141


The number of enemy aircraft that were shot down by the ships of theMerchant Navy between 12 April 1940,


and the end of July 1944. They also shared a further 163 victories with Royal Navy vessels during the same period.


this they also transported 23,000 military vehicles, some 1,300 aircraft and hundreds of locomotives.


2,000 2/3


400,000 The number of tons of military and air stores carried overseas in the month of October 1941 alone. In addition to


The approximate number of people killed in the worst British maritime disaster of the SecondWorld


War – indeed in the history of theMerchant Navy. The true number of deaths when the Cunard liner RMS Lancastria was sunk off St Nazaire on 17 June 1940, will never be known.


The fraction of the total amount of Allied shipping sunk by German U-boats that was lost by the BritishMerchantNavy. The U-boats sank nearly 17.7million tons of Allied shipping which amounted to 2,828 ships.


243,000 The number ofmiles steamed in the first four months of the SecondWorldWar alone by the tanker British


Confidence. (She survived the war).


54% 2,075


2,000


The total number of ships lost as a percentage of the size of theMerchantNavy at the outbreak of the SecondWorldWar.


Was the number of days that the Battle of the Atlantic lasted. It was the longest continuous


campaign of the SecondWorldWar.


8 hours 40 minutesThe length of time that passed between Britain’s declaration of war against Germany on 3


September 1940, and the sinking of the first British merchant ship. A liner, the SS Athenia was torpedoed off Ireland by U-30.


The number of UK merchant ships at sea at any one time during the war.


14 years 152 days The age of Boy Reginald Earnshaw who was killed on 6 July 1941, during a Luftwaffe attack on


the SS North Devon. Earnshaw was not only the youngestMerchant Navy casualty of the SecondWorldWar, but the youngest Commonwealth service casualty. The second youngest is another Merchant seaman, Galley Boy Raymond Steed. Steed was 14 years and 207 days old when he was killed serving on the SS EmpireMoon.


16.5 24


The number of tons of spare parts required to be shipped overseas to keep one hundred 25-pounder


guns in action for one year.


8,973 The number of officers and men of theMerchant Navy who received gallantry awards for their actions in the Second


WorldWar. This included four George Crosses and 2,568Mentioned in Despatches.


Allied convoy of the SecondWorldWar. Convoy PQ17 was heading for the Soviet port of Archangel when it was ordered to scatter.


35 13.5m


The size in gross tons by which theMerchant Navy had shrunk by the end of the SecondWorldWar.


30,589 The number of merchant seamen from all nationalities who lost their lives serving in British ships during the


SecondWorldWar. A further 4,215 were wounded, 690 listed as missing and 4,088 were captured and imprisoned by the enemy.


RIGHT: A merchant seaman is pulled from a raft following the sinking of his ship – believed to have been theBritish cargo ship LancastrianPrincewhichwas torpedoed off Newfoundland by U-404 on 11May 1943. (HMP)


Is howmanymerchant ships were lost in what is referred to as themost costly


THEMERCHANT NAVY INTHE SECONDWORLD WAR ...


IN NUMBERS


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