Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Both staggering and humbling

Came across this in a comment on Pearl Harbor Day. I have long been fascinated by the staggering productivity of the US during World War II. I have not checked these numbers but they look right and there are four I know are correct.
During the 3-1/2 years of World War 2 that started with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and ended with the Surrender of Germany and Japan in 1945, "We the People of the U.S.A." produced the following:
22 aircraft carriers,
8 battleships,
48 cruisers,
349 destroyers,
420 destroyer escorts,
203 submarines,
34 million tons of merchant ships,
100,000 fighter aircraft,
98,000 bombers,
24,000 transport aircraft,
58,000 training aircraft,
93,000 tanks,
257,000 artillery pieces,
105,000 mortars,
3,000,000 machine guns, and
2,500,000 military trucks.
We put 16.1 million men in uniform in the various armed services, invaded Africa, invaded Sicily and Italy, won the battle for the Atlantic, planned and executed D-Day, marched across the Pacific and Europe, developed the atomic bomb, and ultimately conquered Japan and Germany.
Plus, we built the Pentagon in 2 1/2 years. And this is the tip of the iceberg. It doesn't cover the ports and harbours built, railways refurbished, highways, airports, etc. For example, the 1,700 mile Alaska Highway was begun March 1942 (three months after the attack on Pearl Harbor) and completed eight months later in October, 1942.

Granted, consumer consumption plummeted but none the less the quantities and achievements are both staggering and humbling.

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