At the outbreak of war in 1939 over 600 ships traded across the world's oceans and they were to become the pawns in the global conflict which was to permeate the operations of every shipping line on every continent. This book gives the details of al those ships which were extant in 1939 and describes the fate of all those which were lost between 1939 and 1945. The book is divided by country and each of those is divided by shipping company. Here can be found all the ships of the great companies such as Blue Star Line, Hamburg America, and American President Lines which are now, sadly, no more than a memory. Details of the builders, dimensions, funnel markings, propulsion, routes, passengers and cargoes are all given in easily read tables and over 350 photographs illustrate a representative selection. The second part of the book gives the details of the losses of around 30000 of these vessels which were lost in the War.