German submarine U - 218 German submarine " U - 218 " was a Type VIID mine - laying U - boat of the Nazi German " Kriegsmarine " during World War II . Laid down on 17 March 1941 as ' werk ' 650 and launched on 5 December , she was commissioned on 24 January 1942 under the command of " Kapitänleutnant " Richard Becker . She served with the 5th U - boat Flotilla - a training unit ; the 9th flotilla from 1 September 1942 to 30 September 1944 , the 8th flotilla , and finally with the 11th flotilla , all operational units , the latter from 1 March 1945 to 8 May . She was a member of seven wolfpack s . Operational history . 1st patrol . " U - 218 " departed Kiel on her first patrol on 28 August 1942 . She moved ' up ' the length of the North Sea , through the ' gap ' separating Iceland and the Faroe Islands and into the Atlantic Ocean , heading southwest . She damaged the " Fjordaas " in mid - ocean on 11 September . An inspection by the vessel ' s Master , 1st Mate and Chief Engineer preceded her recovery to the Clyde where she was repaired and returned to service in December 1942 . The escorts of Convoy ON 127 damaged the boat the following day so severely she was obliged to abort the patrol and head for occupied France . " U - 218 " docked at Brest on 29 September . 2nd patrol . Her luck did not improve on her second foray . The submarine was attacked from the air and by surface ships southwest of Portugal on 15 November 1942 . The damage inflicted was bad enough to force her to return to Brest on the 25th . 3rd and 4th patrols . " U - 218 " s third and fourth efforts were in early and mid - summer 1943 . They were relatively uneventful . 5th patrol . The routine of the boat ' s fifth sortie was rudely interrupted on 2 August 1943 by an attack by a Vickers Wellington of 547 Squadron , RAF west of the Bay of Biscay . Six crewmen were wounded , the submarine was severely damaged and once again an early return was required . 6th and 7th patrols . Patrol number six was marked by two men falling overboard in heavy weather on 27 September 1943 - they were both picked up 45 minutes later . A month later , the boat laid mines near Port of Spain , Trinidad on 27 October . < br > " U - 218 " enjoyed a rare triumph on 5 November when she sank the sailing ship " Beatrice Beck " east of Martinique with her cargo of Cod . The boat departed Brest for what would be her seventh and longest patrol ( 86 days ) on 12 February 1944 . She would not return until 7 May . Nevertheless , the waters east of the West Indies proved unproductive . 8th patrol . The boat was hunted ' mercilessly ' for sixty hours from 15 June 1944 ; she eventually shook off her attackers . She damaged the auxiliary cruiser HMS " Empire Halberd " on 6 July with a mine laid on the 2nd off Lands End ( southwest England ) . The ship was taken , first to Falmouth , then Glasgow for repairs . She returned to service in late 1944 as HMS " Silvio " . Meanwhile , the U - boat returned to Brest on 10 July . 9th and 10th patrols . Having departed Brest for the last time on 10 August 1944 , " U - 218 " laid mines near Lizard Head ( Cornwall ) , before retracing her course west of Ireland . She arrived in Bergen , Norway on 23 September . There now followed a series of short journeys between October 1944 and March 1945 . The boat ' s tenth and final patrol began with her departure from Bergen on 22 March 1945 . She sank the " Ethel Crawford " on 20 April with a mine laid on the 18th in the Firth of Clyde . Fate . " U - 218 " surrendered in Bergen on 12 May 1945 . She was transferred to Loch Ryan in Scotland in anticipation of Operation " Deadlight " . She sank while under tow to the scuttling grounds about eight or nine nautical miles north of Inishtrahull ( the most northerly island of Ireland ) on 4 December . Afterword . " U - 218 " was also thought to be responsible for sinking the last British ship to be sunk as the result of World War II . The steam fishing vessel " Kurd " was sunk on 10 July 1945 after hitting a British mine off Lizard Head The wreck of the U - boat was identified by marine archaeologist Innes McCartney in 2001 off Malin Head .