Skip to main content
Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

The Navy Department Library

Related Content
Sources

Gauker, Eleanor D. and Christopher G. Blood. "Friendly Fire Incidents During World War II Naval Operations" Naval War College Review 48, no.1 (Winter 1995): 115-22.

Topic
Document Type
  • Monograph-Research Report
  • Infographic-graphics-banners
  • Publication
Wars & Conflicts
  • World War II 1939-1945
File Formats
Location of Archival Materials

World War II Casualties

Sources of Information on US Navy Casualties in World War II

The Bureau of Naval Personnel's official list of the Navy's World War II casualties resulting from enemy action is a 1947 IBM printout arranged chronologically by the campaigns as listed in the Secretary of the Navy's Navy and Marine Corps Awards Manual. Under each campaign, the ships and units are listed alphabetically and then, the personnel casualties are listed alphabetically by last name. The man's service number, rank/rate, casualty code (wounded or killed), and date of casualty are included. The original printout and extensive records including folders of casualties from naval ships and of the armed guard crews of merchant ships, as well as microfilm and microfiche additions are located at the National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001. 

The National Archives in College Park, Maryland, also has several other lists of personnel casualties on microfiche. An eight fiche set contains a list of personnel killed or wounded in World War II actions not designated in the Navy and Marine Corps Awards Manual, such as naval gun crews on merchant ships and Army transports. The casualties are arranged chronologically and then alphabetical under the unit. The name, service number, rank or rate, casualty code, and date of casualty is included. There is a two fiche set list of officers and enlisted prisoners of war as of 25 September 1945. Arranged alphabetically, the list includes service number, rank or rate, date of capture and the prisoner of war camp designation. Another two microfiche set consists of an alphabetical list of the officer and enlisted prisoners of war in the Pacific and Asiatic areas as of 28 July 1945.

Lists of casualties are also included in two publications which may be located at a large university or depository libraries in your area or through interlibrary loan channels:

US Navy. Naval Historical Division. United States Submarine Losses, World War II. Washington: Naval History Division, 1963. (Includes crew lists.)

US Navy. Office of Information. Combat Connected Naval Casualties, World War II, by States. 2 vols. Washington: Office of Information, 1946. (Vol. 1 covers Alabama through Missouri; vol.2. covers Montana through Wyoming and other areas)

US Navy and Marine Corps Casualty Statistics for World War II

Source:
US Navy. Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. History of the Medical Department of the United States Navy in World War II: The Statistics of Diseases and Injuries. vol.3. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1950.

This history lists the Navy and Marine Corps personnel who were killed in action with the enemy, died of wounds, and died as a prisoner of war, as well as those who were discharged from the service because of their wounds (invalided from service.)
The history provides statistics by officer and enlisted, but for the purpose of this summary, these numbers are totaled for each service.

Place of action KIA Wounded,
died later
Died,
POW
Invalided,
from service

----------------------------------------------------------------------

North African landings        
Navy 472 17 0 80
Marine 3 1 0 1

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sicilian landings        
Navy 521  24  33 
Marine

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Italian landings        
Navy 788  31  74 
Marine

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Landings in Southern France        
Navy 36  20 
Marine

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Invasion of France        
Navy 1068 32 2 263
Marine 0 0 0 0

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Atlantic or Caribbean area unspecified        
Navy 2443 14 0 79
Marine 1 0 0 1

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Attack on Pearl Harbor        
Navy 1744 17 2 41
Marine 99 2 0 6

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Fall of the Philippines        
Navy 337 2 630 3
Marine 89 0 413 1

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Netherlands, East Indies engagement        
Navy 1656 12 94 7
Marine 36 0 7 0

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Pacific raids        
Navy 40 0 4 2
Marine 0 1 0 0

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Battle of Coral Sea        
Navy 537 6 1 11
Marine 19 2 0 0

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Battle of Midway        
Navy 301 8 1 15
Marine 39 1 0 1

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Guadalcanal, Tulagi landings        
Navy 1176 20 2 85
Marine 988 77 12 365

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Battle of Savo Island        
Navy 936 11 0 51
Marine 33 0 0 2

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Battle of Eastern Solomons        
Navy 85 4 0 4
Marine 0 1 0 1

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Battle of Cape Esperance        
Navy 168 1 0 5
Marine 7 0 0 1

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Battle of Santa Cruz Islands        
Navy 242 5 0 16
Marine 12 3 0 0

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Battle of Guadalcanal        
Navy 971 20 2 62
Marine 10 1 0 8

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Battle of Tassafaronga        
Navy 389 8 0 8
Marine 0 0 0 0

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Capture of remaining Solomons        
Navy 1246 56 0 174
Marine 781 68 26 277

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Battle of Tarawa        
Navy 724 3 0 23
Marine 950 34 0 210

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Battle of Cape Gloucester        
Navy 145 9 0 20
Marine 325 33 2 157

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Invasion of Marshall Islands        
Navy 187 3 1 44
Marine 401 34 0 141

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Invasion of Marianas        
Navy 513 43 1 228
Marine 3995 342 0 2138

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Invasion of Palau Islands        
Navy 185 10 0 68
Marine 1171 101 1 681

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Landings on Biak New Guinea        
Navy 164 6 0 40
Marine 0 0 0 0

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Bombardment of Truk        
Navy 78 3 0 12
Marine 7 0 0 1

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Return to the Philippines        
Navy 4026 270 40 830
Marine 132 10 1 25

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Battle of Iwo Jima        
Navy 934 48 0 349
Marine 4907 614 0 3114

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Bombardments of Formosa French Indochina        
Navy 369 9 2 30
Marine 3 0 0 1

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Bombing and landing on Okinawa        
Navy 3809 219 0 876
Marine 2897 347 0 2028

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Bombardment of Kyushu Island and Japan        
Navy 963 6 1 38
Marine 61 0 0 3

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Aleutian or Alaskan area, unspecified        
Navy 177 1 0 8
Marine 2 0 0 5

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Pacific or Asiatic area, unspecified        
Navy 4462 12 93 188
Marine 20 0 1 1

----------------------------------------------------------------------

After 1 July 1945        
Navy 1103 14 2 88
Marine 41 0 4 172

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Specific action not determined        
Navy 1719 20 30 773
Marine 346 10 43 721

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Total, all actions        
Navy 34607 972 909 4647
Marine 17376 1682 510 10063
Total 51983 2654 1419 14710

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Friendly Fire

Casualties on US Ships Hit by Allied Gunfire During WW2

  1942 1943 1944 1945 Total
Ship Type WIA KIA WIA KIA WIA KIA WIA KIA WIA KIA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carrier 0 0 0 0 0 0 115 16 15 16
Destroyer 8 5 0 0 21 3 80 10 109 18
Battleship 0 0 0 0 0 0 99 21 109 21
Submarine 0 0 0 0 0 83 0 0 0 83
PT Boat 0 0 0 0 23 22 0 4 23 26
Landing Ship 0 0 0 0 0 0 35 3 35 3
Salvage Ship 0 0 18 8 0 0 0 6 18 14
Cruiser 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 2 21 2
Transport 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 1 8 1
Patrol Craft 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 1 6 1
Minesweeper 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 3 1
Cargo Ship 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
Seaplane Tender 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Hospital Ship 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 8 5 18 8 44 108 368 65 438 186

[END]

Published: Wed Aug 23 09:37:38 EDT 2017