
Maritime Ship Disasters
Maritime Ship Disasters All-Time List
This list focuses on maritime ship disasters which were caused by extreme weather events and/or caused by war or human error, leading to loss of life. Sadly the majority of deaths at sea in recent times have occurred as a result of overcrowding on many small vessels, often unnamed and unregistered, carrying migrants so they do not appear on this list.
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When | Cause | Ship/s Involved in Greatest Ship Disasters | Victims |
---|---|---|---|
492 BC | Storm. | Ships of the Persian fleet. | 20,000 |
255 BC | Storm. | 300 ships of the Roman fleet. | 100,000+ |
1281 | Typhoon. | Mongolian/Korean fleet. | 70,000 |
1588 | War, storm. | 40 ships of the Spanish Armada. | 13,000 |
November 1811 | Storm. | British convoy. | 2,000+ |
January 1822 | Hit a reef. | Chinese junk Tek Sing. | 1,600+ |
27 April 1865 | Explosion. | Paddle steamer on the Mississippi. | 1,700 |
15 June 1904 | Fire. | Steamer General Slocum. | 1,021 |
14 April 1912 | Iceberg contact. | RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage. | 1,502 |
22 September 1912 | Typhoon. | Japanese steamer Kiche Maru. | 1,000 |
29 May 1914 | Collision. | RMS Empress of Ireland. | 1,012 |
7 May 1915 | Torpedo (U20). | Lusitania passenger ship en route from New York to Liverpool. | 1,198 |
06 December 1917 | Collision. | Munitions ship Mont Blanc. | 1,635 |
18 March 1921 | Rebellion. | Passenger ship Kong Moh. | 1,000+ |
27 March 1943 | Accident, explosion. | British aircraft carrier HMS Dasher (D37). | 379 |
08 June 1943 | Explosion. | Japanese battleship Mutsu. | 1,121 |
26 December 1943 | Naval battle. | The German warship Scharnhorst was attacked in the Arctic Ocean by the British battleship “Duke of York” and sunk. Only 32 survivors were pulled from the icy water. | 1,930+ |
14 April 1944 | Fire / explosion. | Cargo steamer Fort Stikine. | 1,500~ |
16 April 1945 | Torpedo. | In the Baltic, the German cargo and evacuation ship Goya was sunk by a Soviet submarine. | 7,000+ |
25 June 1944 | Torpedo. | The US submarine “Rasher” was cruising near Lombok (Indonesia). It first sank the Tango Maru carrying forced laborers and prisoners of war (ca. 3000 dead), and, shortly after, the Japanese troop carrier Ryusei Maru with almost 5000 soldiers on board | 8,000~ |
29 June 1944 | Torpedo. | The Japanese troop carrier Toyama Maru was sunk off Okinawa by a US submarine. | 5,400~ |
22 September 1944 | Torpedo. | Particularly tragic was the sinking of the Japanese freighter Tsushima Maru. On board were civilians and over 740 school children, of whom only 59 survived. | 1,529 |
18 September 1944 | Torpedo. | The Japanese cargo and prison ship Junyo Maru was torpedoed by a British submarine off the coast of Sumatra. It sank with more than 6000 prisoners on board including nearly 1400 Dutch. | 5,620~ |
24 October 1944 | Torpedo. | The sinking of the Japanese transport ship Arisan Maru by a US submarine was also a grave mistake. On board were almost 1800 US prisoners, of whom only 8 survived. | 1,890~ |
30 January 1945 | Torpedo. | Passenger ship Wilhelm Gustloff torpedoed by a Russian submarine. It’s one of the worst ship disasters while wartime. | 9,000+ |
10 February 1945 | Torpedo. | The hospital ship Steuben was carrying mostly wounded and refugees when it was torpedoed and sunk shortly after midnight in the Baltic Sea by a Soviet submarine. | 4,000~ |
19 March 1945 | Air-raid. | Aircraft carrier USS Franklin aka “Big Ben” was crippled by a Japanese air attack. |
832~ |
3 May 1945 | Air-raid. | The luxury ship Cap Arcona was sunk four days before the war ended by British fighter pilots in the Bay of Lübeck. | 8,000~ |
11 May 1945 | Kamikaze. | Aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) was crippled by Japanese kamikaze attacks. | 389~ |
16 April 1947 | Explosions. | Three ships were involved in the “Texas city disaster” The SS Grandcamp‘s cargo of ammonium nitrate exploded igniting ammonium nitrate in the SS High Flyer which demolished the SS Wilson B. Keene. | 568~ |
11 June 1948 | Mine. | Danish steamer Kjöbenhaven. | 140 |
17 September 1949 | Fire. | Steamer Noronic in Toronto. | 130 |
31 January 1953 | Flood disaster. | Princess Victoria ferry and at least 10 other ships. | 240~ |
26 September 1954 | Heavy seas. | Japanese train ferry Toya Maru. | 1,150 |
29 October 1955 | Explosion. | Battleship Noworossik. | 608 |
25 July 1956 | Collision. | Italian Andrea Doria sinks off New York. | 50 |
21 September 1957 | Storm. | German sailing training ship Pamir sinks. | 80 |
10 April 1963 | Flooding. | The US nuclear submarine USS Thresher (SSN-593) sank during diving tests, all hands died. | 129 |
29 July 1967 | Fire. | Aircraft carrier USS Forrestal. | 134 |
2 May 1982 | Torpedo. | The Argentinian light cruiser General Belgrano was sunk by British submarine Conqueror during the Falklands war. | 323 |
31 August 1986 | Collision. | Cruise ship SS Admiral Nakhimov. | 423 |
6 March 1987 | Storm. | The English Channel ferry Herold of Free Enterprise capsized off Zeebrugge, Belgium. | 200~ |
20 December 1987 | Collision / explosion. | Philippine ferry Dona Paz. | 4,386 |
17 February 1993 | Overloading. | Haitian ferry Neptune. | 1,000+ |
28 September 1994 | Flooding. | Estonian ferry Estonia. | 854 |
21 May 1996 | Overloading. | Lake Victoria ferry Bukoba. | 800 |
05 August 2000 | Explosion. | Russian nuclear submarine K-141 Kursk. | 118 |
26 September 2002 | Storm / overloading. | Senegalese ferry Joola off the coast of Gambia. | 1,864 |
8 July 2003 | Sank. | Bangladeshi passenger ferry Nazreen-1 sank on the Meghna River. | 530 |
03 February 2006 | Fire / storm. | Egyptian roll on/roll off passenger ferry Al-Salam Boccaccio 98 sank in the Red Sea following a fire. | 1,026 |
21 June 2008 | Typhoon. | Philippine ferry Princess of Stars. | 800 |
13 January 2012 | Rock contact. | Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia ran aground, capsized and sank because the captain choose an unsuitable course. | 32 |
1 June 2015 | Tornado waterspout. | Chinese river cruise ship Eastern Star capsized at night after being hit by a tornado waterspout on the Yangtze river. | 442 |
20 September 2018 | Capsized due to overloading. | Tanazinan ferry MV Nyerere capsized in lake Victoria. The ferry capacity was 100 people and with 228 deaths and 41 people rescued it was certainly overloaded. | 228 |
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- ADDucation’s list of maritime ship disasters was compiled by Robert Junker, last updated 04 Jun 2022.
- Spotted a mistake or do you have a suggestion to improve our list of maritime ship disasters? Please add your comments below…
Facinating to see the difference between imperial and Canada and Australia. I was aware of the most of US differences, but not cup sizes.missing from list are the beer barrel sizes, keg, pin, etc. you could add champagne bottle sizes. And note that 640 acres is 1 square mile.