U.S. Merchant Ships Sunk or Damaged in World War II

According to the War Shipping Administration, the U.S. Merchant Marine suffered the highest rate of casualties of any service in World War II. Officially, a total of 1,554 ships were sunk due to war conditions, including 733 ships of over 1,000 gross tons. Hundreds of other ships were damaged by torpedoes, shelling, bombs, kamikazes, mines, etc. Foreign flag ships, especially those with Naval Armed Guard on board as well as ships belonging to U.S. territories such as the Philippines, are included in this list.

The following lists are continually under construction, because no official complete list is available. Our present total is 1,768 ships sunk, damaged, captured or detained.

We appreciate your additions and corrections.

The listings include:

• Name of Ship by full name including initials [Charles W. Eliot is found under "C"]
• Location of incident:

Alaska 48 ships
Approach Med (Atlantic Ocean near Gibraltar) 29 ships
Caribbean 180 ships
Eastcoast (Atlantic coast of U.S.) 175 ships
Gulf of Mexico 46 ships
Indian-Red Sea (Indian Ocean - Red Sea) 49 ships
Med-Black Sea (Mediterranean and Black Sea) 251 ships
Murmansk Run 85 ships
Normandy 69 ships
NE Atlantic (Northeast Atlantic includes ports in Great Britain, Belgium, etc.) 155 ships
N Atlantic (North Atlantic) 168 ships
Okinawa 30 ships
Pacific includes Hong Kong and Shanghai 130 ships
Philippines 128 ships
S Atlantic (South Atlantic) 69 ships
Westcoast (Pacific coast of U.S.) 27 ships
Region unknown 92 ships

• Cause - mine, torpedo, etc.
• Outcome - sunk, damaged, total loss --which means not worth salvaging)
• Date - dates sometimes vary by several days between sources
• Type of ship freighter, tanker, Liberty; flag of ship if other than U.S. [We include U.S. owned and U.S. chartered ships, most of which had U.S. Navy Armed Guard aboard. Because of the Neutrality Act, U.S. government ordered many ships reflagged. The War Shipping Administration owned Panamanian flag ships.The Philippines were a U. S. territory and flew the U. S. flag.]
• Casualties - Deaths of crew, Naval Armed Guard, and passengers or Prisoners of War (POW)
• GSA - Gallant Ship Award

Chronological list of U.S. ships sunk or damaged:

1939-1941

1942 Jan-June 1942 July-Dec

1943

1944

1945

1946-1950

Geographical list of U.S. ships sunk or damaged:

Alaska	Westcoast	Pacific	Philippines	Okinawa
Eastcoast	Gulf Mexico	Caribbean	South Atlantic	North Atlantic
Approach Med	Med-Black Sea	Murmansk Run	Normandy	Northeast Atlantic
	Indian Ocean - Red Sea		Region unknown

Alphabetical list of U.S. ships sunk or damaged

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

[Graphs below are not current, but still based on our lists of 2001]

U.S. ships sunk or damaged during 1939 to 1950

Number of U.S. ships sunk or damaged 1941

Number of U.S. ships sunk or damaged 1942

Number of U.S. ships sunk or damaged 1943

Number of U.S. ships sunk or damaged 1944

Number of U.S. ships sunk or damaged 1945

Number of U.S. ships sunk or damaged 1946

Number of U.S. ships sunk or damaged by region

These lists are based on the following sources:

• A Careless Word - A Needless Sinking: A History of the Staggering Losses Suffered by the U.S. Merchant Marine, both in Ships and Personnel, during World War II, Captain Arthur R. Moore, American Merchant Marine Museum, Kings Point, NY: 1998
• U.S. Merchant Vessel War Casualties of World War II, Robert M. Browning, Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1996
• Most Dangerous Sea - A history of Mine Warfare, and an Account of U.S. Navy Mine Warfare Operations in World War II and Korea, Arnold S. Lott, Annapolis, Maryland: U.S. Naval Institute, 1959
• The World's Merchant Fleets 1939: The Particulars and Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships, Roger Jordan, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1999
• Ships of the Esso Fleet in World War II, Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey, 1946
• The Years of Peril, Cdr. Arthur Gordon, New York: Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. (Mobil Shipping and Transportation Company), 1954, 1994
• Press Release PR 2293 (W) June 13, 1945, War Shipping Administration, Washington DC
• New York Times 1939-1950
• Washington Post 1939-1950
• Christian Science Monitor 1939-1950
• Los Angeles Times 1939-1950
• Chicago Tribune 1939-1950
• Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters, 1939-1942, Clay Blair, New York: Random House, 1996
• Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted. 1942-1945, Clay Blair, New York: Random House, 1998
• Advance Force Pearl Harbor: The Imperial Navy's Underwater Assault on America, Burl Burlingame, Kailua, Hawaii: Pacific Monograph, 1992
• Silent Siege: Japanese attacks against North America in World War II, BertWebber, Fairfield, Washington: Ye Galleon Press, 1984
• Battle Report (The Atlantic War), Cdr. Walter Karig, New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1946
• The Last Voyage of the Henry Bacon, Donald R. Foxvog and Robert I. Alotta, St. Paul, MN: Paragon House, 2001
• The Last Voyage, Maritime Heroes of World War II, Leonard E. Amborski, Orlando FL: FirstPublish, 2001
• Civil and Merchant Vessel Encounters with United States Navy Ships, 1800-200, Greg H. Williams, Jefferson NC: McFarland & Company, 2002
• The Official Chronology of the U. S. Navy in World War II, Robert J. Cressman, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2000
• Over Seas: U. S. Army Maritime Operations, 1898 Through the Fall of the Philippines, Charles Dana Gibson with E. Kay Gibson, Camden, ME: Ensign Press, PO Box 638, Camden, ME 04843, 2002
• The World's Merchant Fleets 1939: The Particulars and Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships, Roger Jordan, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1999
• Merchant Ships 1949-1950, E. C. Talbot-Booth, New York: McGraw-Hill Book company, Inc., 1949
• Shipwrecks off Alaska's Coast, State of Alaska website
• The Tamaroa Maritime Foundation
• Navy History.com USS Achernar
• The Liberty Ships; The history of the"emergency" type cargo ships constructed in the United States during World War II, L. A. Sawyer and W. H. Mitchell, Cambridge, Maryland: Cornell Maritime Press, 1970
• Victory Ships and Tankers; the history of the "Victory" type cargo ships and of the tankers built in the United States of America during World War II, L. A. Sawyer and W. H. Mitchell. Cambridge, Maryland: Cornell Maritime Press, 1974
• History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. I to XV, Samuel Eliot Morison, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1947- 1962
• Sacred Warriors, Denis Warner, Peggy Warner, and Sadao Seno, New York, NY: Van Nostrand, 1982 [courtesy Lewis Clanton]
• U. S. Navy Casualty list of WWII, compiled by Capt. Stansel E. DeFoe, courtesy Tom Bowerman, U. S. Navy Armed Guard Veterans www.armed-guard.com
• Underbrink Robert. Destination Corregidor. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1971
• Personal correspondence
• Rohwer, Jurgen. Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two. (Revised and expanded) U.S. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1999
• Battle Surface: Japan's Submarine War against Australia 1942 - 44, Jenkins, David, Random House Australia, 1992
• Submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy

Home
Ships
Merchant Mariners Killed
U.S. Navy Armed Guard Killed or Wounded
Murmansk Ships
Struggle for Veteran Status
Merchant Marine in World War II
U.S. Navy Ship Losses during WWII

01/21/04

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