Merchant Vessels - World War II


Merchant Vessels sunk in World War II - Characteristics and Losses
			Casualties	Casualties
Ship	Date	Tonnage	Lost	Lost	Fate / Career
			Passengers	Crew
SS Athenia	03/09/1939	13,581	93	19	04/09/1939 - Sank
					1st Ship lost in World War I

HMS Rawalpindi	23/11/1939	16,697		238	Sunk by Deutschland

RMS Lancastria	17/06/1940	16,243	3000+	6	Sunk by Air attack, largest loss of life

RMS Empress of Britain	26/10/1940	42,348	25	20	Torpedoed and sunk by Submarine

HMS Jervis Bay	05/11/1940	14,164	-	187	Sunk by Admiral Scheer
(Converted Passenger liner)					65 Survivors

MV San Demetrio	17/03/1942	8,073	-	19	7,000 tons of Avaiation fuel
(Tanker)					4,000 tons of fuel
					Sunk torpedoed by Submarine

RMS Empress of Asia	05/02/1942	16,909	-	16	Aircraft
(Ocean Liner)					416 Crew, 25 Gunners, 2235 Troops
					Armed Merchant Cruiser and Troopship

Empress of Canada	13/03/1943	21,517	340*	44	Torpedoed and sunk by Italian Submarine
(Ocean Liner)				8 gunners	*Fatalities including Italian POWs
					Ocean liner converted to Troopship

Ohio OHMS	12/08/1942	9,514	7	1	13,500 tons of fuel
(Tanker)				1 gunner	Towed out of Grand Harbour
					Sunk 19/09/1946

The Merchant Vessels played an extraordinary role during World War II either as troop ships or supply vessels. The history behind these ships and the courage of the men who crewed them is both fascinating and compelling.

This is not a comprehensive list of Merchant Vessels lost in WWII, please contact us if you think that other notable vessels should be added to Familyrelatives.com.

The Overseas Records are available for Free on Familyrelatives.com, to view these select the "Data Type" i.e. GRO Marine Deaths Indexes or GRO Marine Births for records information.