260 Japanese merchant ships were sunk by Allied mines in World War II (plus another 21 by their own mines!
) Between March and August of 1945, the US laid nearly 4,000 mines in the Shimonoseki Strait between Honshu and Kyushu, sinking 129 ships.
John Keegan's
Atlas of the Second World War has a number of maps relating to Japanese shipping during the war. The maps show:
shipping losses between december 1941 to december 1942
shipping losses in 1943
shipping losses in 1944
shipping losses in 1945
Along with those four maps a fifth large one shows the location and dates of fire-raids, mine laying operations, coastal bombardments, and merchantman routes between March and August 1945 around the Japanese home islands. I can scan and post them maps later if anyone needs them.
