The Achievement of the Merchant Navy

[Jim]

Before the Second World War, Britain’s Merchant Fleet was the largest in the world, with a gross tonnage of about 17,500,000 tons (not including 3,000,000 tons of Dominion shipping); though even then UK tonnage was about one million tons smaller than it had been before the First World War. A very great strain was imposed upon the ships and the seamen in order to master the usual perils of the sea, as well as a strong and unscrupulous enemy, and maintain the supply of vital raw materials and foodstuffs without which the people of Britain could neither fight nor live. From the start, however, Britain applied her great experience in the organization of coastal and ocean convoys, and her merchant seamen have maintained not only the British base, but the various fronts and garrisons established throughout the world, carrying aid also to Russia and playing an indispensable part in the combined operations which resulted in the successful landings in North Africa, Sicily, Salerno and France.

‘Without your devoted service, there could be no victory for our arms. From the Master in command, to the boy on his first voyage, you have worked together with the steady discipline of free men who know what is at stake. Your reward is the consciousness of duty done and the affection and respect of all your countrymen. ‘

HIS MAJESTY THE KING, 25th December, 1943

Over 2,000 merchant ships from the United Kingdom are at sea at any time.
It is to the ships and men of the Merchant Navy (as well as the Royal Navy) that hundreds of thousands of men of the Forces owe their lives and freedom after the evacuations from Norway, Dunkirk, Greece and Crete, and to the Merchant Navy that much of the credit must go for the successful landing and subsequent maintenance of the Allied Forces in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, North and South France.
In the first six months of war about 1,900 merchant vessels were armed, and during the first year nearly 3,000. By the beginning of February 1943, 8,300 British and Allied merchant ships had been fitted with guns and other devices for their defence.
Fishing vessels and ships of the Merchant Navy alone had shot down 141 enemy aircraft, from 12th April, 1940, to the end of July 1944; and had shared, with HM ships, the shooting down of a further 163 during the same period.

Merchant Ship watched over by the Royal Navy

The tanker British Confidence steamed 243,000 miles in the first four years of war. Some of the large motor ships with a high speed have completed 300,000 miles in the same period.
Another tanker, the British Judge, steamed 20,000 miles with a hole as large as a medium-sized house in her side. This occurred in the Far East and she had to be taken by devious ways to Mobile, Alabama, for her extensive repairs.
23,000 military vehicles, some 1,300 aircraft, over 400,000 tons of military and air stores, and hundreds of locomotives were carried overseas by United Kingdom shipping in the single month of October 1941.

‘The Merchant Navy, with Allied comrades, night and day, in weather fair or foul, face not only the ordinary perils of the sea but the sudden assaults of war from beneath the waters or from the sky ... We are a seafaring race, and we understand the call of the sea ... We feel confident that that proud tradition of our island will be upheld to-day wherever the ensign of a British merchantman is flown. ‘

RT HON. WINSTON CHURCHILL, 31st July, 1941

300 ships were continuously employed during 1941 on the 12,000 mile voyage round the Cape to support British armies in the Middle East. 500,000 men, 50,000 tanks and other vehicles, and 1,000,000 tons of stores, were carried round the Cape to destinations in the Middle East, India and the Far East, during 1942. Over 3,000,000 tons of military stores, including 1,000,000 tons of food, had been landed in Egyptian ports up to April 1942. 12,000 ships carrying over 77,000,000 tons of cargo had been convoyed from Canadian shores up to the middle of June 1943. 500,000 men and over 1,000,000 tons of stores were landed in North Africa in the first four months of the Tunisian campaign.

Empress of Britain Sunk by U-32 .. Captain Hans Jenisch

During the six months of the Tunisian campaign more than 1,000 merchant ships left the United Kingdom carrying a constant stream of millions of tons of supplies to the armies in North Africa. On 6th June, 1944, when 1,000 merchant vessels, manned by 50,000 seamen, crossed the Channel to Normandy, the Merchant Navy redeemed the promise it made as its ships left Norway, Dunkirk, Greece and Crete. These ships had to be considered individually two years beforehand as to their suitability for the carriage of various types of cargo. The immense fleet had to be assembled, loaded, and finally convoyed across the Channel with its vital cargoes.
In the first three days following 6th June, thirty-eight convoys had to get to France - some of from 90 to 100 ships. Nearly 750 of the major types of vessels were in these thirty-eight convoys, excluding escorts.

It says much for the strength of Britain’s Merchant Fleet that this colossal operation could be undertaken, and kept supplied and reinforced, while convoys still sailed across the Atlantic, in the Far North, and to supply the Allied Armies in the Mediterranean. It is by the ships of the Merchant Navy that the three-quarter million items in the range of the Army’s fighting and technical stores and the three-quarter million items in the RAF’s stores are moved. Approximately 100,000 tons of shipping a year are required to transport a division of 20,000 men 1,000 miles overseas, with arms, equipment and stores, and to keep it supplied and reinforced.

16 tons of spare parts must, it is estimated, be shipped overseas in order to keep 100 25-pounder guns in action for one year. One medium tank may need up to 2 tons of spare parts in a year. Every bomber sent overseas requires, it is calculated, a total of 1,000 tons of shipping space to carry the personnel, petrol, bombs and spare parts necessary to put it into operation. All these have to be carried by ships. One of the boldest achievements of the Merchant Navy was the maintenance throughout the winter of 1943-4 of a service by sea between Sweden and Britain. A fleet of small, powerful vessels successfully ran the German blockade in the Skagerrak, transporting valuable cargoes and carrying the Red Ensign into Swedish waters for the first time in three and a half years.

Arandora Star Sunk by U-47 Captain Günther Prien

There have been many individual acts of bravery in Britain’s Merchant Navy, and from the outbreak of war up to 31st December, 1944, more than 6,300 ship-masters, officers and men had received awards.
During five and a half years of war 30,589 Merchant seamen in British ships lost their lives, 4,215 were wounded, 690 missing, and a further 4,088 were interned by the enemy.
In February 1944, Mr Churchill said that since the beginning of the war the proportion of Merchant seamen hailing from the British Isles alone who have been lost at sea on their vital duty, has been about one-fifth of the average number engaged in this service.
The loss of Merchant ships has been equally heavy. By 8th May, 1945, 2.570 British ships of nearly 11 million gross tons had been lost. Though these losses were partly offset by new construction, purchase and organization, the British ocean-going Merchant Fleet had been reduced to 1311 million gross tons at the end of 1943. The situation, however, improved in 1944.

[Kelly]

Originally Posted by Jim

‘Without your devoted service, there could be no victory for our arms. From the Master in command, to the boy on his first voyage, you have worked together with the steady discipline of free men who know what is at stake. Your reward is the consciousness of duty done and the affection and respect of all your countrymen. ‘

HIS MAJESTY THE KING, 25th December, 1943

Says it all, really. Totally neglected when praise is given.