Maritime Disasters
All Time List of Maritime Ship Disasters
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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 |
| Nov 1811 | Storm | British convoy | 2,000+ |
| Jan 1822 | Hit a reef | Chinese junk Tek Sing | 1,600+ |
| 27 Apr 1865 | Explosion | Paddle steamer on the Mississippi | 1,700 |
| 15 Jun 1904 | Fire | Steamer General Slocum | 1,021 |
| 14 Apr 1912 | Iceberg contact | RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage | 1,502 |
| 22 Sep 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 Dec 1917 | Collision | Munitions ship Mont Blanc | 1,635 |
| 18 Mar 1921 | Rebellion | Passenger ship Kong Moh | 1,000+ |
| 27 Mar 1943 | Accident, explosion | British aircraft carrier HMS Dasher (D37) | 379 |
| 08 Jun 1943 | Explosion | Japanese battleship Mutsu | 1,121 |
| 26 Dec 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 Apr 1944 | Fire / explosion | Cargo steamer Fort Stikine | 1,500~ |
| 16 Apr 1945 | Torpedo | In the Baltic, the German cargo and evacuation ship Goya was sunk by a Soviet submarine | 7,000+ |
| 25 Jun 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 Jun 1944 | Torpedo | The Japanese troop carrier Toyama Maru was sunk off Okinawa by a US submarine | 5,400~ |
| 22 Sep 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 Sep 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 Oct 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 Jan 1945 | Torpedo | Passenger ship Wilhelm Gustloff torpedoed by a Russian submarine. It’s one of the worst ship disasters while wartime. | 9,000+ |
| 10 Feb 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 Mar 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 Apr 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 Jun 1948 | Mine | Danish steamer Kjöbenhaven | 140 |
| 17 Sep 1949 | Fire | Steamer Noronic in Toronto | 130 |
| 31 Jan 1953 | Flood disaster | Princess Victoria ferry and at least 10 other ships | 240~ |
| 26 Sep 1954 | Heavy seas | Japanese train ferry Toya Maru | 1,150 |
| 29 Oct 1955 | Explosion | Battleship Noworossik | 608 |
| 25 Jul 1956 | Collision | Italian Andrea Doria sinks off New York | 50 |
| 21 Sep 1957 | Storm | German sailing training ship Pamir sinks | 80 |
| 10 Apr 1963 | Flooding | The US nuclear submarine USS Thresher (SSN-593) sank during diving tests, all hands died | 129 |
| 29 Jul 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 Aug 1986 | Collision | Cruise ship SS Admiral Nakhimov | 423 |
| 6 Mar 1987 | Storm | The English Channel ferry Herold of Free Enterprise capsized off Zeebrugge (BEL) | 200~ |
| 20 Dec 1987 | Collision / explosion | Philippine ferry Dona Paz | 4,386 |
| 17 Feb 1993 | Overloading | Haitian ferry Neptune | 1,000+ |
| 28 Sep 1994 | Flooding | Estonian ferry Estonia | 854 |
| 21 May 1996 | Overloading | Lake Victoria ferry Bukoba | 800 |
| 05 Aug 2000 | Explosion | Russian nuclear submarine K-141 Kursk | 118 |
| 26 Sep 2002 | Storm / overloading | Senegalese ferry Joola off the coast of Gambia | 2,000 |
| 03 Feb 2006 | Fire / storm | Egyptian ferry Al-Salam Bocca | 1,026 |
| 21 Jun 2008 | Typhoon | Philippine ferry Princess of Stars | 800 |
| 13 Jan 2012 | Rock contact | Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia | 32 |
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