Author: mapsterman

Australian Cargo Ship Macdhui

The wreck of the Macdhui (Source: Esri, Maxar)

One of the few wrecks that is still visible from the air, the Australian passenger / cargo ship Macdhui was sunk on June 18, 1942 after being bombed by Japanese aircraft near Port Morseby, New Guinea.

Tonnage: 4,561

Casualties: 10

Location: 9 26 56S 147 8 13E

For further reference: Wikipedia, Pacific Wrecks, Michael McFadyen’s Scuba Diving Web Site, PNG Attitude, WreckSite

See it in on the map.

Russian destroyer Svobodny

Russian destroyer Svobodny, sunk on June 10, 1942 while unloading ammunition for the besieged Russian garrison at Sevastopol. Location of the sinking was in Korabelnaya (корабельная) Bay in Sevastopol. The Wikipedia image of the ship to the left indicates it was moored along a quay when it was sunk.

Tonnage: 1,727

Casualties: 67

Location placed at 44 36 55N, 33 32 5E (a best guess)

For further reference: Wikipedia, uboat.net

See it in on the map.

Project Scope

What is this all about?

One of the books that made an impression on me as I was growing up in the 1970s was C. S. Forester’s Sink the Bismarck! Although it wasn’t the most factual account of the destruction of the the great German battleship, it did spark a life-long interest in me in Second World War naval warfare.

My other great interest while I was growing up was maps. That interest I eventually turned into a satisfying career.

Ten years ago I was surfing around the Internet and came across uboat.net, a detailed and thorough site that lists all of the ships sunk by German u-boats and their locations as well as the u-boats themselves. The site is great but the focus I found to be too limiting. U-boats played a major role in the Battle of the Atlantic but did not account for all the shipping losses in that theatre. Where were the ships sunk by mines or bombs or shells? Or, for that matter, what about the rest of the war, especially the naval war in the Pacific?

I looked about the Internet and quickly realized that no such database and/or map existed. There was a rather unsatisfactory map of World War II shipwrecks produced by SeaAustralia but it was grainy and static. Clearly, if I wanted to see such a map, I would have to create it.

And so I embarked on a project of mapping all of the ships sunk during the Second World War as a result of military action (i.e. no accidental sinkings). After 8 years of research I came up with a database and an interactive map that contained over 13,000 records. Since I published this mapping application in 2020 I have continued to research the Internet and hard copy sources for the locations of the 5,000 records for which I did not have location. This has continued to yield results and I have been able to add another 800 or so locations to the map.

Take some time with the mapping application and look up your favourite ship or location. There are bound to be mistakes so let me know if you find any.

Return to this site to learn of updates and other Second World War naval warfare maps.

Launch the mapping application to see the results.

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