Naval Disasters and Mysteries: Lost Ships
Ships that vanished without a trace, the deadliest sinkings ever recorded, and the accidents navies would rather forget. Start with the ranked list of the worst naval disasters, then the ships that disappeared.
Most warships that are lost are lost in battle, and the record says how. This hub is about the others: ships that sank with huge numbers of people aboard, ships that went down through bad design or bad luck, and ships that left port and were never found. Some of these cases are well documented. Some are still open, and the stories say plainly where the evidence stops.
The deadliest sinkings
The worst naval disasters are not the famous ones. Our ranked list of the worst naval disasters by death toll starts with a ship most people have never heard of. On 30 January 1945 the Soviet submarine S-13 torpedoed the former cruise liner Wilhelm Gustloff in the Baltic. She had been built for about 1,900 people and carried somewhere around 10,000, most of them refugees. Estimates of the dead run from 6,000 to over 9,000, far more than the Titanic.
Many of the worst losses came in single moments. HMS Hood blew up in the Denmark Strait in May 1941, and three of her 1,418 men survived. At Pearl Harbor, USS Arizona lost 1,177 men, close to half of all the Americans killed that day. Others came slowly. After USS Indianapolis was torpedoed in July 1945, about 900 men went into the water and 316 survived.
The Lusitania sank in eighteen minutes in 1915 after one torpedo. Survivors felt two explosions, and the arguments about what caused the second one are sorted in the story into what is known and what is not.
Ships that sank themselves
Some ships needed no enemy. On 19 July 1545 the Mary Rose heeled and flooded through her open gunports in front of Henry VIII. In 1628 Sweden’s Vasa failed a stability test at the dock, sailed anyway, and sank after about 1,300 meters. Nobody was blamed.
In 1944 the Japanese carrier Shinano, the largest yet built, sank seventeen hours into her first voyage after one submarine attack, with 1,435 dead. Most of her watertight doors had never been installed.
Navies have also been their own worst enemy at sea. The Royal Navy’s steam-powered K-class submarines lost six boats, none of them to the enemy. In 1952 the destroyer-minesweeper USS Hobson turned across the bow of the carrier USS Wasp at night and was cut in half. 176 men died, and the captain did not survive to explain the turn. In August 2000, a leaking practice torpedo sank the Russian submarine Kursk with 118 men, and the government’s handling of the rescue became a second disaster on television.
Ships that disappeared
Then there are the ships with no wreck at all. In March 1918 the collier USS Cyclops left Barbados with 306 people and 11,000 tons of manganese ore, more than her recommended load. No distress signal was received and no wreckage was found. It is still the largest non-combat loss of life in US Navy history.
Cyclops is not alone. Our list of ships that disappeared without a trace covers her alongside the liner SS Waratah in 1909, the MV Joyita in 1955, found drifting with nobody aboard, and the submarine USS Scorpion in 1968. Each story sets out what was found, what was not, and which theories the evidence supports.
All Mysteries and disasters stories
The Worst Naval Disasters in History, Ranked by Death Toll
The Wilhelm Gustloff killed more people than the Titanic, Lusitania, and Indianapolis combined. Most people have never heard of it.
Ships That Disappeared Without a Trace
USS Cyclops. SS Waratah. MV Joyita. USS Scorpion. These ships sailed out of port with hundreds of people aboard and were never seen again. Some left no wreckage. Some left no explanation. Here are the ones that still have neither.
306 Men Sailed Out of Barbados and the Navy Never Found a Single One
USS Cyclops left Barbados on March 4, 1918 with 306 people and 11,000 tons of manganese ore. No distress signal. No wreckage. No explanation. It's the largest non-combat loss of life in US Navy history and nobody knows what happened.
The Destroyer That Turned Left and Nobody Knows Why
During night flying ops in 1952, USS Hobson made an unexplained left turn into the carrier USS Wasp. The carrier cut her in half. 176 men died in four minutes. The captain didn't survive to explain.
The Royal Navy Put Steam Engines in Submarines and Lost More Boats to Themselves Than to the Enemy
The British K-class submarines were steam-powered, 339 feet long, and needed five minutes to dive. None were sunk by the enemy. Six sank anyway.
The Largest Carrier Ever Built Lasted Seventeen Hours
IJN Shinano was a converted Yamato-class hull displacing 72,000 tons. She left Yokosuka on the evening of November 28, 1944. A single American submarine sank her before breakfast. 1,435 dead.
The Ship That Delivered the Bomb and Disappeared
USS Indianapolis delivered the Hiroshima uranium, got torpedoed four days later, and 900 men went into the water. The Navy didn't notice for four days. Sharks circled for 96 hours. 316 survived. The captain was court-martialed and shot himself.
Vasa Failed Her Stability Test, Sailed Anyway, and Nobody Was Blamed
Sweden's royal warship Vasa nearly capsized at the dock during a stability test in 1628. She sailed anyway and sank in Stockholm harbor within minutes. The inquiry found no one guilty, and the only man left to blame was already dead.
Kursk: The Submarine That Sank Twice, Once in the Sea and Once on Television
In August 2000 a leaking practice torpedo sank the Russian submarine Kursk with 118 men. Twenty-three survived the blasts, Russia refused foreign help for days, and Norwegian divers opened the hatch nine days late.
The Mary Rose Sank in Front of Henry VIII, and the Mud Kept Her Crew
Henry VIII's warship Mary Rose capsized in the Solent in 1545 while the king watched from shore. Nobody agrees on exactly why. The silt that buried her preserved longbows, a ship's dog and the bones of the men who sailed her.
USS Arizona's Band Never Got to Play the Final
All 21 men of USS Arizona's band died at Pearl Harbor. The popular story says they were sleeping off a contest win. In fact their battle station was the powder hoists of Turret No. 2. Since 1982, 45 survivors have rejoined their shipmates inside the wreck.
One Torpedo, Two Explosions: What Actually Sank the Lusitania
U-20 fired one torpedo at the Lusitania on 7 May 1915. Survivors felt two blasts. A century of arguments about munitions, coal dust and a newspaper warning, sorted into what is known and what is not.
HMS Hood Lost 1,415 Men in Three Minutes. These Are the Three Who Got Out
When Bismarck sank HMS Hood on 24 May 1941, 1,415 of her 1,418 men died. A signalman, a gunner and a midshipman survived, and their accounts do not fully agree. In 2015 the ship's bell came up from 2,800 metres.
Wilhelm Gustloff: The Deadliest Sinking in History and the Captain Nobody Wanted to Honor
On 30 January 1945 the Soviet submarine S-13 sank the refugee ship Wilhelm Gustloff in the Baltic. Estimates of the dead run from 6,000 to 9,600, and the captain who fired the torpedoes was demoted, discharged and jailed before the USSR made him a hero in 1990.