Shipwrecks and Maritime Disasters in U.S. History

Boats have been one of the most efficient ways to transport everything from vital supplies to humans throughout history. But this efficiency can come with a price, as human error and nature’s power sometimes leads to disaster. Here are the top 10 shipwrecks and maritime disasters in or near United States waters.

1. USS Arizona

Just before 8 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft from six fleet carriers attacked the heart of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet in the port of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The two attack waves destroyed or severely damaged many vessels including several of the U.S. Navy’s prized battleships: the USS Arizona, California, Oklahoma and West Virginia. The Arizona sustained eight direct bomb hits, one of which penetrated the deck and the black-powder magazine. The subsequent explosion and fire ripped through the forward part of the ship. The Arizona sank at its mooring taking the lives of 1,177 of the 1,400 sailors on board making it the greatest loss of life on any warship in U.S. history. Its fires burned for more than two days and oil continues to seep up from the wreckage to this day. In all, 2,402 Americans were killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, which came to be symbolized by the destruction of the USS Arizona.

2. SS Sultana

SS Sultana, a steamship that regularly traveled from St. Louis to New Orleans, was commissioned by the war department to transport just-released Union prisoners of war back home. The ship was legally registered to carry a maximum of less than 400 people, but with the government paying $5 per soldier, 2,300 soldiers were packed in so tightly that they could barely stand. At 2 a.m., April 27, three of the ship’s boilers exploded since they were rapidly and poorly repaired in order to get “first dibs” of the POWs. Fire quickly spread throughout the ship and those who survived jumped into the river and drowned. By the time the sun came up, more than 1,700 soldiers were dead and the Sultana sank about seven miles north of Memphis, Tennessee.

3. PS General Slocum

On June 15, 1904,  1,358 passengers boarded the ship for an annual church event up the East River. Shortly after launch, a small fire began in the forward section and within the hour, the fire had spread to a paint locker that contained gasoline and other flammable liquids. Unfortunately, the captain had not maintained any safety standards so all of the fire hoses had rotted away, the lifeboats were bolted in place, and life jackets were unusable. To make matters worse, the captain sailed into headwinds that actually spread the fire over the majority of the ship. By the time it sank off the Bronx shore, 1,021 people had died and it was New York’s largest loss of life in a single disaster until the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

4. SS Eastland

On July 24, 1915, the passenger ship SS Eastland was docked on the Chicago River in downtown Chicago preparing to depart for Lake Michigan. The ship had been chartered to take Western Electric Co. employees and their family members on a well-deserved cruise and picnic. As the 2,700 passengers boarded the ship, it began to list while still moored to the dock. Eventually, the weight caused the ship to roll onto its side, spilling hundreds of passengers into the river with the rest trapped underwater in the interior cabins. The disaster killed 844 passengers, mostly women and children. Its center of gravity was simply too high, which made it susceptible to listing.

5. Texas City Disaster

On April 16, 1947, a 437-foot French-registered vessel was docked in the port of Texas City on the Texas Gulf Coast. Known as the SS Grandcamp, its cargo included 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate that was used for fertilizer and high explosives. After a small fire started in the cargo hold, the captain ordered his men to steam out the fire in order to protect the cargo. The steam actually liquefied the ammonium nitrate and raised the temperature of the hold to 850 degrees Fahrenheit, which caused the water around the ship to boil. At 9:12 a.m., the ammonium nitrate detonated with an explosive force that shattered windows 40 miles away, ignited nearby oil refineries, destroyed hundreds of buildings and even sheared off the wings of overhead planes. The explosion, dubbed the “Texas City Disaster,” injured thousands and killed an estimated 600 people.

6. SS Central America

On Sept. 3, 1857, the ship departed from Panama with 476 passengers and three tons of gold, which included 5,200 newly minted $20 gold pieces from the San Francisco Mint. On Sept. 9, the ship was caught in a Category 2 hurricane off the Carolinas with sustained 100-mile-per-hour winds. With shredded sails, a boiler failure, and a leak in the paddlewheel, the ship began taking on water. After a failed attempt to bail the rising water, the crew flew the ship’s flag upside down (the maritime distress signal). But no one came to their rescue and the ship sank with 426 passengers on Sept. 12, 160 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The 50 remaining survivors were rescued by a Norwegian vessel five hours later.

7. USS Thresher

The USS Thresher was a 3,700-ton, nuclear-powered attack submarine commissioned in August 1961. On April 9, 1963, the Thresher sailed to an area 220 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and began a series of deep-sea trials. With a fleet of rescue ships that included the bathyscaphe Trieste, the submarine was found broken into six major sections at a depth of 8,400 feet.

8. SS Andrea Doria

On July 25, 1956, it was headed for New York near the island of Nantucket with 1,706 passengers. At the same time, the 528-foot MS Stockholm was on its transatlantic voyage back to Sweden. Unfortunately, the two ships charted similar courses at full speed completely unaware of each other’s presence. Once the ships spotted each other, it was too late and crucial errors in steering only made it worse. 1,660 passengers were rescued while 46 people died as a consequence of the collision.

9. SS Edmund Fitzgerald

On Nov. 9, 1975, the ship departed for Detroit loaded with more than 26,000 tons of iron. The Edmund Fitzgerald ran into a storm early the next morning, and by mid-afternoon, reported encountering 25-foot waves with 50-knot winds.

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank minutes later in Canadian waters 17 miles northwest of Whitefish Bay, Michigan. The entire crew of 29 went down with the ship and no bodies were recovered.

10. Exxon Valdez

On March 24, 1989, a 987-foot oil tanker, the Exxon Valdez on its way to California through Prince William Sound in Alaska. As Captain Joseph Hazelwood slept off an alcohol-induced bender below decks, his third mate steered the vessel right into Bligh Reef. The error spilled approximately 11 million gallons of crude oil, which eventually covered 1,300 miles of coastline and killed an estimated 250,000 seabirds and other marine life.

Top 10 Badasses of the World’s Special Forces

In honor of a recent list of cheesy 80s actioners, here is a list for us James Bond wannabes. This list looks at 10 of the special forces from around the world that have the honor of being the most elite and – consequently – badass. Feel free to mention your own favorites in the comments which will no doubt include a lot that are not listed here.

1 British SAS

The Special Air Service is trained to perform equally well in all the fields listed for the SEALs, but is also trained by MI-5 and MI-6 for in-depth counter-espionage, more so than the SEALs. Physical competency must be of equal stature to the SEALs, to the degree that both special forces work closely together when necessary (Iraq and Afghanistan) and have good camaraderie.

They wear a tan beret, just as the U. S. Army Rangers, and both the SAS and SEALs are trained in knife fighting by experts in Apache Indian knife techniques, as well as Sayoc Kali, Krav Maga, Jeet Kune Do, and for the last 3 years or so, the Keysi Fighting Method, made famous by the Chris Nolan “Batman” films.

2 Navy SEALs

You might think there are a lot of them, given the number of action movies dedicated to the plot device of an invincible warrior, but there are only about 2,000 of them. They are the Unites States’s most elite special warfare combatants. They are trained in all the fields in which the other U. S. special forces are trained, but to an even higher degree of competency.

SEAL training lasts over a year, and requires an age of between 17 and 28 years, male, incorrect vision no worse than 20/200 in either eye, and correctable to 20/20, and the physical screening test, which is beyond belief.

500 yd (460 m) swim using breast or combat sidestroke in under 12:30 with a competitive time of under 10:30. Then training begins. Physical conditioning, diving, land warfare, for 24 weeks, then 26 more weeks of SEAL qualification training. Then specialization in whatever fields a SEAL team needs expertise in: anything from sniper to language specialist, rope climbing, diving, jumpmaster, surreptitious entry, dynamic entry (door breacher), etc.

3 Shayetet 13

The name means “Flotilla 13,” and their official motto is the same as the Israeli military: “Never Again,” in reference to the Holocaust. Their unofficial motto, as they like to joke, is “When the going gets tough, the Jews get pissed.”

They are 1 of the 3 most elite Israeli special forces units, but Shayetet 13 is the unit most similar to the Delta Force. They specialize in hostage rescue and counter-terrorism, and because they live so close to a host of nations that seem bent on eradicating them, they are at all times ready in an instant to travel abroad and kill. They are very secretive, but of their missions publicized, the most notable include Operation Spring of Youth, in which they hunted down members of Black September in Beirut Lebanon and killed them, in revenge for the 1972 Munich massacre.

Apart from their firearms and heavy weapons training, they train extensively in Krav Maga, the national martial art of Israel, to which they endearingly refer as “Jew-jitsu.” It’s philosophy is based on the principle that in a real street fight no quarter will be asked or given. Fight to kill. Groin strikes are quite prevalent.

4 The Delta Force

The only official United States counter-terrorism unit, dedicated to hostage rescues, counter-insurgency, and general counter-terrorism. They’re full name is 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, managed by the Army. Selection is done according to a physical fitness test: situps, pushups, followed by a 3-mile run, in an undisclosed time limit.

Then an all-night, 18-mile hike over mountainous terrain with a 35 lb backpack and a compass, no map. This finally culminated with a 40-mile hike with a 45 lb backpack, in a shorter time limit.

Then psychologists conduct a grueling battery of mental exams on the recruit to try to break him into confusion. If he passes this, he actually gets to begin Delta Force training, for 6 months. Firearms, heavy weaponry, elite hand-to-hand training.

5 U. S. Army Green Berets

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That’s their nickname. Technically they are the U. S. Army Special Forces, as opposed to the special forces of other countries, many of which also wear green berets.

Typically, the Green Berets are trained to administer “unconventional warfare,” which entails infiltrating a hostile area in anticipation of a large-scale military engagement, and training the local resistance populations to fight back against the enemy. This was done in South Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, among others.

In the event that there is no local resistance to the enemy, the Green Berets infiltrate and soften up the enemy by “neutralizing” as many of its officers as possible. This usually involved sniping and throat cutting.

Training is very extensive and begins with the Army’s assessment of the recruit’s possession of 12 attributes: intelligence, physical fitness, motivation, trustworthiness, accountability, maturity, stability, judgment, decisiveness, teamwork, influence, and communications. 40% of applicants satisfy the Army that they have these attributes.

Final training consists of various endurance courses, carrying heavy backpacks over 40 miles of rugged terrain, with nothing but a live chicken and a knife, day and night. If the recruit can make a fire, he can eat the chicken cooked. He is not given matches or a lighter. He is allowed only a compass and his own hand-drawn map, completed from earlier reconnaissance courses.

6 U. S. Army Rangers

After basic Army training, voluntary enlistment into the 75th Ranger Regiment will train the recruit for the HALO parachute jump, SERE, languages, elite combatives expert, mountain warfare, combat diving, in addition to all the weapons qualification training.

After nine weeks of this, they enroll in Advanced Individual Training, to become masters of their chosen fields, then immediately enroll in the Army Airborne School, then in Ranger Indoctrination or Orientation Programs.

By the time they’ve graduated, they’re so well trained that members have reported waking up screaming from nightmares about Ranger school to be relieved that they are only in Vietnam.

But then, they lose a few points for an incident a Ranger told me about: he was the captain of a tank regiment on maneuvers in the Amazon jungle. Just an exercise, but because of the sweltering heat, they had to open their tank hatches. This captain, who shall remain nameless, heard a thump behind him, and turned to see a Goliath Bird-eating Spider crawling toward him, raising its front legs and hissing.

He admits to screaming like a girl, knifing the tarantula, jumping out of the tank and running off into the jungle for a mile and a half. His buddies still rib him about it.

7 MI-6

The closest thing to James Bond can be found in the personnel of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, or Security Service, section 6. It works in close partnership with section 5 (MI-5), the latter which is more of a pure spy agency, dedicated to counter-intelligence and counter-espionage.

MI-6, however, is the unit which deploys its agents all over the world to detect international intelligence threats and “neutralize” them before they become truly dangerous. Their headquarters is at Vauxhall Cross, London, and they will be quick to tell you there that there is no James Bond among them, and that their assignments and missions are quite boring.

They do, however, have an agent very similar to “Q,” who is in charge of all equipment and weaponry deployed for each operation. They also have indoor firing ranges, dojos, and a gym.

The closest thing to James Bond can be found in the personnel of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, or Security Service, section 6. It works in close partnership with section 5 (MI-5), the latter which is more of a pure spy agency, dedicated to counter-intelligence and counter-espionage.

MI-6, however, is the unit which deploys its agents all over the world to detect international intelligence threats and “neutralize” them before they become truly dangerous. Their headquarters is at Vauxhall Cross, London, and they will be quick to tell you there that there is no James Bond among them, and that their assignments and missions are quite boring.

They do, however, have an agent very similar to “Q,” who is in charge of all equipment and weaponry deployed for each operation. They also have indoor firing ranges, dojos, and a gym.

8 Marsoc

Currently, only men are allowed to try out for the U. S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command. It’s primary missions are typically special reconnaissance, direct action, and internal defense within foreign nations.  Their training regimen is comprised of 4 phases, increasing in strenuousness. Phase 1 is SERE training, survival, evasion, resistance, escape. They are trained to make fire by friction, fire by mirrors, even fire by ice, depending on the location to which they are deployed. You mold the ice with the heat of your hands into the shape of a lens, which works just like a magnifying glass. Of course, they take matches and Zippos with them. After this, they begin physical fitness training, and hand-to-hand combat, practicing a hybrid of the most functional martial arts: Jeet Kune Do, Wing Chun, Karate, Jiu-Jitsu, even Pankration. Then, Sayoc Kali, which is Filipino knife fighting. This is just phase 1. Phase 2 is marksmanship, amphibious demolitions, reconnaissance. Phase 3 is a contrinuation of 2, but with the addition of field radioes and satellite data-uplink systems. Phase 4 is “irregular warfare” instruction, which is a euphemism for “anything goes.” This phase consists primarily of the Derna Bridge operation, which forces the recruits to use all skills acquired during the course.

9 French Naval Commandos

They call themselves “berets verts,” or “green berets,” and consist of 6 units: Hubert, Trepel, de Montfort, de Penfentenyo, Jaubert, and Kieffer. Each unit is trained for special tasks, whether combat diving, close quarters sea combat, exfiltration, canine units, or long range fire support, including snipers and missile launchers. They were established much at the behest of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who was a naval officer in WWII.

10 Spetsnaz

Whereas most of the training regimens of militaries around the world are designed to teach, Russia’s Special Purpose Regiments, equivalent to the U. S. Green Berets, endure punishment daily throughout their training. They may quit anytime they want. The Spetsnaz want only the best, pain-hardened, battle-loving killers. They spar with the express goal of injuring each other, breaking ribs, fingers, vertebrae, healing only long enough to get back on their feet and complete the training. They are typically deployed for reconnaissance or house-to-house close quarters combat, but are also employed as extremely formidable bodyguards for high-ranking politicians. They claim that they are not taught to ignore pain, since that is impossible. They are instead taught to enjoy it.