Major Enemy Warships Sunk or Destroyed
The first bigger warship sunk in World War II was the destroyer ORP Wicher of the Polish Navy by Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers of the carrier air group of aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin on 3 September 1939. This carrier air group (Trägergeschwader 186) was part of the Luftwaffe but at that time under command of the Kriegsmarine.
| Ship | Type | Date | Action | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HMS Courageous (Royal Navy) | Fleet Aircraft Carrier | 17 September 1939 | torpedoed by submarine U-29 | |
| HMS Royal Oak (Royal Navy) | Battleship | 14 October 1939 | torpedoed at anchor by submarine U-47 | |
| KNM Eidsvold (Royal Norwegian Navy) | Coastal Battleship | 9 April 1940 | torpedoed by destroyer Wilhelm Heidkamp | |
| KNM Norge (Royal Norwegian Navy) | Coastal Battleship | 9 April 1940 | torpedoed by destroyer Bernd von Arnim | |
| Jaguar (French Navy) | Large Destroyer | 23 May 1940 | torpedoed by torpedo boats (E-boats) S-21 and S-23 | |
| HMS Glorious (Royal Navy) | Fleet Aircraft Carrier | 8 June 1940 | sunk by battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst | |
| HMS Hood (Royal Navy) | Battlecruiser | 24 May 1941 | sunk by the battleship Bismarck | |
| HMS Ark Royal (Royal Navy) | Fleet Aircraft Carrier | 14 November 1941 | torpedoed by submarine U-81 | |
| HMAS Sydney (Royal Australian Navy) | Light Cruiser | 19 November 1941 | sunk by German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran | |
| HMS Dunedin (Royal Navy) | Light Cruiser | 24 November 1941 | torpedoed by submarine U-124 | |
| HMS Barham (Royal Navy) | Battleship | 25 November 1941 | torpedoed by submarine U-331 | |
| HMS Galatea (Royal Navy) | Light Cruiser | 14 December 1941 | torpedoed by submarine U-557 | |
| HMS Audacity (Royal Navy) | Escort Carrier | 21 December 1941 | torpedoed by submarine U-751 | |
| HMS Naiad (Royal Navy) | Light Cruiser | 11 March 1942 | torpedoed by submarine U-565 | |
| HMS Edinburgh (Royal Navy) | Light Cruiser | 2 May 1942 | torpedoed by submarines and destroyer abandoned and scuttled | |
| HMS Hermione (Royal Navy) | Light Cruiser | 16 June 1942 | torpedoed by submarine U-205 | |
| HMS Eagle (Royal Navy) | Aircraft Carrier | 11 August 1942 | torpedoed by submarine U-73 | |
| HMS Avenger (Royal Navy) | Escort Carrier | 15 November 1942 | torpedoed by submarine U-155 | |
| HMS Welshman (Royal Navy) | Minelaying Cruiser | 1 February 1943 | torpedoed by U-617 | |
| HMS Abdiel (Royal Navy) | Minelaying Cruiser | 10 September 1943 | mine hits, mines laid by torpedo boats (E-boats) S-54 and S-61 | |
| HMS Charybdis (Royal Navy) | Light Cruiser | 23 October 1943 | torpedoed by destroyers T-23 and T-27 | |
| HMS Penelope (Royal Navy) | Light Cruiser | 18 February 1944 | torpedoed by submarine U-410 | |
| USS Block Island (U.S. Navy) | Escort Carrier | 29 May 1944 | torpedoed by submarine U-549 | |
| HMS Scylla (Royal Navy) | Light Cruiser | 23 June 1944 | mine hit, declared a constructive total loss | |
| ORP Dragon (Polish Navy) | Light Cruiser | 7 July 1944 | torpedoed by a Neger manned torpedo abandoned and scuttled | |
| HMS Nabob (Royal Navy) | Escort Carrier | 22 August 1944 | torpedoed by U-354, judged not worth repairing, beached and abandoned | |
| HMS Thane (Royal Navy) | Escort Carrier | 15 January 1945 | torpedoed by U-1172, declared a constructive total loss | |
Read more about this topic: Kriegsmarine
Famous quotes containing the words major, enemy, sunk and/or destroyed:
“A dead martyr is just another corpse.”
—Leo V. Gordon, U.S. screenwriter, and Arthur Hiller. Major Craig (Rock Hudson)
“Napoleon never wished to be justified. He killed his enemy according to Corsican traditions [le droit corse] and if he sometimes regretted his mistake, he never understood that it had been a crime.”
—Guillaume-Prosper, Baron De Barante (1782–1866)
“Remember all those renowned generations,
Remember all that have sunk in their blood,
Remember all that have died on the scaffold,
Remember all that have fled, that have stood,
Stood, took death like a tune
On an old tambourine.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“You must, to get through life well, practice industry with economy, never create a debt for anything that is not absolutely necessary, and if you make a promise to pay money at a day certain, be sure to comply with it. If you do not, you lay yourself liable to have your feelings injured and your reputation destroyed with the just imputation of violating your word.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)