October 2023 Updates

Updates for this month:

82 records edited (additional links, corrections)
51 records moved to better locations
0 records deleted
18 records added

The following sunken vessels were added to the database:

Ametista, sunk 13 September 1943
Citta di Milano, sunk 9 September 1943
Fratelli Cairoli, sunk 23 December 1940
Köln, sunk 17 June 1944
Lanzerotto Malccello, sunk 24 March 1943
Marcantonio Colonna, sunk 9 September 1943
Quarnaro, sunk 20 September 1943 (Read about it on Instagram)
Scorfano, sunk 20 January 1943
Sfinge, sunk 14 May 1943
Silvia Onorato, 20 July 1943
Splendor x 2, sunk 9 September 1943 AND 9 August 1944
Uragano, sunk 3 February 1943
Verace, sunk 16 October 1940
Vesta, sunk 9 October 1944 (Read about it on Instagram)
Vettor Pisani, sunk 25 July 1942
Vincenzo, sunk 11 August 1943
Virgilio, sunk 6 December 1943

September 2023 Updates

Updates for this month:

24 records edited (additonal links, corrections)
17 records moved to better locations
3 records deleted
18 records added

The following sunken vessels were added to the database:

Gemma, sunk 30 January 1943
Kawsar, sunk 11 April 1942
Petronio, sunk 15 July 1944
Picci Fassio, sunk 2 September 1942
Pietro Orseolo, sunk 18 December 1943
Ravello, sunk 19 April 1945
Rete Impero I, sunk 22 July 1943
Rina Croce, sunk 25 September 1940
Sabaudia, sunk 10 May 1943
Scaro Cuore, sunk 2 December 1942
Sagitta, sunk 9 November 1941
Salvatore Primo, sunk 21 June 1943
San Barbara, sunk 20 January 1943
San Paola, sunk 16 November 1942
San Vincenzo, sunk 30 March 1943
Sanandrea, sunk 31 August 1942
Sant’ Aniello, sunk 30 January 1943
Santa Maria del Salvazione, sunk 30 March 1943

Currently 15,332 ships mapped.

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).

Danish Shipping Losses in World War II

The Danish merchant fleet’s history is varied with ships at one time being laid up, in neutral, Allied and Axis hands. Totaling 868,797 tons when the war began on September 1, 1939, by the end of the war it had been reduced by 44%.

The Sankey diagram explains the demise of the Danish merchant fleet’s in World War II.

Compare Denmark to Belgium.

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.

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

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.