 " sank " Adamandios Georgandis " ( one death ) . Ireland sought an explanation from Germany " . . . steamships , the entire cargoes of which comprised grain for exclusive consumption in Éire were sunk by unidentified submarines . . . " " U - 48 " was enjoying an extended patrol , thanks to the newly established refuelling facilities available at Trondheim in Norway . In all , she claimed eight ships from the convoys in the Eastern Atlantic on this cruise and bagged five more on her sixth patrol in August , which finished with her stationed at Lorient on the French Atlantic coast , greatly extending her raiding abilities . 7th and 8th patrols . In September , on her seventh patrol she shocked the world by sinking the , one of eight ships in six days from Convoys SC - 3 and OB - 213 . " Benares " was a refugee ship , carrying children from Britain to Canada to keep them safe from the ' Blitz ' on Britain ' s cities . 258 people , including 77 children , died . Among the other sinkings was the British frigate . The U - boat ' s eighth patrol was also highly successful , sinking seven ships out of Atlantic convoys , including one from SC - 7 . The operating zone for both these patrols was far to the north of her previous areas , being south of Greenland . 9th , 10th , 11th and 12th patrols . On her ninth and tenth patrols , " U - 48 " claimed two and five victims respectively , but she was clearly becoming obsolete in the face of improving technology on both sides , despite a winter refit . Her range and torpedo capacity were too small for the widening nature of the sea war , and she would be a risk to her crew and other U - boats if she continued much longer in the main battlefield of the North Atlantic . On her final patrol she sank five more ships , the boat was also boosted by the award of the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross to Erich Zürn , the boat ' s executive officer , for his success and judgement during the ship ' s career . Retirement and fate . " U - 48 " returned to Kiel on 22 June 1941 , where her crew disembarked and she was transferred to a training flotilla operating exclusively in the Baltic Sea . Unlike many of her contemporaries , " U - 48 " never sailed on patrols against Soviet targets following Operation Barbarossa the following month . In 1943 she was deemed unfit even for this reduced service , being laid up at Neustadt in Holstein with only a skeleton crew performing minor maintenance . It was there that she remained for the next two years , until the maintenance crew , realising that the war was ending and the boat would be captured , scuttled her in the Bay of Lübeck on 3 May 1945 , where she remains . The sinking of the " City of Benares " . In the late hours of the 17 September 1940 , " U - 48 " , commanded by " Kptlt . " Heinrich Bleichrodt , put a single torpedo into the 11 , 000 ton liner , flagship of Convoy OB - 213 , as she was silhouetted against the moonlight in mid - Atlantic . On board the liner were 90 children being evacuated to Canada under the Children ' s Overseas Reception Board ' s initiative . The sinking ship took on an immediate list , thus preventing the launching of many of the life - rafts and trapping numerous crew and passengers below decks . As a result , many of the 400 people on board were unable to escape . As hundreds of survivors struggled in the water , the U - boat ' s powerful searchlight swept once over the chaotic scene , before she left the area . The survivors in the boats were not rescued for nearly 24 hours . In that time dozens of children and adults died from exposure or drowned , leaving only 148 survivors . One boat was not recovered for a further eight days . In total 258 people , including 77 of the evacuees , died in the disaster , which effectively ended the overseas evacuation programme . The controversy of the " City of Benares " disaster has been debated ever since . It has been suggested that had the British openly declared that the ship was carrying evacuees , then the Germans would have taken pains not to sink it , recognising the potential for a propaganda crisis , which indeed occurred . However , the ship was not only travelling unlit at night in an allied convoy , but it was also the flagship of Rear - Admiral Edmund Mackinnon , the convoy commander . Other historians have argued that the Germans would have attacked any large liners at the time , no matter what cargo was being carried or who was on the passenger list .