1946 merchant marine 3 cent stamp

Merchant Marine: We Deliver the Goods*
US merchant fleet 12/7/41 1,340 dry cargo ships and tankers
US merchant fleet 9/2/45 4,221 dry cargo ships and tankers (75% Liberty ships)
Large US merchant ships sunk 833
Cargo Delivered overseas 12/7/41 to 9/2/45
Dry cargo 203,500,000 Long Tons
Liquid cargo 64,700,000 Long Tons
Average delivery rate 1945 17,000,000 pounds of cargo every hour
Personnel transported overseas 7,300,000
Customers 75% Army and Navy; 25% Allies
Cargo carried overseas Ammunition, airplanes, aviation fuel, explosives, tanks, trucks, medicines, landing craft, locomotives, food. In 1944, just from West Coast ports, 2,727 airplanes, 993 boats, 296 amphibious craft, 1,223 vehicles were shipped as deck cargo.
Cargo to U.S. 12/7/41 to 9/2/45
Dry cargo 70,500,000 Long Tons
Liquid cargo 35,000,000 Long Tons
Imports carried Bauxite (to make aluminum), copper, nitrates, manganese, wool, petroleum products, sisal.
*Data from War Shipping Administration Report, January 15, 1946
Illustration shows 1946 US postage stamp.

Merchant Marine in WWII

6/5/00

www.USMM.org ©1998, 1999, 2000. You may quote material on this web page as long as you cite American Merchant Marine at War, www.usmm.org, as the source. You may not use more than a few lines without permission. If you see substantial portions of this page on the Internet or in published material please notify usmm.org @ comcast.net