Through the first weeks of December 1939 a number of U-boats were involved in minelaying missions off the eastern coast of England and Scotland, one of these boats was U-60. Kapitänleutnant Georg Schewe laid his off Cross Sands at the entrance to the Humber, only one of them claimed a victim.

The 367', 4,373 ton Ellerman Line ship City of Kobe had been attacked by German aircraft on Dec. 16, but sustained no damage, however on December 19, 1939 she was outbound from Hull to Bombay when she struck one of the mines laid by U-60 and sank, one crewman was killed, but the remaining crewmen were picked up by vessels that were in the vicinity. Some reports state that there may have been as many as 70 men, mostly Indian nationals, on the ship at the time.