Merchant Ships Sunk or Damaged in World War II. A feature of the Abandon Ship! Japanese Merchant Navy - 1,152 ships sunk. British Warships Of Ww2. The figures do not include fishing vessels lost by enemy action. Brown, D, Warship Losses of World War Two (London, Arms & Armour Press, 1995) Ship breaker, a 2010 young adult novel Bacigalupi Paolo. He says sonar data he has acquired shows the wreck of the Athenia, a passenger liner that was the first British ship torpedoed in World War II. Two crew members were lost. During that time the nine German U-boats in the Atlantic destroyed 35 Allied merchant ships and a British destroyer and killed 1,219 crew and passengers. Very few records of wrecked or sunken merchant ships exist from before the 19th century. 1. This guide contains information about researching wrecked or sunken ships at The National Archives. "The World's largest shipping company" When Germany invaded Norway on April 9-1940, the Norwegian ships that were in allied waters at the time were requisitioned by Royal Norwegian Government, which early on in the war managed to escape to the U.K. (the King was evacuated on June 7). American Merchant Ships Sunk in WWII Source - A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking by Captain Arthur R. Moore. All Rights Reserved. Vessels sunk 1939–1946 by marine causes, i.e. The first British submarine. The rusting 128-metre-long vessel has lain 30 … A total of 30 merchant ships were sunk by the end of September. This section includes over 21.000 Allied Warships and over 11.000 Allied Commanders of WWII, from the US Navy, Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Australian Navy, The Polish Navy and others. Request Permissions. ( Log Out /  Many merchant seamen came from parts of the British Empire, such as India, Hong Kong and west African countries. U-boats sunk by British merchant ship Shipbreaker The contractor for scrapping old vessels can refer to: Ship breaking, a type of ship disposal involving breaking ships scrap recycling. lost from war causes but not given in the Admiralty list. The British Merchant Navy of World War II, previously known as the "Merchant Service" or "Mercantile Marine" comprised the merchant shipping registered in Great Britain and independently operated by British commercial shipping companies. ... including the entire passenger fleet and five hospital ships were hit and sunk in Greek waters. Merchant Navy Day is celebrated on 3 September - When Men of the Forgotten Fourth Service are Remembered. The Merchant Marine suffered a higher casualty rate than any branch of the military, losing 9,300 men, with most of the losses occurring in 1942, when … BRAMBLE (815t, 1939), sunk by surface ship gunfire, Barents Sea, Arctic, December 31, 1942 (Casualty List) BRIGHTON BELLE (R, 396t, 1900) Collision with submerged wreck, The Downs, English Channel, May 28, 1940 . A veteran merchant seaman at sea. War Dead 1939-45: Search memorials by name and by ship. Hundreds of merchant marine ships shuttled men, food, guns, ammunition, and other supplies across the Pacific. Note: These losses are from the original and uncorrected "British Vessels Lost at Sea, 1935-45", published by HMSO in 1947. US Merchant Marine: 6 838 Men Killed 848 Ships Sunk (+1800 Naval guards Killed) Check out using a credit card or bank account with. The page is divided into several parts, with the first section devoted to links directly related to "Odd's War" (my father's story) and the Norwegian seamen in general. List Of British Ships Ww2. The first British submarine. Germans sink American merchant ship In the country’s first such action against American shipping interests on the high seas, the captain of a German cruiser orders the destruction of … Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has been a valued source of information and understanding for more than 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfill their aspirations. exhibition is the Casualties Database, generously loaned to the Wellington Trust by the Maritime Memorial Trust. The SS Sagaing was a World War two British merchant ship that was sunk in 1942 when it was hit by a bomb on April 9. lost by enemy action 4z.. z,6 II 332 ... a British warship sunk in … Sanders, DSC, RNR) and … Merchant Navy Awards 1939-1945 . The SS Thistlegorm, a British Merchant Navy ship, sank after it was bombed by two German planes in 1941. Read your article online and download the PDF from your email or your account. by ordinary perils of the sea, such as foundering, stranding, collision, fire, etc., are not included in published lists of war losses. Signal Letters: Find Signal Letters/ Registration Numbers for ships in 1912, 1916, 1938 & 1945. 44 merchant ships were sunk at Pacific beachheads, countless others damaged by kamikazes, bombers, artillery, or torpedoes while they took part in every invasion. The remains of the first British ship to be sunk in WW2 appear to have been identified on the Atlantic seabed. British WWII ship sunk carrying 220 tons silver found. You may quote material on this web page as long as you cite American Merchant Marine at War, www.usmm.org, as the source. The Merchant Marine suffered a higher casualty rate than any branch of the military, losing 9,300 men, with most of the losses occurring in 1942, when most merchant ships … It also lost at least 4 sizeable aircraft carriers--Courageous, in 1939, Glorious in 1940, ark royal in '41, and the old Hermes in '42. Italian Merchant Navy - 2,513 ships sunk. However, it was still important to record the movements of merchant vessels and so the Registrar General o… The U-boat War in World War Two (Kriegsmarine, 1939-1945) and World War One (Kaiserliche Marine, 1914-1918) and the Allied efforts to counter the threat. But the list seems pretty complete. Their toll of enemy shipping was 2,603 merchant ships of over 13½ million tons, and 175 naval vessels of all types. The lists are as complete as possible but it is recognized, of course, that new information may still come to light and some merchant ships may have slipped through the cracks of official records. Most of the 315 crew and 1103 passengers abandoned ship in 26 lifeboats. In addition to the main papers which make up each issue, there is an extensive The number of British merchant ships lost during the war increased in frequency as time went on. At 16.12 hours on 27 April 1941 the unescorted British motor merchant ship Beacon Grange (Master Alfred Byford Friend) was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-552 south of Iceland. Many cruisers and destroyers etc were also lost, and hundreds of merchant ships. These records are digitised cards recording the movements of British and Allied merchant ships during the Second World War. U.S. Year: Month: Day: You must select year, month and day. In February, the killing continued. The steam passenger ship Athenia was torpedoed without warning in the Atlantic, west of Ireland. Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939. The electronic version of Economica is available at http://www.interscience.wiley.com. ( Log Out /  The Merchant Navy claims that roughly 177 were Merchant ships. In 1942, the average sinking of Allied merchant ships was thirty-three ships each week. Tennent, A J, British Merchant Ships sunk by U-Boats in the 1914-18 War (Starling Press, 1990) Williams, D, Wartime Disasters At Sea, Every Passenger Ship Lost in World Wars I & II, (Yeovil, 1997). Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Merchant seamen crewed the ships of the British Merchant Navy which kept the United Kingdom supplied with raw materials, arms, ammunition, fuel, food and all of the necessities of a nation at war throughout World War II — literally enabling the country to defend itself. BRIGHTON QUEEN (R, 807t, 1905), lost by gunfire off Dunkirk, June 1, 1940. The SS Thistlegorm, a British Merchant Navy ship, sank after it was bombed by two German planes in 1941. This item is part of JSTOR collection Silver bullion from sunken WWII ship makes it to the Mint at last. The British Merchant Navy was the biggest in the world and required more crew than Great Britain had merchant seamen, as the result large numbers of Indian, Chinese and West African seamen were engaged to crew ships which regularly traded from Great Britain to ports in those areas. www.USMM.org ©1998 - 2007. Another 179 merchantmen were sunk … Moreover, ships may not have sunk until several hours (or even days) after the initial attack. The British Merchant Navy fleet was the largest in the world in 1939 and around 185,000 men served in it during the war. British Merchant Marine - 25,070 men killed on the 2,426 ships sunk. Change ). 19 crew members and 93 passengers were lost. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. The master, 73 crew members and eight gunners were picked up by the Belgian trawler Edouvard Anseele, transferred to HMS Gladiolus (K 34) (LtCdr H.M.C. British Warships Sunk In Ww2. 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