Shipboard and Ground Troop Casualty Rates among Navy and Marine Corps Personnel during World War II Operations

Casualty rates were calculated for ships participating in World War II operations and Marine assault forces involved in the capture of Western Pacific islands. The rate of shipboard casualties in the Asiatic-Pacific theater across all operations was 0.56 per 1000 per day, while the rate in the European theater was 0.84. Individual ship-based operations ranged from 0.01 to 50.50. Among afloat operations there were 115 men wounded for every 100 killed. Eight ship types had KIA rates more than double their WIA rates; among these only submarines and oilers involved more than ten vessels. Ground assault force rates averaged 15 times higher than the ship rates. Combat troop rates declined dramatically after the first day of the operations. The WIA rate was three times higher than the KIA rate over the course of ground operations. The highest rates for both afloat and ashore operations were seen for brief engagements occurring early in the war. Keywords: Navy, Marine Corps, Casualties, Shipboard, Tables(data).