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APPENDIX – JAPANESE SHIPPING SUNK BY NAVAL AIRCRAFT

TABLE A. TOTALS FOR WAR, BY TYPE OF SHIP

TYPE OF VESSEL

SHIPS SUNK BY U.S. NAVAL CARRIER-BASED AIRCRAFT ALONE

SHIPS SUNK BY U.S. NAVAL LAND-BASED AIRCRAFT ALONE

SHIPS SUNK BY NAVAL AIRCRAFT IN COMBINATION WITH OTHER FORCES

TOTAL SHIPS SUNK BY, OR WITH AID OF, U.S. NAVAL AIRCRAFT

No.

Tons

No.

Tons

No.

Tons

No

Tons

Battleships

5

184,000

–

–

1

30,000

6

214,000

Carriers, Large

5

136,600

–

–

–

–

5

136,600

Carriers, Medium

5

59,150

–

–

2

22,050

7

81,200

Carriers, Escort

1

17,000

–

–

–

–

1

17,000

Cruisers, Heavy

6

72,000

1

14,000

3

41,000

10

127,000

Cruisers, Light

6

33,535

–

–

2

10,340

7

43,875

TOTAL ARMORED WARSHIPS

28

502,285

1

14,000

8

103,390

37

619,675

Destroyers

28

45,415

5

8,115

8

10,450

41

63,980

Small Warships (*)

103

125,928

2

2,300

14

17,862

119

146,090

TOTAL WARSHIPS

159

673,628

8

24,415

30

131,702

197

829,745

TOTAL MERCHANT SHIPS, 1000 Gross Tons or Over

275

1,293,875

50

182,583

41

229,061

366

1,705,519

TOTALS

434

1,967,503

58

206,998

71

360,763

563

2,535,264

* – Including a few large auxiliaries.

These data, though not compiled by Op-23-V, are inserted because of their interest in connection with the tables covering carrier attacks on shipping.

The data on ships sunk have been compiled by the Statistical Section of the Foreign Branch of ONI (Op-23-F44). They are based on a careful study of shipping reported sunk by Japanese sources, correlated with action reports from all Allied forces as evidence of the cause of sinking. Most of the figures included represent final assessments by a joint Army-Navy board; assessments have not been completed, however, and the data must thus be regarded as preliminary and subject to change;, For this reason release of the detailed figures in a classification lower than CONFIDENTIAL is not authorized, though the totals may be quoted in round numbers as approximations, if an indication of their preliminary nature is given and they are not attributed to ONI or the joint assessment board.

Ships credited sunk by Naval aircraft alone represent largely instances where no other agent could have been responsible for the sinking. Ships credited sunk in attacks involving any combination of Naval aircraft with Army aircraft, Naval surface ships, or submarines, have generally been credited as effected by combined efforts, unless unequivocal evidence exists (as in the case of the Midway Battle) that Naval aircraft were the only agents inflicting damaging hits on the ships sunk. The data, in view of their compilation for intelligence purposes by a non-aviation office, and with Army representation in the assessment of the bulk of them, can be considered completely conservative with reference to sinkings by Naval aircraft.

It should be noted that merchant vessels of under 1000 gross tons are not included in these tabulations; assessments of such sinkings are not known to have been made on any comprehensive basis by any agency.

Rough but interesting measures of the effectiveness of Naval aircraft in sinking ships, in terms of tons sunk per sortie attacking, and per ton of bombs expended, can be obtained by comparing these data with attack data in the body of this Report. A few of the overall figures are given herewith:

Type of Enemy Vessel Per

Tons Sunk Sortie Attacking (#)

Tons Sunk Per Ton of Bombs (#)

Armored Warships

114

208

Unarmored Warships

43

125

Merchant Vessels*

111

284

TOTAL, all three types

98

238

# – Tons sunk includes half the tonnage of ships credited to Naval aircraft in combination with other agents.

* – Sorties and Tons of Bombs are for attacks on vessels of 500 tons or over, Tons Sunk are vessels of 1000 gross tons or over.

Monthly comparisons may be made with Table 40, but in making comparisons note that Appendix Table B includes at their full tonnage ships sunk by Naval aircraft in combination with other agents.

TABLE B. MONTHLY TOTALS OF JAPANESE SHIPS SUNK BY U.S. NAVAL AIRCRAFT

MONTH

ARMORED WARSHIPS

UNARMORED WARSHIPS

MERCHANT SHIPS, 1000 GROSS TONS OR OVER

TOTALS

No.

Tons

No.

Tons

No.

Tons

No.

Tons

December 1941

–

–

2

1,892

–

–

2

1,892

March 1942

–

–

–

–

4

28,780

4

28,780

May 1942

1

15,000

3

1,915

–

–

4

16,915

June 1942

5

87,900

–

–

–

–

5

87,900

August 1942

1

7,100

1

1,800

1

9,310

3

18,210

October 1942

1

5,170

1

1,800

3

25,547

5

32,517

November 1942

2

39,000

–

–

11

77,608

13

116,608

January 1943

–

–

–

–

1

6,732

1

6,732

February 1943

–

–

–

–

2

10,386

2

10,386

May 1943

–

–

2

3,300

1

1,917

3

5,217

July 1943

–

–

4

14,200

–

–

4

14,200

October 1943

–

–

1

1,315

–

–

1

1,315

November 1943

–

–

1

2,000

1

5,824

2

7,824

December 1943

–

–

1

492

10

42,300

11

42,792

January 1944

–

–

7

730

16

60,552

23

61,282

February 1944

1

5,195

6

11,720

33

203,291

40

220,206

March 1944

–

–

7

11,210

20

97,815

27

109,025

April 1944

–

–

1

100

1

2,724

2

2,824

May 1944

–

–

–

–

1

6,500

1

6,500

June 1944

1

28,000

5

2,395

15

66,235

21

96,630

July 1944

–

–

9

6,263

6

20,617

15

26,880

August 1944

–

–

4

5,000

6

29,576

10

34,576

September 1944

–

–

11

17,660

44

204,918

55

222,578

October 1944

12

185,140

14

20,010

32

129,961

58

335,111

November 1944

3

30,670

19

25,975

30

138,754

52

195,399

December 1944

–

–

5

5,300

10

42,289

15

47,589

January 1945

–

–

21

21,840

52

293,609

73

315,449

February 1945

–

–

1

440

2

11,105

3

11,545

March 1945

–

–

5

3,104

19

38,843

24

41,947

April 1945

2

51,000

7

10,250

–

–

9

61,250

May 1945

–

–

2

880

11

42,059

13

42,939

June 1945

–

–

1

100

3

6,400

4

6,500

July 1945

8

165,500

15

36,334

29

91,937

52

293,771

August 1945

–

–

5

3,445

2

9,930

7

13,375

1941-42 Total

10

154,170

7

7,407

19

141,245

36

302,822

1943 Total

–

–

9

21,307

15

67,159

24

88,466

1944 Total

17

249,005

88

106,363

214

1,003,232

319

1,358,600

1945 Total

10

216,500

57

76,393

118

493,883

185

786,776

GRAND TOTAL

37

619,675

161

211,470

366

1,705,519

564

2,536,664

NOTE: Above data include full tonnage of ships sunk by Naval aircraft in combination with other agents. No sinkings were reported in months not listed.