According to the War Shipping Administration, the
Overall, the Japanese sank about 1 million tons of Allied merchant ships, trying to impact the supply chain. In contrast, German U-boats sank over 14 million tons, and Americans almost 5 million tons. By the end of the war, Japanese submarines were used to transport supplies to islands.
Wilhelm Gustloff – The German militarized KdF flagship sank after being hit by three torpedoes fired by the Soviet submarine S-13 on 30 January in the Baltic. The official death toll is 5,348, but it is estimated that up to 9,343 were killed, making it possibly the worst single-ship loss of life in history.
On July 28, 1945, USS Callaghan (DD-792) was the last U.S. Navy ship to be sunk by a Japanese Kamikaze attack when she was hit on radar picket station approximately 50 miles southwest of Okinawa.
The Imperial Japanese Navy lost 334 warships (out of 611 total vessels) and just over 300,000 men during the course of the war. Over 2,000 Japanese merchant ships were sunk with tens of thousands of crewmen lost. Japanese aircraft carrier Amagi, shown capsized at Kure, October 1945 (80-G-351749).
1939 - 1945
At the beginning of World War II, the Royal Navy was the strongest navy in the world, with the largest number of warships built and with naval bases across the globe. It had over 15 battleships and battlecruisers, 7 aircraft carriers, 66 cruisers, 164 destroyers and 66 submarines.
The next important statistic is the Kriegsmarine's losses during the war. Throughout World War II, the Kriegsmarine lost 7 capital ships, 6 cruisers, 7 raiders, and 27 destroyers, totaling 47 major surface ships. Under the surface, the Kriegsmarine lost 780 U-boats throughout the war.
America has just three fully operational merchant ships remaining from WWII—and this 455-foot Victory-class vessel is one of them.
1. The Wilhelm Gustloff (1945): The deadliest shipwreck in history. On January 30, 1945, some 9,000 people perished aboard this German ocean liner after it was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine and sank in the frigid waters of the Baltic Sea.
The USS Mannert L. Abele suddenly found itself "surrounded by hostile planes,” the Naval History and Heritage Command said. Wreckage from a U.S. Navy destroyer sunk by a kamikaze aircraft attack during World War II has been discovered by a team of underwater explorers in the Pacific Ocean. The USS Mannert L.
The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people during the war, including 8.7 million military and 19 million civilians. This represents the most military deaths of any nation by a large margin.
The Panther is often believed to be the best German tank of the Second World War. When the Germans invaded Russia in June 1941, they were surprised by the quantity and quality of Soviet armour. Hitler ordered that the T-34 be copied and the result was the Panther, which saw action for the first time at Kursk in 1943.
The Royal Navy lost 73 and the U.S. Navy 52 submarines, while France lost 59. The Soviet Union′s submarine losses are not necessarily fully known, but the Soviet Navy probably lost 98 submarines. Submarines show submerged displacement in long tons.
German submarine U-864.
The USS Samuel B. Roberts was affectionately called the Sammy B. The ship's only captain was a junior officer in the Navy Reserve from Tacoma.
The dubious honor of the worst sinking of all time goes to the Wilhelm Gustloff, torpedoed by a Russian submarine on January 30th, 1945. She was crammed to the gunwales with German refugees, fleeing the advancing Russian Army in the waning months of World War Two.
The Extremely Ancient Dokos Shipwreck
Among them, the Dokos wreck is thought to be the oldest shipwreck found to date. It dates before c. 2200 BCE, judging by the pottery cargo it carried. It was discovered by Peter in 1975 at a depth of fifteen to thirty meters near the Greek island of Dokos.
Despite their prevalence during World War I and World War II, only four U-boats remain intact today. (Others rest on the ocean floor.) Preserved as museum vessels, these U-boats are the reminders of the thousands of men who died in these “iron coffins.”
USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned ship in the United States Navy. Naval officers and crew still serve aboard the ship today.
The Story of The Battleship Yamato, The Most Powerful Ship In World War II History | WLRN.
The tremendous accomplishments of American submarines were achieved at the expense of 52 subs with 374 officers and 3,131 enlisted volunteers lost during combat against Japan; Japan lost 128 submarines during the Second World War in Pacific waters.
On Thursday, the Missouri retired aerospace engineer fought back tears as he was notified that a submarine wreck, discovered off the coast of Japan last year, is what remains of the USS Albacore -- one of 52 Navy submarines lost during World War II, according to Naval History and Heritage Command, or NHHC.
Of 39,000 U-boat crewmen who went on patrol during the war, 27,490 of them did not come back, a fatality rate of 70.4 percent. And of the 11,500 lucky ones who evaded death, 5,000 – nearly one-half – survived only because the Allies rescued them after their U-boats were sunk.