The German U-boat U-48, a Type VIIB submarine of the Kriegsmarine, became the most successful U-boat of World War II. Kapitänleutnant Herbert Schultze commissioned it on April 22, 1939, and led it during the early stages of the Battle of the Atlantic. U-48 carried out 12 war patrols and sank 52 ships, totaling 306,874 gross register tons (GRT), while damaging three others, amounting to 20,480 GRT. During its sixth patrol from May 26 to June 29, 1940, U-48 targeted Allied shipping, including the British armed merchant cruiser HMS Andania. The crew decommissioned U-48 in October 1943 and later scuttled it on May 3, 1945, off Neustadt to avoid capture.