The database of ships sunk during the Second World War currently contains 19,862 records, 15,025 or about 75% mapped. These ships were sunk in different ways but they can all be categorized into one of the following: submarine attack, surface vessel attack, aircraft attack, land-based attack, mines, scuttling, other means and unknown means. The breakdown is as follows:
| Type of Attack | Number of Vessels Sunk | Percentage of All Vessels Sunk |
| Submarine | 6,721 | 33.8% |
| Aircraft | 5,624 | 28.5% |
| Mine | 2,669 | 13.4% |
| Scuttled | 2,199 | 11.1% |
| Surface Vessel | 1,833 | 9.2% |
| Land-based | 177 | 0.9% |
| Other | 248 | 1.2% |
| Unknown | 394 | 2.0% |
| Total | 19,866 | 100.0% |
Attacks by submarines, aircraft and surface vessels accounted for 71% of all the vessels sunk during the Second World War.
Sunken Ships of the Second World War 