Naval Disasters That have Touched you the Most

[John Brown]

Welcome to the forum Kath and thanks for sharing that piece of your familys history with us.


Regards...John

[GaryH]

Naval Disasters that have touched you the most

The loss of HMS Glorious, Ardent and Acasta.

That was an incident that should NOT have happened.
British error gave it to the Germans gift-wrapped on a silver plate

[ScotsmanlovesCorinne]

My wife would be glad to know that this topic (thread) is still continuing. She was so concerned that naval tragedies would lead to forgotten heroes. She hated seeing a number that represented the death toll on a vessel, whether naval or civilian. She absolutely didn't want anyone to be forgotten. She told me of a TV series from England that she loved watching when it came on TV over here. Here it was called 'Robin of Sherwood'. The mantra she learned from that series she applied to naval issues. "Nothing's forgotten. Nothing is ever forgotten.

All this to tell you how much she cried when she saw footage of the explosion on the HMS Barham and realized when that footage was shot, over 800 men had just died.

Brian

[Ednamay]

I remember the feeling of distress and dismay when the news of Barham's loss eventually came through on the wireless news.

I think a number of the crew were from Portsmouth, but can't remember whether she was actually Portsmouth based

Edna

[NASAAN101]

Guys,
for me, The lost of Bismarck in 1941 and Scharhorst in 1943! Bismarck was a Pup at 9-mouths old! she was a baby in a way and Scharnhorst was also a baby at 4-years old! RIP you two big Beautiful girls, you will be missed!
NIkki

[steve roberts]

Hi Gang.Although a British submariner.The loss of USS Thresher still has to be the one that hits me hardest.They were at their nominal operational depth,the Reactor SCRAMS due to a minor hull leak.Not enough compressed air to debalast,no power to try and reach safe depth.Those guys knew they were dead from the minute the Reactor shut down.What a terrible way to go.
Many Regards Steve.

[Jim in Annville]

A more recent loss. The U.S.S. Stark in 1987. Two Iraqi exocet missles . Thank god only one exploded. My ship the USS Conyngham was the first ship on scene and I was in the first boat to go to assisstance. I spent all night into the following day onboard her fighting fires. I lost a friend that i had went to boot camp with on her. 37 American sailors lost their lives that night. All because we weren't allowed to protect ourselves. Don't fire till fired upon is a bunch of bovine excretement in modern warefare.:mad:

[ScotsmanlovesCorinne]

Okay I'm confused. Was the States at War with Iraq or not? Couldn't a 'clumsy' person accidentally lean on a button and 'fire back'. They accidentally shot an Iranian airbus somewhere in history. Knowing how the Western world feels about Muslim extremists, I don't think anyone would be too upset if a missile was 'accidentally' launched. Oh yeah, I forgot - it wouldn't be politically correct. It wouldn't be the first time the excrement hit the oscillator.

I'm sorry for the loss of your friend. Those who lost loved ones in the World Trade Towers, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania can probably attest too - Collateral Damages is an expression invented by cowards to justify murdering innocent people.

I probably sound like Corinne at this point, but what can I say - great minds think alike. Besides if you're married you know that great minds belong to the fairer sex and we agree or sleep on the couch.

Sarcasm intended
Brian

[ScotsmanlovesCorinne]

This one is on behalf of my wife.

Any submarine which sank either in peacetime (including those less famous than the Dakar; HMS Thetis; USS Squalus; USS Thresher; USS Scorpion; and Kursk). And especially to the crews who are eternally on patrol - RIP

And Jim - I have an understanding of how you feel. My brother is in the Canadian Army and he has been to places all over the world where they were not allowed to 'get involved' in the conflict. He has witnessed many times, people being hurt and/or killed and has been frustrated by the mandate which forbids them to help.

Brian

[MelQuick]

Guys,
for me, The lost of Bismarck in 1941 and Scharhorst in 1943! Bismarck was a Pup at 9-mouths old! she was a baby in a way and Scharnhorst was also a baby at 4-years old! RIP you two big Beautiful girls, you will be missed!
NIkki

Nikki

They were beautiful ships but they represented a wicked regime that was the enemy of all decent people, including the German people themselves.

Mel

[Jackaroo]

The Royal Australian Navy have had a few disasters in its short life.

The Melbourne Evans/Voyager disasters and aftermath.

HMAS AE1...Still on patrol.

and this one HMAS Yarra (II)

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/22/1082616262661.html

[Teuchter]

The Kirsk tragedy "got to" me

The accident itself was predictable and preventable and the aftermath was a C U of huge proportions by the Kremlin resulting in the needless loss of more lives

[Nauftikos]

On a personal note,for me having left the R.N. in 1980 & last seagoing draft being Glamorgan. The news during the Falklands war that she had been hit by an Excocet was more of a blow than I could have imagined. No longer my "watch" but really felt useless. Those onboard however performed superbly...But such a sad loss of life.

[Vegaskip]

The Royal Australian Navy have had a few disasters in its short life.

The Melbourne Evans/Voyager disasters and aftermath.

HMAS AE1...Still on patrol.

and this one HMAS Yarra (II)

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/22/1082616262661.html




Hi Jack, I posted this small watercolour of Yarra on the Wet Canvas web site, so far there has been 641 views and 216 downloads.
I put a breif out line of the circumstances of her loss, so at least thats another 641 people who know about it.
http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=84080&d=1282037409


regards

[RogerP]

Hello everyone from OZ,

My thoughts on this topic don’t concern just one ship which suffered a great loss of life, but a very gallant group of ‘little ships’ which set sail from Falmouth on the afternoon of 26th March 1942.
This group of small warships comprised 16 Fairmile B class motor launches, a Fairmile C class MGB and a specially modified Vosper MTB. These small craft accompanied the old destroyer HMS Campbeltown and you have probably guessed it by now I am referring to the successful, but tragic Op Chariot, the raid on St Nazaire. One of the MLs, 341 had to turn back due to engine failure so did not take part in the firestorm which awaited her shipmates and commando’s in the other craft.

The numbers I am about to quote have come from a number of sources, all varied to some degree, but you will see the operation was very costly in terms of how many returned home. I believe there were 611 participants, this being 341 navy personnel, 268 commando’s and the two newspaper journalists. Of this number only 227 returned to England with (I think) 147 being navy and only 78 commando’s. The two journo’s Gordon Holman and Edward Gilling were among the lucky ones to return home.

Following is a list by boat pennant numbers and you will see some craft suffered far more than others. HMS Campbeltown was the only ship designed NOT to return to England. Of her crew of 75, 34 were killed. She also had 80 commando’s on board of whom 12 were killed and I would say quite a number became POW’s. Within 20 minutes, or in some cases even before Campbeltown struck the caisson no fewer than seven MLs were disabled, blazing wrecks.

ML192 – 17 crew, 4 killed 13 captured. 14 commando’s, 8 killed 6 captured. Capt Micky Burn did in fact make it ashore alone but was later captured.
ML262 – 16 crew, 7 killed. 14 commando’s, 3 killed 11 captured.
ML267 – 16 crew, 11 killed. 11 commando’s, 8 killed 3 captured.
ML268 – 15 crew, 8 killed. 17 commando’s, 15 killed 2 captured.
ML298 – 16 crew, 11 killed 5 captured. No commando’s on board.
ML447 – 15 crew, 5 killed. 13 commando’s, 9 killed and
ML457 – 15 crew, 8 killed. 10 commando’s, 4 killed.

The next two ‘little ships’ almost made it out of the estuary, but were hit by large caliber shells and destroyed.
ML177 – Initially 16 crew of which 5 were killed and 14 commando’s with 1 fatality. On her way out though she had some 30+ extras on board and I think those that weren’t killed when she was hit and set ablaze would have been captured.
MTB74 – She had a crew of 10, but on the way out she had collected 16 survivors from Campbeltown and a further 10 others floating in the estuary, a total of 36. She stopped to rescue two men in a liferaft and was struck by two large shells causing 29 fatalities with the 7 survivors all captured.

This leaves only seven ‘little ships’ to account for with the following four all badly damaged to the extent they had to be abandoned. MLs 156, 270 and 446 suffered nil fatalities but most on board were wounded. They were all transferred to the reinforcing destroyers and the craft were sunk.

The vary gallant MGB314, the HQ ship for the operation only suffered 2 fatalities, these being AB Bill Savage who was awarded a posthumous VC for his work manning the for’ard 2pdr and his loader mate AB ‘Lofty’ Stephens who was awarded a posthumous ‘mention in dispatches’. Before being the last ship to leave, 25 army and navy survivors from Campbeltown, most of whom were wounded came aboard the MGB. By the time she left she had (I believe) 58 souls on board with at least 42 wounded with quite a number being wounded again during her run down the estuary! She was quite badly holed, especially near the bow at the waterline with those less seriously wounded trying desperately to keep her afloat.
The MGB and MLs were all sunk by the reinforcing destroyers as they were deemed to be too badly damaged to get home safely.

Meanwhile ML 306 found herself alone and soon her luck ran out when she was engaged at close range by the German Torpedo Boat Destroyer the “Jaguar”, a much larger ship armed with 4” guns and numerous quick firing weapons. ML 306 could only respond with the twin Lewis gun manned by SGT Tom Durrant, a commando and some other small arms. The one sided fight lasted almost an hour before the ML finally surrendered with most on board either dead or wounded. Four crew (out of 14) and four commandos (14) are listed as killed.

Only three MLs (160, 307 & 443) of the 17 ‘little ships’ who entered the estuary made it home suffering no fatalities but I should think quite a number would have been wounded.

There you have my version of a ‘Naval Disaster which has touched me the most’, mainly because of my interest in the ‘little ships’ and the young volunteer sailors who went to sea in small, frail wooden boats to not only battle the enemy, but the sea itself.

Of the 611 brave souls who took part in the raid, 168 were killed and 214 were taken prisoner. There were 136 decorations awarded with 51 of them being ‘mentions in dispatches’. Twenty two were posthumous as were two of the five VCs awarded.

[triumf]

I was reading today an account of the sinking of the Scharnhorest, the crew of which numbered nearly seventeen hundred sailors. Thirty six survivors were taken out of the Arctic Ocean. Thirty by HMS Scorpion six maybe by HMS Belfast. The Norwegian ship HMS Stord's crew beat up survivors as they came over the side, and threw the over the other side. This was an account by an eyewitness onboard HMS Duke of York. For anyone who goes to sea there is a kinship, and a thought there but for the grace god goes me. The crew of the Scorpion treated the German survivors with great care, and some of them became life long friends. I have no words to describe my contempt for the Stord.

Alan

Could you please send a link to this incident? AS a norwegian my self with kinfolk at the Vigra at this time, I`d very much would like to see this. In all the documentation I have read, I never saw anything of this type of behaviour by the crew on the Stord. From my sources there were no survivours picked up by Stord.
By the way, the Stord was never named HMS Stord, when transferred to KNM (Kongelige Norske Marine) she was named Stord with pennant nuber G26. In 1946, she was renamed KNM Stord, with pennant number J 01, witch was changed to D300 in 1950. She was sadly scrapped in 1959.

Konrad

[jainso31]

On the 30th July 1945 the USS Indianapolis CA-35 was halfway between Midway and Leyte Gulf carrying an Atomic Bomb component; when she was torpedoed by IJS I 58, which fired a spread of six torpedoes at her-one struck fatally and the ship sank. She took 300 of her crew down with her.
890 men aboard went into the water and were there for four days suffering
exposure, dehydration and Tiger Shark Attacks! The survivors were seen, by sheer luck; by a spotter plane; but by then there were only just over 300 of the crew still alive!
A harrowing tale indeed !


jainso31

Always on the Lookout

[Blaydon]

I have just found out today that my Great Uncle was a member of the crew of HMS Scorpion and was involved in helping with the survivors of the Scharhorst when they were brought aboard.

[John Brown]

On the 30th July 1945 the USS Indianapolis CA-35 was halfway between Midway and Leyte Gulf carrying an Atomic Bomb component; when she was torpedoed by IJS I 58, which fired a spread of six torpedoes at her-one struck fatally and the ship sank. She took 300 of her crew down with her.
890 men aboard went into the water and were there for four days suffering
exposure, dehydration and Tiger Shark Attacks! The survivors were seen, by sheer luck; by a spotter plane; but by then there were only just over 300 of the crew still alive!
A harrowing tale indeed !


jainso31

Always on the Lookout

A harrowing tale indeed Jaino. However, in the interests of accuracy, I think it worth pointing out that Indianapolis had unloaded her cargo of atomic bomb components on Tinian Island a few days before her sinking.

Regards......John

[ScotsmanlovesCorinne]

There's a great book about the USS Indianapolis by Doug Stanton that recounts the horror and the heroics of both the crew and the rescuers. Well worth reading.

Following up on my late wife's research - I've been looking at some of the submarine disasters following a great link to a site called "On Eternal Patrol" which lists those submarines which sank with their crews. I don't have a lot of time but I figured one or two a week would be good. Started off with USS Trigger and USS Seawolf and will follow through with others. Any loss of life is upsetting, but I can't think of anything worse than going down with a submarine.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year.

Brian Johnston