The Great War was drawing to a close on October 11, 1918 and this order was sent via wireless to all U-boats "Engage men of war only. The Merchant war is over". This order however was either not received by all U-boat commanders or it was ignored as a number of merchant and other small craft continued to fall victim to German submarines.

On Oct. 20, 1918 a further signal was sent ordering all U-boats to return to Kiel, but again merchant ships continued to be sunk. The last merchant ship attacked by a U-boat may have been the Italian sailing vessel Stavnos, this occurred off the Egyptian coast, but several other merchantmen were lost to mines. The last ship sunk by a U-boat was the paddle minesweeper HMS Ascot on Nov. 10, 1918. Nobody survived the sinking and the fifty-three men who went down with her were the last casualties of the war at sea before the Armistice was signed.