Mapping 20k ships that sank during WW II

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Site design, “scrollytelling,” and accessibility

  • Some praise the smooth, non-hijacked scrolling and narrative feel; others find the style disorienting, hard to navigate, and unusable with disabilities or on e‑ink tablets/locked‑down browsers.
  • Concerns raised: motion and constant animation, low contrast, poor reader mode output, unclear loading states, performance issues (including crashes on iOS Chrome).
  • General split: engaging storytelling vs. “gimmicky” and distracting; strong call for plain text + static graphics as an accessible baseline.

Use of the map and data

  • Divers and survey groups report using similar wreck data for dive planning and imaging.
  • The dataset is also seen as valuable for pollution‑cleanup efforts and underwater cultural heritage work.
  • The creator notes the project has taken ~12 years of spare time, motivated by wanting to see spatial and temporal patterns.

Salvage, low‑background steel, and ethics

  • Discussion of pre‑1945 “low‑background steel” and centuries‑old low‑background lead for sensitive scientific instruments.
  • Several posters say demand has dropped with the decline of atmospheric testing; others recall it being used for medical and physics applications.
  • Debate over salvaging wrecks: some call it grave‑robbing and note legal protections for war graves; others argue most human remains are long gone and wrecks weren’t intended as memorials.
  • Mention of specific non‑grave wreck sources (e.g., scuttled fleets) and current illegal/under‑the‑radar scrapping operations.

Human cost and modern geopolitics

  • Many are struck by the density of dots and the horror of merchant losses, especially unarmed transports.
  • Extended debate connects WWII losses to present risks around Taiwan, Ukraine, and the South China Sea.
  • Tensions:
    • Whether it is “worth” great‑power war to defend smaller states.
    • Nuclear deterrence vs. appeasement, and whether current Western responses embolden or restrain aggressors.
    • US role as “world’s police” vs. beneficiary of global order; tradeoffs between military and domestic spending.

Shipping, logistics, and historical context

  • Context on modern merchant fleet size and ship types; today’s ships are fewer but much larger and more efficient.
  • WWII tanker losses pushed construction of long‑distance oil pipelines; attacks on supply lines and merchant marine casualty rates highlighted.
  • Users relate personal family stories (merchant sailors, naval crews) and reference books and memorials that deepen understanding of specific battles and the scale of sacrifice.

Patterns in the map and WWII turning points

  • Users note how yearly layers visualize the war’s global reach and the Axis–Allied momentum shift.
  • 1942–43 “inflection” is linked to multiple factors: major battles (Midway, El Alamein, Stalingrad, Guadalcanal), codebreaking (Enigma, Bombes, Colossus), improved ASW tactics, fixed US torpedoes, and increased production.
  • One commenter argues the graph crossing point is just gradual attrition, not a sharp structural break.

Routes, coasts, and open ocean

  • Observers are surprised how few ships sank in the deep open ocean; most wrecks cluster near coasts, straits, and supply routes.
  • Explanations: great‑circle routing that still follows coasts, concentration near ports and chokepoints, and attackers preferring “target‑rich” areas.
  • Links to modern traffic visualizations used to compare contemporary routing patterns.