In the mid 1930s the Kriegsmarine didn't possess specifically built minelayers. Minelaying was to be carried out mainly by destroyers and torpedo boats. In fact most German warships could be fitted as minelayers if necessary, even submarines and s-boats. In 1938, however, a new class of four offensive minelayers with capacity for 400 mines was projected as part of the Z-Plan, but all ships were canceled when war broke out the following year.

Once the war started, the Kriegsmarine began fitting other vessels like the artillery training ships Brummer and Bremse, and the yacht Grille, for minelaying. In addition, several former merchant ships were also converted into auxiliary minelayers. In the first days/weeks of the war, minelayers together with destroyers and light cruisers, laid the so-called "West Wall" defensive mine barrier to secure the German Bight against possible incursions of the British Home Fleet.

In April 1940, the Norwegian minelayer Olav Tryggvason was captured by the Germans in Oslo, and immediately commissioned into the Kriegsmarine as Brummer (II) serving until 1945.

Over 200,000 mines were laid by German Navy warships during World War II.

Minelayers (Minenlegers)
Name	Builder	Launched	Commd.	Fate
BRUMMER (II) (ex-Olav Tryggvason)	Horten Naval Yard	21.12.1932	21.06.1934 * 13.04.1940 with KM	Bombed in Kiel 13.04.1945

Auxiliary Minelayers (Minenschiffe)
Name	Builder	Launched	Commd.	Fate
KAISER	AG Vulcan, Stettin	05.04.1905	10.09.1905 28.08.1939 as ML	To Britain 1945
ULM	Danziger Werft	11.1937	1938	Sunk in the Arctic 25.08.1942
ROLAND	J. C. Tecklenborg, Geestemünde	16.03.1927	24.08.1939 as ML	Mined off Narva Bay 21.04.1944
LINZ	Danziger Werft	1940	1943	To Britain 1945
COBRA	A.G. Vulcan, Stettin	14.01.1926	26.08.1939	Bombed in Rotterdam 27.08.1942
OSTMARK (ex-Côte d'Argent)	Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée (FCM), Le Havre	12.04.1932	1940 as ML	Bombed west of Anholt 21.04.1945
ELSASS (ex-Côte d'Azur)	Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée (FCM), Le Havre	1930	18.10.1942 into KM	Mined east of Samsö 03.01.1945
HANSESTADT DANZIG	Oderwerke, Stettin	17.03.1926	14.07.1926 04.10.1939 as ML	Mined in the Baltic near Öland 09.07.1941
PREUßEN	Oderwerke, Stettin	17.03.1926	01.09.1923	Mined in the Baltic near Öland 09.07.1941
TANNENBERG	Oderwerke, Stettin	16.03.1935	12.08.1935	Mined in the Baltic near Öland 09.07.1941
WULLENWEVER (ex-Rouen)	Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée (FCM), Le Havre	1912	1941 into KM	Sunk April 1943
KÖNIGIN LOUISE	Howaldtswerke AG, Hamburg	10.04.1934	01.06.1934 1939 as ML	Mined near Helsinki 25.09.1941
SKAGERRAK	Aalborg Værft, Aalborg	1939	08.1940 into KM	Torpedoed south of Egersund 20.01.1944
BRANDENBURG (ex-Kita)	Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée (FCM), La Seyne	1936	01.05.1943 as ML	Torpedoed off Capraia Island Mediterranean Sea 21.09.1943
POMMERN (ex-Bélain d'Esnambuc)	Framnæs Mekaniske Værksted, Sandefjord	1939	30.01.1943 as ML	Mined south of San Remo 05.10.1943

Mine Transports (Minentransporter)
Name	Builder	Launched	Commd.	Fate
LAUTING	Stettiner Oderwerke	1934	1934	German Mine Sweeping Administration (GMSA) 1945
RHEIN	Stettiner Oderwerke	1934	1934	German Mine Sweeping Administration (GMSA) 1945
OTTER	Schichau, Elbing	1934	1934	Bombed in Kirkomansaari, Finland 20.06.1944
IRBEN	Schichau, Elbing	1936	1936	Bombed in Kiel 03.04.1945