U.S. Merchant Marine Casualties during World War II Mariners suffered the highest rate of casualties of any service in World War II, but unfortunately, the U.S. Merchant Marine had no official historians and researchers, thus casualty statistics vary. Revised 08/26/06 Mariners died "direct result of enemy action or as POW on American flag ships" according to U.S. Coast Guard, 1950 (excluded Army Transport and U.S. owned foreign flag ships) 5,662 Mariners died compiled by Captain Arthur Moore ("Careless Word" 1998 edition) 6,847 Mariners died compiled by www.USMM.org 8,421^

^Additional 1,100 died of wounds later according to testimony before Congress.

Comparison of Merchant Marine casualty rate to other services How many U.S. Merchant Marine and U.S. Army Transport Service casualties were there in World War II? We may never know the exact count, because the U.S. government never kept accurate records as it did for other services. The best previous accounting has been by Captain Arthur R. Moore, an independent researcher, in his great work, A Careless Word -- a Needless Sinking: A History of the Staggering Losses Suffered by the U.S. Merchant Marine, both in Ships and Personnel, during World War II, American Merchant Marine Museum, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, N.Y., 1983 to 1998. Captain Moore's book lists approx. 990 ships. www.usmm.org list includes 1,600 ships. Service N umber serving War Dead Percent Ratio Merchant Marine 243,000* 9,521** 3.90% 1 in 26 Marines 669,108 19,733 2.94% 1 in 34 Army 11,268,000 234,874 2.08% 1 in 48 Navy 4,183,466 36,958 0 .88% 1 in 114 Coast Guard 242,093 574 0. 24% 1 in 421 Total 16,576,667 295,790 1.78% 1 in 56 *Number varies by source and ranges from 215,000 to 285,000. War Shipping Administration Press Release 2514, January 1, 1946, lists 243,000

**Total killed at sea, POW killed, plus died from wounds ashore Mariner Prisoners of War POWs Died as POW Prisoners of War, Coast Guard 610 37 Prisoners of War, compiled by Captain Arthur Moore 663 66 Prisoners of War, compiled by www.USMM.org 712 97 Mariners in National Cemeteries Overseas Mariners buried or commemorated in American Battle Monuments Commission National Cemeteries overseas: 595 Mariners buried ABMC not found on Coast Guard or Capt. Moore lists: 482 Mariners Wounded Wounded, testimony in Hearings before Congress: 12,000 Wounded, partial list compiled by www.USMM.org: 1,078 Died from their wounds in Public Health Hospitals and Allied military hospitals abroad, testimony in Hearings before Congress (Estimated -- records apparently destroyed): 1,100 Mariner and Armed Guard Casualties by Year An average merchant ship had a crew of 42 mariners, thus 1,614 ships sunk or damaged involved approx. 68,000 men of a total force of 243,000 of whom 8,400 died immediately and an additional 1,100 died later of their wounds. Note that 35% of the sinkings/damage to ships and 52% of the mariner deaths occurred in 1942. Graphs showign sinkings by year and month Late in the war, a typical Armed Guard crew comprised 27 men, but in 1942 there were few guns and few Armed Guard aboard. It took time to train, assign Armed Guard, and to arm the ships. As late as August 1942, some ships had no Armed Guard aboard (California shelled August 13, West Celina torpedoed August 18, Arlyn torpedoed August 27). The number of Armed Guard assigned to a ship during 1942 was quite low - for example, the American Leader (Capt. George Duffy's ship) had 9 Armed Guard aboard in Sept. 1942. Syros, sunk in Convoy PQ 16, had 2 Navy signalmen aboard. The ships of Convoy PQ 17 (July 1942) had 2 to 15 Armed Guard aboard. Ships Sunk-Damaged Mariners Aboard (approx.) Mariners Died Armed Guard

Died 1940 7 294 13 0 1941 96 4,032 331 0 1942 571 23,982 4,363 622 1943 374 15,708 2,053 1,007 1944 332 13,944 929 423 1945 183 7,686 479 141 1946 46 1,932 64 0 1947 5 210 4 0 Year Unk. 185 Total 1,614 67,700 8,421 2193^ ^Includes some U.S. Navy passengers. Mariner Casualties by Month in 1942

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 289 435 570 381 493 624 259 151 338 303 306 214 Armed Guard Casualties by month in 1942 (Total 622) Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 9 21 8 20 34 52 57 38 104 110 102 67

U.S. Owned or Chartered Ships Attacked Before Pearl Harbor

At least 243 mariners were killed in action before Pearl Harbor.

Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths 10/09/39 SS City of Flint Hog Island freighter Capture by pocket battleship Deutchland Released NAtlantic None 06/12/40 Exochorda Freighter Shelled Slight damage Med-Black Sea None 11/09/40 City of Rayville Freighter German mine Sunk Australian coast Crew 1 12/21/40 Charles Pratt Tanker (Panama) Torpedo Sunk SAtlantic Crew 2 05/21/41 Robin Moor Hog Islander Torpedo & Shelled Sunk Caribbean None 08/11/41 Iberville Freighter Aerial mine from German aircraft Damaged Red Sea None 08/17/41 Longtaker [former Danish Sessa] Freighter (Panama) Torpedo & Shelled Sunk NAtlantic Crew 24 (3 survivors) 09/05/41 Steel Seafarer Freighter Bombed by German aircraft Sunk Gulf of Suez None 09/11/41 Arkansan Freighter Shelled Damaged Indian-Red Sea None 09/11/41 Montana [former Danish Paula] Freighter (Panama) Torpedo Sunk North Atlantic Crew 26 09/19/41 Pink Star [former Danish Landby] Freighter (Panama) Torpedo Sunk North Atlantic Crew 13 09/27/41 I. C. White Tanker (Panama) Torpedo Sunk South Atlantic Crew 3 10/16/41 Bold Venture [former Danish Alssund] Freighter (Panama) Torpedo Sunk North Atlantic Crew 17, (17 survivors) 10/19/41 Lehigh Freighter Torpedo Sunk ApproachMed None 11/05/41 Montrose Freighter Collision Unknown North Atlantic Unknown 11/11/41 Meridian [former Italian Dino] Freighter (Panama) Torpedo Sunk North Atlantic Crew approx. 38 11/14/41 Crusader [former Danish Brosund] Freighter Torpedo Sunk North Atlantic Crew approx 33; German POW 1 11/16/41 Turecamo Boys Tug Unknown Sunk North Atlantic Crew 9 11/19/41 Del Pidio Unknown (Philippines) Mine Unknown Philippines Crew 6 11/19/41 Edridio Mindoro (67 ton) Mine Sunk Philippines Unknown 12/02/41 Astral Tanker Torpedo Sunk NAtlantic Crew 37 12/03/41 Sagadahoc Freighter Torpedo Sunk ApproachMed Crew 1 12/07/41 Cynthia Olson Steam Schooner Torpedo Sunk Pacific Crew 33; US Army 2

33 United States Flag Merchant Ships That Vanished

(Confirmation of attacks came after World War II from German records)

SS Albert F. Paul SS Lake Osweya SS Norlavore^^ SS Astral SS La Salle SS Norvana SS Azalea City SS Louisiana SS Robin Goodfellow SS C. J. Barkdull SS Louise Lykes SS Robert Gray SS Coamo SS L.J. Drake SS Samuel Heintzelman SS Cynthia Olson SS Major Wheeler SS Sumner I. Kimball SS Edward B. Dudley SS Margaret SS Sunoil SS Esso Williamsburg SS Mariana SS Tillie Lykes^^ SS Frances Salman SS Meridian SS West Ivis SS James McKay SS Meriwether Lewis SS West Portal SS John Winthrop SS Muskogee SS Wichita

^^Not due to enemy action

Names of Mariners killed during World War II

We are extremely grateful to Perry and Barbara Adams of San Carlos, CA who did much of the data entry for the following names of mariners, and who graciously provided their list. Thank you!

The names of about 300 mariners are listed as "Unknown" at this time. We know only that a certain number of persons were lost when ships such as the Cieba, or Olympic when down. This is particularly true for Panamanian flag ships which were U.S. owned and controlled by the War Shipping Administration to carry supplies and raw material for the war effort.

Thank you all who have written with corrections and additions.

Sources: