Topic summary
German submarines
Extracted from the Wikipedia article U-boat.
Operations
Of the 373 German U-boats that had been built, 179 were operational or nearly operational at the end of the war. 178 were lost by enemy action. 512 officers and 4894 enlisted men were killed. Of the surviving German submarines, 14 U-boats were scuttled and 122 surrendered. They sank 10 pre-dreadnought battleships, 18 cruisers, and several smaller naval vessels. They further destroyed 5,708 merchant and fishing vessels for a total of 11,108,865 GRT and the loss of about 15,000 sailors. The Pour le Mérite, the highest decoration for gallantry for officers, was awarded to 29 U-boat commanders. The three most successful U-boat commanders were Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière (195 ships with 453,869 GRT), followed by Walter Forstmann (149 ships with 391,607 GRT), and Max Valentiner (144 ships with 299,482 GRT).