on the night of 12/13 december, german destroyers sortied to lay minefields off the british coast. under the command of commodore ("kommodore") friedrich bonte in his flagship "hermann künne", "friedrich ihn", "bruno heinemann", "richard beitzen", and "erich steinbrinck" laid 240 mines off the mouth of the river tyne, where the navigation lights were still lit. the british were unaware of the minefield's existence and lost eleven ships totaling . the destroyers were later ordered to escort the crippled light cruisers and which had been torpedoed by the submarine while covering the destroyers' withdrawal. "ihn" and "steinbrinck" had machinery problems en route and were forced to return to port before they reached the cruisers. "ihn" and her sisters "friedrich eckoldt" and "steinbrinck" sortied again on the night of 18 december, but the british had turned off the navigation lights off orfordness and the german were forced to abandon the attempt because they could not locate themselves precisely enough to lay the minefield in the proper position.