Often, water offers ships typical emergency situations such as fire, water ingress, deterioration in visibility or the situation in general. Well-coordinated crews, guided by experienced captains, deal with problems quickly. Otherwise, sea disasters occur, which take human lives with them and leave their black mark on history.
There are quite a lot of such disasters and tragedies. However, some of them deserve special attention.
Torpedoing of the mysterious ship "Armenia"
The biggest maritime disasters happened in the 20th century, mainly during the war years. The most massive tragedy in the history of the Russian fleet is the loss of the ship "Armenia". The ship was used to transport the wounded from the Crimea during the offensive of German soldiers. After thousands of wounded in Sevastopol were loaded on board the ship, the ship arrived in Y alta. It was believed that this city was doomed, so the NKVD officers placed several heavy boxes on the ship. There were rumors that they contained gold. This isattracted many adventurers afterwards.
November 7, 1941, the Heinkel He-111 torpedo bomber attacked the ship, after which the ship quickly sank. It is still unknown how many people it carried. Only a rough estimate of the number of victims is given (7-10 thousand people).
It should also be noted that the vessel has not yet been found. Since it sailed off the coast of Y alta at the moment when the Germans had already entered the city, the captain of the ship did not inform anyone about his further route. Therefore, it is not known exactly which route “Armenia” was moving on.
Tragedy on the B altic Sea
In the B altic Sea, wrecks are encountered by scuba divers and divers quite often. But the wreck of the Cap Arkona liner and the cargo ship Tilbek is a tragedy that claimed almost 8,000 lives. It is considered one of the largest maritime disasters.
Both ships were attacked by the RAF. They transported prisoners from concentration camps. Also on board were SS soldiers and a German crew. The last one, by the way, managed to escape. Everyone else, mostly those wearing striped overalls, was shot by German ships.
So the British aviation allowed a large-scale catastrophe, which did not bring decisively any benefit in the war. In their defense, the British Air Force said that the bombing happened by accident, by mistake.
The legendary Titanic
Everyone who studies the sunken ships or heard something about them will invariably connect the story with"Titanic". However, there is nothing mysterious or unique about it. The captain of the ship was informed of the threat of icebergs, but chose to ignore the information. Soon he received a message that there was a huge block of ice ahead. There was no time to change course. Therefore, the captain decided to put his right side under attack.
The ship was nicknamed "unsinkable" while still in port. Needless to say, he matched it a bit. Despite the heavy damage received, the ship remained afloat for a long time. During this period, the nearest ship "Carpathia" managed to come to the rescue. That is why more than 700 passengers were saved. The dead turned out to be about 1000.
Thus, if we consider the most "hyped" maritime disasters of the 20th century, then the death of the Titanic will be in the first place. This is not at all due to the number of human casu alties and touching stories about salvation, but to the fact that the nobility traveled on the ship.
Lusitania Liner
In 1915, maritime disasters added to their list with the crash of a British passenger liner. On May 7, the Lusitania was attacked by a German submarine. The torpedo hit the starboard side, causing a series of explosions. As a result, the ship sank in a matter of moments.
The accident occurred near Kinsale (Ireland), 13 kilometers from it. Probably, such proximity to the mainland allowed enough people to escape.
Full crash of the liner occurred in 18 minutes. There were about2,000 people, more than 700 of whom managed to escape. 1198 passengers and crew members went down with the wreckage of the former large liner.
By the way, it is with this tragedy that the Anglo-German confrontation begins in the water. Both countries try to cause damage, sometimes even "accidentally", to each other regarding the navy.
Nuclear icebreaker "Kursk"
The most recent disaster in the memories of Russians is the death of the Kursk. This tragedy brought misfortune and grief to many families who did not expect to part with their loved ones forever. After all, the nuclear-powered ship did just a training swim.
Sunken submarines have always been of interest. On August 12, 2000, the Kursk was added to their list. There are 2 reasons for this at the moment. In the first case, it is believed that a projectile exploded in the torpedo room. However, no one can say why this happened. In the second case, an attack by the US Navy, more specifically, by the Memphis submarine. As for the concealment of the real cause of the death of the Kursk, the government decided to avoid an international conflict. One way or another, at the moment there is no exact information as to why the nuclear-powered ship sank.
118 people became victims of the tragedy. It was impossible to help the dying people at the bottom of the Barents Sea. Therefore, no one managed to survive.
The most paradoxical death
The largest maritime disasters are distinguished not only by large-scale human casu alties, but also by their uniqueness. Many of them occur under conditions that at first sightseem quite impossible. A paradoxical catastrophe is the sinking of the Dona Paz ferry and oil tanker at the end of 1987.
The fact is that the captain of the ferry was sitting in his cabin and watching TV, while the ship was controlled by an inexperienced sailor. An oil tanker was sailing towards him, with which a collision occurred a few minutes later. As a result, almost all passengers were burned alive, as a global fire began. It was impossible to get out of the resulting fiery trap. More than 80 tons of oil spilled into the sea, after which it immediately ignited. Who would have thought that on the water you can die from fire?
Both ships went completely underwater in less than half an hour. There were no survivors, the elements took 4375 people.
Conclusion
All maritime disasters are tragedies that plunge into grief and cut off the fate of people. Physical damage to the fleet is inflicted, especially if a warship is lost. But moral damage is also observed, because no one wants to lose colleagues and brothers in their speci alty.
But any disaster at sea is also a kind of experiment, only unplanned. After the incident, the fleet needs to analyze the situation from all sides, identify the circumstances and causes. Next, measures should be developed to help eliminate the possibility of a recurrence of a particular catastrophe.
