A Brief History
On June 22, 1893, the British battleship HMS Camperdown accidentally collided with the British battleship HMS Victoria off the coast of Lebanon.
Digging Deeper
Victoria was the flagship of the British Mediterranean fleet, the most powerful fleet in that sea and as such carried Vice Admiral Sir George Tryon.
These 2 ships were 2 of the most powerful ships in the world, launched in 1885 and 1887 respectively. They were engaged in maneuvers and using the tactics of using an absolute minimum amount of signaling between ships. Remember, back then there was no radio, so ships used signal flags, semaphore or blinking lights.
Admiral Tryon deliberately waited until the last moment to make his signals to test the reactions of his fleet’s skippers and to keep them alert. When Tryon gave an order that seemed questionable, a couple of his officers asked if that was really what he meant and he imperiously said yes.
Tryon had ordered a difficult turning maneuver in close quarters to his ships, a move that did not have a prearranged signal making the abrupt move so close to other ships obviously dangerous. The captain of the Victoria asked the Admiral permission to reverse his engines and was denied until the last second when permission was given. The captain of the Camperdown also put his engines astern, but by then it was too late and the Camperdown hit the Victoria with her ram (bow mounted) against Victoria’s side.
As the Camperdown backed up, her ram was withdrawn from Victoria leaving a gaping hole in the flagship. Seawater rushed in too quickly for watertight doors and hatches to be closed and in only 13 minutes Victoria capsized and then sank. Of the Victoria’s crew, 358 died and 357 survived. One of those killed was Admiral Tryon. Of the survivors, at least 173 were injured.
Meanwhile, Camperdown’s ram was almost pulled off, leaving a large hole in her bow that also began flooding rapidly. Like Victoria, Camperdown’s watertight doors and hatches were not secured and flooding became an urgent problem. Luckily, the crew worked fast enough to save Camperdown, which limped into port. The other ships partaking in the maneuvers narrowly avoided becoming involved in collisions themselves.
In the ensuing court martial of Victoria’s captain, 4 of the officers on the panel were captains of ships involved in the maneuvers including the captain of the Camperdown, a ridiculous conflict of interest. On the objection of Victoria’s captain the panel was changed. The court martial concluded that the fault for the accident lay with Admiral Tryon alone. The investigation of the incident refuted any problem with the design of the ships and procedures, yet the designs were changed as were procedures (typical government cover up!). Camperdown’s captain received a minor rebuke in the court’s findings for obeying orders that were somewhat clearly incorrect.
The Royal Navy has a long and glorious history, but as they say, nobody is perfect. The sinking of the Victoria and the massive loss of life has to rank among the worst blunders in their history. Question for students (and subscribers): Have there been any worse blunders? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Konstam, Dr. Angus. Ghost Ships: Tales of Abandoned, Doomed, and Haunted Vessels. Lyons Press, 2005.
You can also watch a video version of this article on YouTube.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2693 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=2693">28 Comments
I can see how these ships would have had collided seeing as how how much technology they were lacking. I can not imagine maneuvering a large ship like those ones without a radio to communicate with.
As it seems silly for two British ships to collide, Claire brings up a good point that the technology was drastically lacking. I would think blunders like this one would actually be more common than not. It is amazing how far we have come with technology.
I think that these types of ships were still in technological development and so was the timing of the signaling. I think that mistakes such as these were bound to happen and it was only a matter of time. I just think it was really tragic that so many sailors and the admiral had to pay with their lives for such a simple mistake.
Such an unfortunate incident for the British for two very powerful ships of theirs to collide into each other. It is very understandable considering there was such a lack of technology to allow the two ships to talk to or signal one another. Safe to say that we have come a long way so that this rarely happens.
Because ships relied on signals by flag and blinking lights, I am assuming this is just one of several accidents that occurred over the years. The radio that would come later on surely helped avoid problems like this one.
Well, this could have been easily avoided. It was foolish for Tryon to jeopardize the safety of the crew for the sake of testing their “alertness.”
The captain of the Victoria could have prevented the tragedy as well, but he might have been concerned with the consequences of disobeying his Admiral’s orders.
It seems like such an unnecessary risk for a simple training exercise. And the British indeed did pay. It is sad that so many lives were lost, but if anything that is just a better reason to take extreme caution.
Maneuvering ships so big like Victoria and Camperdown must have been an extremely difficult task. Even though they were considered the most powerful ships in the world they still lacked a lot especially compared to the ships we have today. Using signal flags, semaphore or blinking lights are not a great way of communication so I can see why the ships collided. Even though it seems kind of expected for such a collision to occur, it is still a tragic event with many innocent lives lost.
This is horrible! Captain Tryon let should have played it safe instead of trying to pull of some dangerous maneuver. If he hadn’t been so fooling he may not have run his ship into the Victoria killing over 300 men for no reason!
Trying to maneuver these large ships, especially in such tight quarters, could not have been easy. There was no radio communication during this time, so many ships used signal flags and blinking lights to signal to other boats. Vice Admiral Sir George Tryon wanted to test his fleet’s reflexes and abilities to react quickly to commands and waited until the last second to call his signals. This was detrimental to the boat and the situation at large. Because they were so close to other ships this might not have been the best time to test your fleet. Tyron, in turn, suffered for it.
Without any technological devices like we have today, Captain Tryon should have played it safe. You always have those people that try to do the impossible and by trying to do so he ended up killing over 300 people in the process.
To lose 358 men while merely testing out the maneuverability of a ship is quite unfortunate. Although it makes sense that the captains were trying to make their crews more alert, that should not come at a cost of 358 men. The cover up of the tragedy is almost worse than the event itself. It was not just Admiral Tryon’s fault that the ships sank. It was also the procedure they were trying out.
Once again another ship sunk due to lack of technology in the olden days. Millions of dollars wasted on these ships as well as lives lost because of poor communication. History has proven a use for technology in navel ships. Tons of war ships lost due to pointless mistakes that would not happen in today’s world.
I can not believe that so many people lost their lives because of a maneuverability test. Captain Tryon should have been smarter than that and not take a chance like that just to test the ship out. He is lucky that the other ship did not completely go and that more lives were lost.
An accidental collision probably costed Great Britain a ton of money. While operating such a massive ship, better attention should have been paid. Captain Tryon should not have even considered attempting such a risky maneuver.
The fact that the captain was simply trying to teach a lesson that ended up costing so many lives in ridiculous! I hope he never got the position of captain again. It’s still crazy to me how one persons decision can have such a tremendous impact.
It is unfortunate that Vice Admiral Sir George Tryon died from the sinking of the Victoria. I think that Captain Tryon was being a little too risky when calling the shots last minute to test the reactions of the fleet’s skippers. This did not work in his favor and ended his life as well as 357 others. I am glad that we now have radios and better ways to communicate on ships so this does not happen again.
It is ironic that the two most powerful and strongest ships in the world collided and had 358 die from the crash. From the number that were on board the ships 357 survived, so about half died and half lived. One of the most unfortunate accidents in history.
Like Christina said, its pretty ironic that 2 of the most powerful ships in the world during their time, suffered such a devastating loss. Captain Tyron should have listened to his crew members before attempting this risky turn in tight corners. Sad that 358 men lost their lives that day.
Arguably the two most powerful ships in the world, these two ships were dominant on the seas. A crucial mistake by Tryon caused one ship to sink and the other to barely make it back to port. The blame alone should be on Tryon, which was the conclusion of the court martial.
Losing 358 men in an accidental collision must have been horrible. Tryon should have played the maneuver safe for not having any reliable communication techniques. This is just another painful lesson learned about ships and navigation.
I understand needing to test your navy’s maneuvers, but you don’t purposely put men in danger. At least Tyron did not have to live to suffer the shame of doing so. I’m curious as if he was purposely killed for making such a poor decision. Hard to imagine he was under deck, where most of the deaths probably occurred.
Tyron made this call with assumption and no justification therefore, this ship sinking is basically his fault. Yes, it is a terrible accident with unnecessary casualties. I he had double checked this signal, I wonder what would have happened?
I can understand Tryon’s purpose of calling the maneuver; he wanted to challenge his team to learn the be prepared. However, it is never okay to ignore safety, so I think it was the right call for Tryon to be solely responsible for those that were killed and injured.
I find it very ironic that one of the men killed in this terrible accident was Tryon, who was found to be solely responsible for the disaster. While I understand the desire to see what the ships and crew was capable of, his mistake cost over 300 men their lives, which is unacceptable, especially for a training exercise.
This was without any question, an epic fail. Tryon deserved his fate for being so reckless. I found the kangaroo court to be amusing, politics as usual!
Another lesson on how the one in charge does not always make the correct decisions. Unfortunate that 358 were killed because of an accidental collision.
It is sad to read that collisions and accidents happen throughout history.