U.S. Merchant Ships Sunk or Damaged by Mines in World War II
Mines, once known as torpedoes, have been used in war for nearly 400 years. [Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" -- Admiral Farragut referred to mines]
Early mines comprised simple containers
such as wooden barrels containing TNT or gunpowder, and bobbed 10 or 20 feet
below the surface while anchored to the sea bed. The mines usually had "horns,"
which, when depressed by contact with a ship's hull, set off an explosion.
[German Contact mine shown at right from The Battle of the Atlantic, Barrie Pitt, Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1977]
During World War I, the combatants developed:
World War II brought even greater "improvements:"
Even more diabolically, mines used combinations of types, such as pressure-magnetic or magnetic-acoustic, and those in turn, were combined with ship counters, which could be set to allow any number of ships to pass by safely before exploding. Some mines were programmed to deactivate after a certain period, others were dangerous permanently.
Some ships were accidently sunk by "friendly" mines. In poor weather, Convoy QP-13, Murmansk to Iceland, was led into a British-laid minefield on July 5, 1942, resulting in the sinking of 7 vessels including a minesweeper, and damage to another.
Axis Mines
German submarines laid mines in the Delaware River, Chesapeake Bay, Boston,
Charleston, Jacksonville and New York harbors. The Germans counted on the submarine
to win the war at sea, with the mine as an important "assist."
The Japanese heavily mined the waters of their homeland and their conquered territories throughout Asia. 30,000 Japanese Mines Loose warned a New York Times headline on August 25, 1946.
The list of ships is from:
Most Dangerous Sea - A History of Mine Warfare, and an Account of U.S. Navy
Mine Warfare Operations in World War II and Korea, Arnold S. Lott, Annapolis,
Maryland: U.S. Naval Institute, 1959
The World's Merchant Fleets 1939: The Particulars and Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships, Roger Jordan, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1999
| 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 | 1950 |
| Joseph Seep (Panama flag) | Mine | Sunk | 5/25/40 | Havre roads^ |
| James McGee (Panama) | Mine | Sunk | 6/20/40 | Nash point^ |
| City of Rayville | Mine | Sunk | 11/8/40 | Australia |
| Edridio Mindoro | Mine | Sunk | 11/19/41 | Corregidor, P.I |
| Corregidor | Mine | Sunk | 12/17/41 | Corregidor, P.I. |
| E. H. Blum | Mine | Sunk | 2/16/42 | Chesapeake Bay |
| Steel Worker | Mine | Sunk | 6/3/42 | North Russia |
| F. W. Abrams | Mine | Sunk | 6/11/42 | Cape Hatteras |
| Esso Augusta | Mine | Damaged | 6/15/42 | Chesapeake Bay |
| Robert C. Tuttle | Mine | Sunk | 6/15/42 | Chesapeake Bay |
| Santore | Mine | Sunk | 6/17/42 | Chesapeake Bay |
| Alcoa Cadet | Mine | Sunk | 6/21/42 | North Russia |
| John R. Williams | Mine | Sunk | 6/24/42 | Delaware Bay |
| Edward Luckenbach | Mine | Sunk | 7/2/42 | Key West |
| Hefferon | Mine | Sunk | 7/5/42 | Iceland |
| Hybert | Mine | Sunk | 7/5/42 | Iceland |
| John Randolph | Mine | Sunk | 7/5/42 | Iceland |
| Massmar | Mine | Sunk | 7/5/42 | Iceland |
| Richard Henry Lee | Mine | Damaged | 7/5/42 | Iceland |
| Chilore | Mine | Sunk | 7/15/42 | Cape Hatteras |
| J. A. Mowinckel (Panamanian) | Mine | Damaged | 7/15/42 | Cape Hatteras |
| Keshena | Mine | Sunk | 7/19/42 | Cape Hatteras |
| Pan Gulf | Mine | Damaged | 10/13/42 | Trinidad |
| President Coolidge | Mine | Sunk | 10/26/42 | Espiritu Santo |
| Macabi (Panamanian) | Mine | Sunk | 10/29/42 | Trinidad |
| Charles Carroll | Mine | Damaged | 1/1/43 | Panama |
| Matt W. Ransom | Mine | Damaged | 4/11/43 | Casablanca |
| Halma (Panamanian) | Mine | Sunk | 6/3/43 | Halifax |
| Santa Maria | Mine | Damaged | 6/20/43 | Dakar |
| Yankee Arrow | Mine | Damaged | 8/2/43 | Mediterranean |
| Richard Olney | Mine | Damaged | 9/22/43 | Mediterranean |
| Metapan | Mine | Sunk | 10/1/43 | Mediterranean |
| Delisle | Mine | Sunk | 10/19/43 | St Johns, Nfld. |
| William S. Rosecrans | Mine | Sunk | 1/6/44 | Mediterranean |
| George S. Wasson | Mine | Damaged | 1/3144 | England |
| Daniel Chester French | Mine | Sunk | 3/6/44 | Mediterranean |
| Virginia Dare | Mine | Damaged | 3/6/44 | Mediterranean |
| Clark Mills | Mine | Damaged | 3/9/44 | Mediterranean |
| Oriental | Mine | Damaged | 3/19/44 | Espiritu Santo |
| Alexander Graham Bell | Mine | Damaged | 4/17/44 | Mediterranean |
| James Guthrie | Mine | Damaged | 4/17/44 | Mediterranean |
| John Armstrong | Mine | Damaged | 4/21/44 | Mediterranean |
| George Popham | Mine | Damaged | 4/22/44 | England |
| Francis C. Harrington | Mine | Damaged | 6/7/44 | North France |
| Charles W. Eliot | Mine | Sunk | 6/28/44 | North France |
| Sea Porpoise | Mine | Damaged | 7/5/44 | North France |
| Exmouth | Mine | Sunk | 7/31/44 | England |
| Extavia | Mine | Damaged | 8/1/44 | Solomon Is. |
| Louis Kossuth | Mine | Damaged | 8/23/44 | North France |
| Yukon | Mine | Damaged | 9/22/44 | Iceland |
| Elihu Thomson | Mine | Damaged | 9/26/44 | Noumea, New Caledonia |
| Johns Hopkins | Mine | Damaged | 10/2/44 | South France |
| Cotton Valley | Mine | Damaged | 10/4/44 | South France |
| Elinor Wylie | Mine | Damaged | 10/6/44 | South France |
| Lee S. Overman | Mine | Total loss | 11/11/44 | North France |
| Theodore Parker | Mine | Damaged | 11/16/44 | North France |
| William D. Burnham | Mine | Damaged | 11/23/44 | North France |
| Arizpa | Mine | Damaged | 12/1/44 | North France |
| Francis Asbury | Mine | Sunk | 12/3/44 | North France |
| Dan Beard | Mine | Sunk | 12/10/44 | England |
| Boulder Victory | Mine | Damaged | 12/20/44 | Kossol |
| Isaac Shelby | Mine | Damaged | 1/6/45 | Italy |
| Marina | Mine | Damaged | 1/16/45 | North France |
| Nashaba | Mine | Sunk | 2/26/45 | North France |
| Robert L. Vann | Mine | Sunk | 3/1/45 | North France |
| Hadley F. Brown | Mine | Damaged | 3/19/45 | North France |
| Charles D. McIver | Mine | Sunk | 3/22/45 | North France |
| John C. Fremont | Mine | Damaged | 3/31/45 | Manila |
| James W. Nesmith | Mine | Damaged | 4/7/45 | North France |
| Morgantown Victory | Mine | Damaged | 4/11/45 | North France |
| Benjamin H. Briston | Mine | Damaged | 4/22/45 | North France |
| Sverre Helmerson | Mine | Damaged | 4/23/45 | North France |
| Edmund F. Dickins | Mine | Damaged | 4/30/45 | Manila |
| Henry L. Abbott | Mine | Damaged | 5/1/45 | Manila |
| Horace Binney | Mine | Damaged | 5/8/45 | North France |
| John Woolman | Mine | Damaged | 5/27/45 | North France |
| Colin P. Kelley, Jr. | Mine | Damaged | 6/4/45 | North France |
| New Bern Victory | Mine | Damaged | 6/4/45 | Black Sea |
| Attleboro Victory | Mine | Damaged | 6/14/45 | Black Sea |
| Pierre Gibault | Mine | Damaged | 6/23/45 | Black Sea |
| John H. Hammond | Mine | Damaged | 7/17/45 | Mediterranean |
| William J. Palmer | Mine | Sunk | 8/4/45 | Mediterranean |
| William D. Byron | Mine | Damaged | 8/15/45 | Mediterranean |
| Peter White | Mine | Damaged | 8/30/45 | Pacific |
| Joseph Carrigan | Mine | Total loss | 8/31/45 | Philippines |
| Streator Seam | Mine | Damaged | 10/2/45 | Mediterranean |
| Benjamin F. Coston | Mine | Damaged | 10/27/45 | Mediterranean |
| Abbot L. Mills | Mine | Damaged | 11/10/45 | Mediterranean |
| William Hume | Mine | Sunk | 11/12/45 | Mediterranean |
| Cedar Mills | Mine | Damaged | 11/19/45 | Mediterranean |
| Charles C. Glover | Mine | Damaged | 11/19/45 | Bay of Biscay |
| Jesse Billingsley | Mine | Damaged | 11/19/45 | Mediterranean |
| Hilton | Mine | Damaged | 12/16/45 | North Germany |
| Nathanial Bacon | Mine | Damaged | 12/19/45 | Mediterranean |
| Duncan L. Clinch | Mine | Damaged | 12/23/45 | North France |
| Nathan Hale | Mine | Damaged | 1/5/46 | Mediterranean |
| Antietam | Mine | Sunk | 1/29/46 | Bay of Biscay |
| Sea Satyr | Mine | Damaged | 2/22/46 | Macassar Strait |
| Oshkosh Victory | Mine | Damaged | 3/2/46 | Yangtze River |
| Minor C. Keith | Mine | Damaged | 3/3/46 | North Europe |
| Lord Delaware | Mine | Damaged | 3/9/46 | North Europe |
| George W. Norris | Mine | Damaged | 3/13/46 | Pacific |
| Jean Lykes | Mine | Damaged | 3/24/46 | North Europe |
| Park Victory | Mine | Damaged | 4/13/46 | Mediterranean |
| Thomas Heyward | Mine | Damaged | 5/5/46 | North Europe |
| Fitzhugh Lee | Mine | Damaged | 7/3/46 | Italy |
| Frontenac Victory | Mine | Damaged | 8/27/46 | England |
| Edmund B. Alexander | Mine | Damaged | 9/7/46 | North Europe |
| Neils Poulson | Mine | Damaged | 9/14/46 | Mediterranean |
| Signal Hills | Mine | Damaged | 10/8/46 | Mediterranean |
| Cassius Hudson | Mine | Sunk | 10/16/46 | Mediterranean |
| Sinnett | Mine | Damaged | 10/22/46 | Japan |
| Charles Bulfinch | Mine | Damaged | 10/30/46 | North Europe |
| Exanthia | Mine | Damaged | 3/12/47 | Italy |
| St Lawrence Victory | Mine | Sunk | 3/26/47 | Yugoslavia |
| New London | Mine | Damaged | 9/22/47 | North Europe |
| Fort Lane | Mine | Damaged | 12/10/47 | North Europe |
| Pioneer Cove | Mine | Damaged | 1/5/48 | North Europe |
| Gateway City | Mine | Damaged | 2/12/48 | Germany |
| Cape Georgia | Mine | Damaged | 4/9/48 | Bay of Biscay |
| Clifford E. Ashby | Mine | Damaged | 5/11/48 | Germany |
| Maiden Creek | Mine | Damaged | 10/16/49 | North Europe |
| American Planter | Mine | Damaged | 8/8/50 | North Europe |
Ships
Men and Ships of WWII
Home
11/7/00
www.USMM.org ©1998 - 2001. You may quote material on this web page as long as you cite American Merchant Marine at War, www.usmm.org, as the source. You may not use more than a few lines without permission. If you see substantial portions of this page on the Internet or in published material please notify usmm.org @ comcast.net