The Month the Tonnage War was Lost

It’s debtable whether or not the Germans ever came close to winning the tonnage war in World War II. I personally don’t think so but more numbers would need to be collected including the construction records of Allied shipyards not in North America as well as a determination of how much shpping tonnage Britain would have needed to stay alive. However, after collecting the merchant shipping tonnage built by Canada and the United States during the Second World War and comparing that to what I have for Allied merchant shipping losses, it doesn’t seem likely. These 2 countries alone accounted for 37.7 million gross registered tons of shipping. What this number does not account for is the amount of shipping that became available to the Allies when the United States entered the war as well as any of the new construction that happened outside of North America. That, obviously, requires a bit more work to include.

In the meantime, the first chart above compares the cumulative gains (new construction) and losses for the Allies for each month of the war. The two North American countries began to build ships faster than they could be sunk in Spetember, 1942 when 713,204 tons of new merchant shipping was delivered while 500,881 tons was lost due to war. With one exception, in every month from then on until the end of the war, Canada and the United States (the latter accounting for 93% of total war time production) easily replaced Allied losses. The German submarine arm’s Black May in which 41 of its boats were lost had yet to happen and was just the final nail in the coffin for the Germans.

Even so, it wasn’t until December 1943 that all Allied shipping losses since the beginning of the war were replaced with new construction (below).

August 2023 Updates

A slow month for updates.

Updates for this month:

  • 23 records edited (additional links, corrections)
  • 5 records moved to better locations
  • 1 record deleted
  • 3 new additions

The following vessels were added to the database:

  • Astrid, sunk September 17, 1942
  • Hans Broge, sunk June 15, 1941
  • Snark, sunk February 24, 1942 off Nouméa (read about it on Instagram)
Snark, when it was stilled named Olympia

Belgian Merchant Shipping Losses in World War II

The Belgian merchant ship Bruxelles, 5,085 tons, sunk on June 9, 1942

Belgium was a relatively minor player in the Second World War, both on land and on the sea. At the start of the war in September 1939, it boasted a merchant fleet of only 472,182 tons – well behind the UK, the undisputed world leader in shipping at the time with 16.6 million tons. In the period of September 1939 to May 1940 before Belgium was invaded by the Germans and the country joined the Allied cause it had already lost close 30,000 tons of shipping to accidents, mines and German torpedoes (even though it was officially neutral).

When Belgium surrendered to the Germans on May 28, 1940 only a small part of its merchant fleet fell into German hands – about 71,000 tons – while the majority – 358,000 tons – continued to serve the Allies. The Germans steadily whittled away at this disadvantage throughout the war so that by the end of the war, only about 108,000 tons of Belgian shipping in Allied control remained afloat. Of the 71,000 tons the Germans had captured, only 21,000 tons managed to survive the war. In the end, only 27% of the Belgian merchant fleet that existed at the start of the war survived to the end.

The sankey chart below provides a breakdown of the status of the Belgian fleet during the course of the war.

July 2023 Updates

Updates for this month:

  • 107 records edited (additonal links, spelling corrections)
  • 132 records moved to better locations
  • 5 records deleted
  • 27 new additions

The following vessels were added to the database:

  • Adjbi, sunk January 24, 1943 off the coast of Tunisia
  • Alessandro Volta, sunk March 22, 1943 off the coast of Sicily
  • British Inventor, sunk June 13, 1940 off the south coast of England
  • Cabedello, sunk February 25, 1942 in the middle Atlantic Ocean
  • Elisabeth, sunk April 7, 1941 off the south coast of England
  • Gladiator, sunk May 21, 1941off the coast of Croatia
  • Guglielmo Marconi, sunk January 20, 1943 off the coast of Tunisia
  • Intrepido, sunk October 26, 1940 off the coast of Libya
  • Irma, sunk January 20, 1943 off the coast of Libya
  • Istria, sunk August 27, 1942 between Libya and Crete
  • La Mora, sunk June 12, 1940 off the west coast of Italy
  • Lindbergh, sunk February 19, 1943 off the south coast of England
  • Listrac, sunk October 17, 1940 off the south coast of England
  • Littoria, sunk February 4, 1943 off the coast of Montenegro
  • Lodoletta, sunk August 3, 1940, off the coast of Libya
  • Madonna di Porto Salvo, sunk April 10, 1943 off the west coast of Italy
  • Mafalda, sunk January 31, 1945 off the west coast of Italy
  • Manfred Camperio, sunk Agust 27, 1942 west of Crete
  • Margottini, sunk February 10, 1943 off the coast of Montenegro
  • Maria G, sunk January 21, 1941 off the coast of Sardinia
  • Monginevro, sunk April 17, 1943 off the coast of Tunisia
  • Monti, sunk March 22, 1943 off the coast of Tunisia
  • Nereus, sunk March 25, 1941 off the coast of Sicily
  • Octaviano Augusto, sunk November 1, 1943 near Ancona, Italy (read about it on Instagram)
  • Rinova, sunk February 11, 1940 off the south coast of England
  • Savoia, sunk July 18, 1944 near Ancona, Italy (read about it on Instagram)
  • Stanwood, sunk December 10, 1939 off the south coast of England
The Italian liner Savioa in happier days

Visit the dashboard to see them all! Or use the Find-A-Ship app.

June 2023 Updates

Updates for the month:

  • 82 records edited (additional links, spelling corrections)
  • 150 records moved to better locations
  • 5 records deleted
  • 25 new additions

The following vessels were added to the database:

  • Carry On, sunk 17 December 1940, in the Thames Estuary
  • Duolio Cesare, sunk 10 July 1944, at Trieste – see it and read about it on Instagram
  • V 16 Filuccio, sunk 17 September 1941, west of Tripoli
  • Frankfurt, sunk 22 March 1945, in the Baltic Sea
  • Giorgio, sunk 24 Mrch 1943, off the west end of Sicily
  • Giovanni delle Bande Nore, sunk 5 May 1943, off the west end of Sicily
  • Giudecca, sunk 13 October 1944, near Venice
  • Giuseppe e Maria, sunk 9 November 1940, off the southern tip of Sicily
  • Grethe Mortensen, sunk 7 November 1944, off the Thames Estuary
  • No 56, Barometr, sunk 28 August 1941, in the Gulf of Finland
  • No 71 Krab, sunk 28 August 1941, in the Gulf of Finland
  • Lenin, on 24 June 1941, at Liepaja / Libau
  • M 1707 Lunenberg, sunk 17 September 1941, off the coast of Latvia
  • Monte Olivia, 3 April 1945, at Kiel – see it and read about it on Instagram
  • New York, sunk 3 April 1945, at Kiel – see it and read about it on Instagram
  • Østbornholm, sunk 8 May 1945, at Bornholm – see it and read about it on Instgram
  • Sabaudia, sunk 7 July 1944, at Trieste – see it and read about it on Instagram
  • Schiffbek, sunk 6 November 1944, off the coast of Estonia
  • VT-512 Tobol, sunk 28 August, 1941, in the Gulf of Finland
  • Tsiklon, sunk 28 August 1941, in the Gulf of Finland
  • Umvoti, sunk 29 July 1940, near Folkestone
  • Yakov Sverdlov, sunk 28 August 1941, in the Gulf of Finland
  • TN-12, sunk 28 August 1941, in the Gulf of Finland
  • T-202, sunk 15 August 1941, in the Gulf of Finland  
  • T-203 Patron, sunk 25 October 1941, in the Gulf of Finland

Visit the dashboard to see them all! Or use the Find-A-Ship app.

A Ticking Time Bomb

The Lethal Legacy of Wrecks from World War II

This 52 minute documentary sheds light why it is good to know where the sunken ships of the Second World War are. Though it grossly underestimates the number of sunken vessels as a result of that conflict (8,500 over 400 tons – in reality that number is around 12,800), it is a wonderful blend of mapping, history and environmental science that illuminates the value of my project of mapping the location of every ship sunk in the Second World War.

May 2023 Updates

Updates for the month:

  • 124 records edited (additional links, spelling corrections)
  • 204 records moved to better locations
  • 3 records deleted
  • 14 new additions
Plumleaf ablaze in Malta

The following vessels were added to the database:

  • Araybank, sunk 16 May 1941 in Suda Bay, Crete
  • FY164 Arctic Pioneer, sunk 27 May 1941 off Portmouth
  • British Officer, sunk 12 January 1940 off Newcastle
  • T 07 Coral, sunk 31 October 1941, at Malta
  • Danilo B, sunk 10 June 1940, south of Naples
  • Fella, scuttled 31 March 1941, at Punta Arenas, Costa Rica – see it and read about on Instagram
  • F 78 Fauna, sunk 30 April 1943, southwest of Sicily
  • F 39 Fertilia, sunk 23 November 1942, east of Tunisia
  • Gripfast, sunk 29 January 1940, off Bridlington, England
  • G87 Lance, sunk 9 April 1942, at Malta – see it and read about it on Instagram
  • Logician, sunk 25 May 1941, in Suda Bay, Crete
  • Olna, sunk 18 May 1941, in Suda Bay, Crete
  • Plumleaf, sunk 4 April 1942, at Malta
  • Rokos, sunk 26 May 1941, in Suda Bay, Crete

Visit the dashboard to see them all! Or use the Find-A-Ship app.

April 2023 Updates

Updates for the month:

  • 129 records edited (additional links, spelling corrections)
  • 228 records moved to better locations
  • 2 records deleted
  • 20 new additions

The following vessels were added to the database:

  • V 87 Aosta, sunk 18 February 1942 in the Mediterraean between Tunisia and Sicily
  • Ariosta, sunk 15 February 1942 off the coast of Tunisa
  • Saint Octave, sunk 29 May 1940 at Dunkirk
  • Royal Daffodil II, sunk 7 May1941 at Liverpool – more on Instagram
  • Baicin, sunk 27 February 1943 in the Ligurian Sea
  • Balena, sunk 16 February 1942 in the Bay of Biscay
  • Bella Italia, sunk 9 April 1943 off the southeast coast of Sardinia
  • Ben Hur, sunk 13 July 1943 off the coast of Italy northwest of Livorno
  • Cressdene, sunk 17 March 1942 off the coast of England east of Harwich
  • Buenos Aires II, sunk 8 November 1942 off the coast of Libya
  • Cadamosto, 22 December 1941 off the coast of Libya
  • Capodoglio, 26 September 1941 off the coast of Libya
  • Carlo Splendor, 7 July 1943 off the east coast of Sicily
  • Carlotta, sunk 19 June 1942 off the coast of Montenegro
  • Pearl, sunk 17 December 1939 in the North Sea
  • Cinzia, sunk 20 January 1943 off the coast of Libya
  • Città di Agrigento, sunk 20 July 1942 at Mersa Matrouh, Egypt – more on Instagram
  • Colombo, sunk 16 April 1944 in the Gulf of Taranto
  • Dungeness, sunk 15 November 1940 off the coast of Norfolk, UK
  • Constantina, sunk 20 December 1942 off the coast of Tunisia

Visit the dashboard to see them all! Or use the Find-A-Ship app.

Saint Octave in the midst of the wreckage of the recently departed British Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk, August, 1940

Luftwaffe Maritime Successes

FW-200C-1 Condor via AirVectors

Much of the Germans success against Allied shipping can be rightfully attributed to their submarine fleet. Of the close to 5,000 vessels the Germans sank, 2,939 of them can be attributable to the Kriegsmarine’s submarine arm. Far behind in number but still significant are the number of ships sunk by the Luftwaffe: 1,312.

Much of this, of course, occurred in-shore along the coast of the British Isles or in the Mediterranean but the Luftwaffe did have some success with the Allies’ trans-Atlantic supply route. There the Germans employed their only long-range bomber, the 4-engined Folke-Wulf 200 Condor, with some success. With a range of 3,560 kilometres the bombers could reach out almost the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, at least at one point.

The map above shows the location of some of the 1,312 ships that were sunk by Luftwaffe aircraft. The dashed blue line indicates the approximate range of the Folke-Wulf 200. Another 413 vessels remain unmapped but most of these were in Allied harbours.