Submarines in WWII

[Danelov]

Some numbers and results to compare the employment of submarines by different countries.

Regards


US NAVY
Engaged 315 submarines in WWII
Sunk 1280 enemy ships(including 201 warships)
Sunk 4.649.650 t of enemy merchant traffic
Loss 55 submarines all causes(45 in combat with the IJN)

ROYAL NAVY
Engaged 215 submarines in WWII
Sunk 169 enemy ships(including 57 warships)
Sunk 5 enemy ships (mines dropped by submarines)
Heavy Damaged 55 enemy ships
Loss 75 submarines all causes(68 in action)

SOVIET NAVY
Engaged 283 submarines in WWII
Sunk 160 enemy ships
Sunk 402.437 t of enemy merchant traffic
Loss 109 submarines all causes


DUTCH NAVY(HOLLAND)
Engaged 27 submarines in WWII
Sunk 68.381 t of enemy warships(1 IJN Destroyer, 2 Patrol boat, 3 submarines,6 troop transports,2 minelayers,other minor units)
Sunk 71.542 t of enemy merchant Traffic
Damaged IJN CL Tsugaru, CA Nachi, tanker Tsurumi,Troop transport Sakura Maru,Submarine Corridoni,Freighter Shinyu Maru,Auxiliar Minelayer Wakataka
Loss 14 submarines all causes


POLISH NAVY

Engaged 8 submarines in WWII
Sunk 19.446 t of enemy merchant traffic
Sunk Two minor warships(Subchaser Mowe and Minesweeper M85)
Damaged Bulgarian Troop transport Balkan(3838 t)and Italian destroyer Aviere
Loss 2 submarines(Orzel and Jastrzab P551)and three other were interned in Sweden.

ROYAL HELLENIC NAVY(GREECE)
Engaged 6 submarines in WWII
Sunk German Torpedo Boat TA-19 (1046 t. )
Sunk 23.161 t of enemy merchant traffic
Loss 4 submarines all causes

ROYAL NORWEGIAN NAVY(NORWAY)
Engaged 3 submarines in WWII
Sunk German U-Boot U-974
Sunk 21.296 t of enemy merchant traffic
Loss 1 submarines all causes

MARINE NATIONALE(FRANCE)
Engaged 78 submarines in WWII
Sunk 8 enemy warship minor units(7 Patrol boats 1 minelayer)
Sunk 4300 t of enemy merchant traffic
Sunk 21.000 t mined enemy merchant traffic
Captured German cargo "Chemnitz"(5900 t)
Loss 47 submarines all causes


REGIA MARINA(ITALIA)
Engaged 145 submarines in WWII
Sunk 23.960 t of warships(4 light cruisers,2 destroyers,1 submarine ,4 minor units)
Sunk 69.650 t of enemy merchant traffic
Transport 10.641 t of cargo to North Africa
Loss 88 submarines all causes


KRIEGSMARINE(GERMANY)
Engaged 1162 submarines in WWII
Sunk 2840 enemy merchants
Sunk 14.333.082 t of enemy merchant traffic
Sunk 150 enemy warships
Loss 1060 submarines all causes

IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY
Engaged 190 submarines in WWII
Sunk 184 enemy merchants
Sunk 2 Carriers, 1 CA,1 CL, 11 destroyers ,submarines and other minor units
Sunk 907.000 t of enemy merchant traffic
Loss 129 submarines all causes

MERIVOIMAT (FINNISH NAVY)
Engaged 5 submarines in WWII
Sunk 1 enemy merchant (4100 t)
Sunk 3 enemy warships (Soviet submarines S-7, Shtsh 320 and Shtsh 305)
Loss 0 submarines

ROMANIAN NAVY(RUMANIA)
Engaged 3 submarines in WWII
Sunk Soviet merchant Uralles (1975 t)the 05-11-41.(This ship is also credited to the Luftwaffe)
Loss 0 submarines

[Rose]

IJN: Engaged 190 subs, lost 129... Wow. The Dutch Navy also had an extremely high loss %.

[Saukko]

Now this is interesting thread, how about Norway, Australia, Romania, and all the other countries that had submarines during WWII, and took part of it.

I will add one.

MERIVOIMAT (FINNISH NAVY)
Engaged 5 submarines in WWII
Sunk 1 enemy merchant (4100 t)
Sunk 3 enemy warships (Soviet submarines S-7, Shtsh 320 and Shtsh 305)
Loss 0 submarines

[Danelov]

Thanks Saukko ,I have some informations about the Saukko, Vessikko, Vetehinen ,Vesihiisi and Iko-Turso but I dont have finded the respectives combat records. Only general information; your new information is very welcome , and was added at the list.Thanks again

[Eichenlaub]

I'm sure an IJN sub also sank the American battleship Indianapolis - why is it not listed in the statistics here?

Kind regards,

Eichenlaub

[Rose]

I'm sure an IJN sub also sank the American battleship Indianapolis - why is it not listed in the statistics here?

Kind regards,

Eichenlaub

Yep, the Indianapolis was sunk by an IJN sub... he must've forgotten to put it up.

[Hylander_1314]

Yes, but the Indianapolis was a Cruiser, and if you get a chance to read the book about the incident, there were foul ups on everyones part. Why she went down so quickly was the fault of not stopping or even reversing engines, which meant that the majority of the men went into the water instead of the lifeboats.

After all was said and done, Cmdr McVay sufferred terribly from his own persecution, let alone the Courtmartial that followed. A point that he was the only ship Capt. to be courtmartialed for losing his ship in WWII in the U.S. Navy. The reason given, was the loss of life while the men were in the water, and a need to blame someone for it happenning. Not that their mission to deliver the A-bomb was very secret, and the fact that they weren't reported overdue in a timely manner since they were on their way to the Phillipines afterwards, and that those waters were inhabited by very large Tigersharks, which are known man-eaters.

[Eichenlaub]

Hylander 1314:

You are right! I've always heard the USS Indianapolis being reported as a battleship, but instead it is a heavy cruiser, CA-35 to be exact! Thank you for that. I see Danelov included two CA's in the list of American victims, so I guess this vessel was indeed incorporated already.

Kind regards,

Eichenlaub

[Danelov]

Yes, maybe the information is not clear. About the USN cruisers sunken by IJN submarines we have

-CL-52 Juneau sunk the 13 November 1942 by I-26 (in this ship were loss the five brothers Sullivans ; after this terrible fate , orders were issues to not assign brothers to the same ship.The Fletcher DD-537 "The Sullivans" was named to honor their memory )

-CA-35 Indianapolis sunk the 30 July 1945 by I-58(LtC Mochitsura Hashimoto had wrong identified the cruisers as a Battleship of New Mexico Class).Indianapolis was in his return travel after had just carried component of an atomic bomb to Tinian and was steaming unerscorted from Guam to Okinawa.

-CL-96 Reno was heavy damaged the 03-11-44 by I-41 ,but the ship survived the attack

-CA-27 Chester was heavy damaged the 20 October 1942 by I-176, but the ship also survived and after nearly a year of reparation works return to service.

Yes, actually only Indianapolis was a CA , Juneau was a CL .Post corrected.

Regards

[Danelov]

Quote: Wow. The Dutch Navy also had an extremely high loss %.

Well ,actually of the 14 submarines ,only three were sunken by the IJN

K VII the 18-02-42 by IJN planes
K XVI the 25-12-41 by the IJN submarine I-66
O-20 the 20-12-41 by the IJN destroyer Uranami

Of this 14 losses, several were scuttled in Soerabaja to avoid the capture by the invading japanese troops,O.22 was lost in the North Sea,O.11 and O.12 were captured by the Germans in May 1940 after the invasion.O.25 was scuttled but was salved by the Germans and commisioned as UD.3 in 1942.Two other U-Boats of O.21 class captured by the Germans were commisioned in 1941 as UD.4 and UD.5.This Dutch serie of submarines were the first units equipped with Schnorkel, called "snort system" by the Dutch Navy.
After a serie of test and not happy with the results with the "snort system" ,the BdU orders the removal of the snorts of U-D3, U-D4 and U-D5!!!.

Curious the turn of the destiny...

[bookworm_020]

The Australian Navy had no subs in WWII, But Australians did serve in RN Subs, Including the X type mini subs used againts the Germans. It had two subs in WWI, AE1 Lost in the pacific, and the AE2, which was the first sub to get throught the dardenells , and sunk a week later.

[Rose]

and the AE2, which was the first sub to get throught the dardenells , and sunk a week later.

Well, that's a cheery story!

[bookworm_020]

The wreck was only found a year or two ago. All the crew got out (I think?), so the wreck isn't a war grave. It was significant that the AE2 got through. This proved that subs could, as all previous effots had failed. Soon after there were a steady strem of sub going hunting. A British sister ship of the AE2, E11, had a quite exceptional patrol there, The captain, Lt. Commander Nasmith, won a V.C. and the entire crew got the Distinguished Service Medal.

The Australian navy didn't realy get back into subs untill it bought 6 Oberon class subs from UK, which have now been replaced by the Collins class sub. There have been many problems with them, but at least they work. One of the options that was floated was to by some second hand subs from the UK, but it was turned down.

Canda bought them instead!:o I think we got the better deal:hmm:

[Eichenlaub]

By the way, since the Indianapolis was a CA, did the USA lose any battleship at all during WWII? I mean apart from the ones at Pearl Harbour.

Just curious since the other major navies all lost battleships at sea. Of the Soviets I do not know whether the Marat (bombed in port by Hans-Ulrich Rudel) was their only battleship loss, but it was lost in an air raid, much like the Pearl Harbour battleships.

Kind regards,

Eichenlaub

[Danelov]

If my memory is OK:
The USN sole losses were the battleships sunken at Pearl Harbour , actually BB-39 Arizona,BB-37 Oklahoma and the old Utah; all other battleships were refloated and repaired.

For the other Nations

ITALIA

-Conte di Cavour was sunk in the Taranto attack, was refloated but never complet repaired before the Italian Armistice in 1943.
-Roma(Class Littorio) was sunk by the Guided flying bombs of the Luftwaffe with great loss of live ,in his transfer sail to Malta after the armistice ,for rendition, in september 1943.

-The Bretagne(Provence Class) was sunk in Mers El Kebir by the Royal Navy in Operation Catapult with great loss of live.
-The Provence was hit the same day and also was sunk in shallow waters, refloated ,was transladed to Toulon and scuttled by his crew in November 1942 to avoid the capture by the Germans.

ROYAL NAVY

HMS Royal Oak sunk by U-47, HMS Barham by U-331 ,HMS Hood by Bismarck,HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales by IJN planes.HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth sunken at Alexandria in shallow waters by Italian human torpedos, refloated and repaired.

KRIEGSMARINE

Bismarck by Rodney-King George V, Scharnhorst by Duke of York and several cruisers , Tirpitz by Lancasters of the RAF 617 Sqd with Tallboy bombs.Graf Spee scuttled by his crew at Montevideo after the Battle of River Plate.

IJN

All Battleships sunken by ships,submarines and air attacks, except Nagato ,taked in charge by the USN and utilised for the atomic test a Bikini.Battleship Mutsu exploded at port and sunk after accident in powder magazines by 1943.

SOVIET UNION

Marat hit by JU-87 stukas, sunk in shallow waters,sten section repaired and utilised as floating battery under the name of Petropavlovsk.
Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya damaged by German artillery, repaired and after desactivated to the end of the war.
HMS Royal Sovereign was transfered in 1944 to the Soviet Navy and named Arkangelsk.Returned to UK in 1948.

[Eichenlaub]

Danelov,

Thank you for that! An excellent overview.

Perhaps I should look up that Roma sinking, since the details interest me - I've never heard of a battleship being sunk by a Luftwaffe flying bomb.

One final note though. Despite being 25,000 tons and later being refitted to a GRT of 31,000, HMS Repulse was really a battlecruiser and not a battleship. Same goes for HMS Hood but I understand why you listed them here among the battleships: they functioned like battleships during the war and carried almost the same reputation.

Many thanks for this very nice summary!:rock:

Kind regards,

Eichenlaub

[bookworm_020]

Found this in Wikipedia, already knew of the missle and it's history,

The Italian battleship Roma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_battleship_Roma_%281940%29) was blown apart after fires started by Fritz X bombs detonated her magazines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magazine_%28artillery%29). The British battleship HMS Warspite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Warspite_%281913%29) at the Salerno (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Avalanche_%28World_War_II%29) landings was hit by three bombs but survived to be repaired and bombard the Atlantic Wall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Wall) defences in June 1944. Bombs hit the American cruisers USS Philadelphia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Philadelphia_%28CL-41%29) and Savannah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Savannah_%28CL-42%29). It sank the British light cruiser HMS Spartan (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HMS_Spartan_%281942%29&action=edit).

Pity we couldn't have guided torpedos!!

[panthercules]

If my memory is OK:
KRIEGSMARINE

Bismarck by Rodney-King George V, Scharnhorst by Duke of York and several cruisers , Tirpitz by Lancasters of the RAF 617 Sqd with Tallboy bombs.Graf Spee scuttled by his crew at Montevideo after the Battle of River Plate.

Very interesting thread. In the spirit of the Indianapolis correction above and in the interest of strict accuracy, the Graf Spee was not really a battleship. Although it was popularly referred to by the Allies as a "pocket battleship", it would actually be more correctly characterized as an armored cruiser/battle cruiser than a true battleship, which is in keeping with its German designation of "Panzerschiff" (essentially, "armored ship").