Charts via American Merchant Marine in World War 2
The majority of Allied losses were to U-Boats in the Atlantic. Although Germany was highly successful in the first part of the war, Imperial Japan never pursued an active campaign against shipping in the Pacific.
The overseas transportation of war materials and men by the U.S. Merchant Marine in WWII was key to Allied victory. 1 in 26 mariners serving aboard merchant ships in World WWII died in the line of duty, the greatest percentage of war-related deaths in all U.S. services.
Because of wartime censorship, newspapers reported essentially the same story each week: “Two medium-sized Allied ships sunk in the Atlantic.” In reality, the average for 1942 was 33 Allied ships sunk each week.
The Battle of the south Atlantic was fiercely fought by the US, British and Brazilian Navies against one insidious enemy, the German raiders, U-Boats and the Italian submarines. Allied forces employed nearly 250 warships which varied from Aircraft Carriers, Cruisers, Destroyers, Sub Chasers, Minelayers, Corvettes, etc, once the Kriegsmarine objective was the disruption of the merchant sea routes, through them the Allies supplied with raw material the USA and Great Britain with badly needed like rubber, oil, ores, coffee, sugar, cotton, beef etc. In the struggle, the Axis with a handful of their submarines and raiders, lay havoc amidst the shipping lanes, sending to the bottom roughly 500 ships including the tragic loss of HMS Dunedin, the British Cruiser caught during one routine patrol in the south Atlantic in 24/Nov/41, when was mortally hit by two torpedoes fired by a prowling U-124. Only 67 out of 486 of her gallant crew managed to survive an incredible ordeal in the infested shark waters of Equatorial latitudes.