ABSTRACT
When World War II ended in August 1945 Japanese-owned tonnage totalled a mere 1*34 million gross tons (g.t.). In view of the fact that Japan had owned 6-32 million g.t. at the outbreak of war in 1941, and that an additional 3-97 million g.t. was built during the war, the volume of tonnage lost during the war becomes imme diately apparent. Of the 1-34 million tonnage remaining at the end of the war, most was too obsolete to be operated; among the 500,000 g.t. that could be operated, only five or six vessels could be put on to the ocean-going service. In effect, then, Japan’s shipping industry had by the end of the war been virtually extinguished.1
