Came across this item quite by accident. The type of thing that makes you want to scratch your head.
A modern warship, of the most advanced type, blown apart, taking with it to the bottom almost the entire crew, all from non-hostile action.
The HMS Vanguard, British World War One [WW1] "Dreadnought" type of vessel, an accidental explosion sinking the ship, WHILE MOORED, IN HARBOR!! An explosion, devastating, not from enemy action, a non-combat situation.
"Just before midnight on Monday, 9 July 1917 at Scapa Flow, Vanguard suffered an explosion, probably caused by an unnoticed stokehold fire heating cordite stored against an adjacent bulkhead in one of the two magazines which served the amidships gun turrets 'P' and 'Q'. She sank almost instantly, killing an estimated 843 men; there were only two survivors."
Here is an excellent photograph of the Vanguard. Note that amidships turret. Ammo storage area would have been adjacent to the coal-fired boilers? Those cables attached to the mast were radio antenna for the spark-gap transmitters of the era?
EVERYONE on the ship was probably in their berth, blissfully asleep, NO warning or any possibility of escape subsequent to the accidental detonation.
"In terms of loss of life, the destruction of the Vanguard remains the most catastrophic accidental explosion in the history of the UK, and one of the worst accidental losses of the Royal Navy."
Perhaps THE GREATEST SINGLE LOSS in the history of the Royal Navy? And while the armed forces are actually in a state of conflict!
This "accident" speaks poorly to design features of the ship? Amidships turrets requiring ammunition storage facilities located NEAR the engine room and coal fired boilers? ONLY a single bulkhead separating the compartments.
Even in a time of non-hostilities, military service can be dangerous. Think too of the sinking of the USS Maine. According to Admiral Rickover almost the same sort of scenario [accidental ammunition discharge] may have sunk the Maine, also while at anchorage - - a non-hostile situation!
coolbert.
The loss of HMS Vanguard due to spontaneously combusting ammunition or propellant was not only not unique but also not as rare an event as you would think during that period. Modern so-called smokeless propellants were still relatively new, and totally safe manufacturing and storage techniques had yet to be finalised. Several British (Bulwark, Natal, Vanguard), French (Iena, Liberte) and Japanese (Mikasa, Mutsu) warships suffered catastrophic ammunition explosions (it is also arguable that the USS Maine was lost for such reasons in 1898). Oddly enough, no German warships were lost in this way, some writers suggesting that different manufacturing techniques accounted for this.
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