How many Oil Tankers sunk in WWII?
a425couple
What was their total displacments?
How much oil was lost in the oceans?
And, if anyone can come close on numbers:
How much in the Atlantic?
" " Gulf of Mexico?
" " Pacific?
(or it's subparts = South China Sea & Philippine Sea?)
The Indian Ocean probably had some (from surface raiders),
but not much.
About how many gallons (or barrels if that easier) of oil
could ships such as the Hood, Prince of Wales, Barham,
Repulse, Courageous, Ark Royal & Glorious, or Bismark
carry when loaded?
A redacted quote (non WWII removed)
"The Mississinewa and another oil tanker, the USS Neosho,
which was sunk in 1942 and lies a few hundred miles from
Australia's Great Barrier Reef, are together estimated to contain
------------- 42 million litres of oil."
Another:
"He traced one source of the pollution to a large Japanese tanker,
the Hoyo Maru, which was sunk by an American bomb during
the 1944 attack and now rests upside down on the sea floor.
This summer, researchers from the international environmental
group Earthwatch confirmed that the same tanker, built to
hold two million gallons of fuel, is still leaking oil ---"
a425couple
OK, now that that posted.
I have found the following from:
http://www.usmm.org/shipsunkdamaged.html
(Only US merchant ships, supposedly not navy oilers)
(But I still have no idea about total estimates
of oil lost in the ocean (s) ).
Gulf of Mexico (46 ships)
Gulf of Mexico 1942 (42 ships)
Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
02/19/42 Pan Massachusetts Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 20
03/11/42 Halo Tanker Torpedo Damaged GulfMexico None
05/04/42 Joseph M. Cudahy Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 27
05/04/42 Munger T. Ball Tanker Torpedo & machine-gunned Sunk GulfMexico Crew
30
05/04/42 Norlindo Freighter Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 5
05/06/42 Alcoa Puritan Freighter Torpedo & Shelled Sunk GulfMexico None
05/06/42 Ontario Freighter (Honduras or Panama) Shelled Sunk GulfMexico None
05/10/42 Aurora Tanker Torpedo & Shelled Damaged GulfMexico Crew 1
05/12/42 Virginia Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 27
05/13/42 David McKelvey Tanker Torpedo Total loss GulfMexico Crew 16; AG 1
05/13/42 Gulfpenn Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 13
05/13/42 Gulfprince Tanker Torpedo Damaged GulfMexico None
05/14/42 Amapala Freighter (Honduras) Shelled Sunk GulfMexico Crew 1
05/14/42 Eastern Sun Tanker Torpedo attack No damage GulfMexico None
05/16/42 Gulfoil Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 17; AG 4
05/16/42 Sun Tanker Torpedo Damaged GulfMexico None
05/16/42 William C. McTarnahan Tanker Torpedo Damaged GulfMexico Crew 18
05/19/42 Heredia Freighter Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 29; AG 5; Passenger
1
05/19/42 Ogontz Freighter Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 17; AG 2
05/20/42 Halo Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 39
05/26/42 Atenas Freighter Shelled Damaged GulfMexico None
05/26/42 Carrabulle Tanker Shelled & Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 22
05/31/42 Cacalilao Tanker Explosion Damaged GulfMexico Crew 4
06/01/42 Hampton Roads Freighter Shelled & Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 5
06/02/42 Domino Freighter Shelled No damage GulfMexico None
06/11/42 Sheherazade [former French] Tanker (Panama) Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico
Crew 1
06/12/42 Cities Service Toledo Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 11; AG 4
06/16/42 Managua Freighter (Nicaragua) Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico None
06/16/42 San Blas Freighter (Panama) Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 27; AG 3
06/22/42 Rawleigh Warner Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 33
06/23/42 Major General Henry Gibbins (USAT) US Army Transport Torpedo Sunk
GulfMexico None
07/02/42 Edward Luckenbach Freighter Mine Sunk GulfMexico Crew 1
07/07/42 Paul H. Harwood Tanker Torpedo Damaged GulfMexico None
07/08/42 J. A. Moffett, Jr. Tanker Torpedo & Shelled Total loss GulfMexico
Crew 1
07/09/42 Benjamin Brewster Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 24; AG 1
07/12/42 Andrew Jackson Freighter Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 3
07/13/42 R. W. Gallagher Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 9; AG 2
07/15/42 Pennsylvania Sun Tanker Torpedo Damaged GulfMexico Crew 2
07/16/42 Gertrude Fishing Vessel Time-bombed Sunk GulfMexico None
07/21/42 William Cullen Bryant Liberty Torpedo Damaged GulfMexico None
07/30/42 Robert E. Lee Passenger Ship Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 10;
survivors of Stanvac Palembang & other ships: 15
08/13/42 R. M. Parker, Jr. Tanker Torpedo & Shelled Sunk GulfMexico None
Gulf of Mexico 1943 (4 ships)
Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
01/10/43 Norwalk Freighter Collision Sunk GulfMexico Crew 1
03/11/43 Olancho Freighter (Honduras or Panama) Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew
3
04/03/43 Gulfstate Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico Crew 30; AG 6
12/03/43 Touchet Tanker Torpedo Sunk GulfMexico AG 10
Dave
not include the amounts of cargo. I would assume that most of the
sinkings in the Western Hemisphere involved Venezuela crude. I am not
familiar with the characteristics of that product compared to Alaskan
North Slope or Gulf products. Different crudes behave differently if
released in different environments. Lighter crudes in warmer climes
will evaporate(?).
Oil used for fuel in the 1940s was different than crude and behaved
differently in the environment. In all cases of releases it was icky.
Don Phillipson
news:74dea0bc-4aeb-4d82...@g1g2000pro.googlegroups.com...
> Statistics may not include foreign-flag vessels. The cited sinkings do
> not include the amounts of cargo. I would assume that most of the
> sinkings in the Western Hemisphere involved Venezuela crude.
This seems unlikely. When the USA was supplying the European
Theatre of Operations it was more economical to send refined
truck or aviation fuel than crude oil which would require further
processing after arrival (in plants vulnerable too German air attack.)
But most marine fuel (powering warships and motor freighters) was
"heavy oil" that persisted after a ship was sunk. After ships had
been sunk during WW2 solid lumps of black tar continued to wash
up on European beaches for years afterwards, apparently bunker fuel.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
Dave
with crude from Venezuela to the U.S. Indeed POL was refined in the
U.S. before shipment to theater. To be sure, refined product presents
a different environmental threat than crude.