10 Baffling Tales of Sunken Ships (And Other Things That Sank)

For a long time, if you wanted to get around the world you were going to have to go by water at some point. And the thing about water is that everything is literally smooth sailing on the surface. When things go wrong, however, then you sink. In general, sinking sucks. It’s cold, you can’t breathe, pressure can crush you and all kinds of stuff will eat you. Please avoid sinking at all costs. 

Historically, not everyone or everything has avoided sinking and sometimes the stories of what happened are a lot weirder than you’d think. 

10. The USS Bowfin Is the Only Submarine That Ever Sank a Bus

Submarines, on both sides, sank thousands of ships during WWII. They have proven to be some of the most valuable naval assets a country can have. They are so good at what they do that the USS Bowfin managed to sink a bus. Think about that for a second.

A bus, to clarify, is not an aquatic vehicle. Nevertheless, back in 1944, after a refit at Pearl Harbor the Bowfin set out to sea. It made its way after a Japanese convoy to some islands close to Okinawa. There were three vessels moored in the harbor alongside a pier with a crane and some supplies and such.

Seizing an opportunity, the Bowfin fired three torpedoes, then made a quick position change and fired off three more. The result was the destruction of several Japanese vessels but also the pier. That meant, in addition to sinking enemy ships, the Bowfin managed to take out the crane and a bus that had been parked on the pier as well. It is the only recorded case of a submarine taking out public transportation. 

9. L Ron Hubbard Claimed to Have Sunk Two Mystery Submarines During WWII 

Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard really loved the sea. There’s a whole aquatic division of Scientology that’s a gong show of a story for another time, but Hubbard himself was also a naval man and served at sea in the military. Or, at least, he had some colorful stories about it.

Back in 1943, Hubbard was serving in WWII. According to him, he was an absolute MCU-level hero like Captain America. According to the Navy, not so much. He claimed to have sunk two Japanese vessels in May of that year, just off the Oregon coast. The problem was that the Navy could find no evidence of the vessels, though it seems he had his crew open fire on a log at one point. Hubbard later claimed it was a coverup because the military didn’t want anyone to know the Japanese got so close to the shore.

Hubbard would later lose his command after accidentally sailing into Mexican waters and firing guns at an island for no reason. 

8. North Korea Claimed to Sink a US Vessel That Was Already Decommissioned

Lots of things can be hard to unravel in the fog of war and some fine details have likely been lost to history all over the world in every conflict in recorded history. Sometimes it’s less being unsure of who fired first or what kicked off which battle where and more someone just lying. But if you are going to lie, you want to try to do it believably. North Korea has not mastered this.

North Korea claimed that, back in 1950, they sank the USS Baltimore. She was a heavy cruiser and it would be significant to any military’s history to have taken that ship out. However, official records state that the Baltimore was decommissioned in 1947.

7. The US Military Sank a Radioactive Aircraft Carrier Near San Francisco 

When a boat is sunk on purpose by the military or a company that owns it, it’s called scuttling. There’s nothing wrong with it and sometimes it’s even used to make artificial reefs for fish and cool places to go scuba diving. It’s an effective form of recycling. But you’d hope that, if someone does scuttle a ship, they let people know it’s happening. Especially if the ship is radioactive.

The USS Independence was an aircraft carrier that was involved in nuclear bomb tests. As a result, the ship ended up absorbing more than its fair share of radiation. They used it as a target ship at Bikini Atoll. 

They brought the vessel back to San Francisco in the late 1940s to study nuclear decontamination and then, in 1951, they took it 30 miles offshore and scuttled it. Experts stated the ocean is a good buffer against radiation and the contamination is minimal so the fear of it getting into fish you might eat is also minimal. Which doesn’t mean non-existent, of course. Just minimal. 

6. Titanic’s Sister Ship Sank a U-Boat

RMS Olympic was launched in 1910 and it was the largest ship in the world at the time. It was the first of three revolutionary ocean liners, the third of which was far better known – the Titanic. But before the Titanic stole her thunder, the Olympic was a big deal. She was actually one of the vessels that responded to the Titanic’s distress call when it sank.

Because WWI broke up, no one was taking massive cruise liners across the sea and the Olympic was tweaked with a gray paint job, covered portholes, and other adjustments to make it less noticeable to enemy vessels. She became the HMT Olympic and served as a troopship. The paint job was changed to dazzle camouflage, and she was outfitted with guns.

In 1918, the Olympic crew spotted a German U-boat in the English Channel and countered its torpedoes by full-on ramming the enemy ship, sinking it.

5. There Are Over a Half Dozen Nuclear Subs Sunk at Sea

Nuclear submarines have been around since 1955. With that much history, you can safely assume not all of them are in service anymore, but you may not want to know what happens to all of them since the story is not a comforting one. Not every nuclear sub made it safely back to harbor to be decommissioned in a safe and friendly manner. 

There are at least 8 nuclear submarines which have been lost at sea. That means nuclear reactors and weapons sunk to the icy depths and maybe no one knows where anymore. The general consensus is that this isn’t so bad, since the reactors are shielded and could keep them safe for centuries, by which time most of the fuel will have died, anyway. Fun!

Russia has planned to retrieve some of their lost vessels: K-159, which sank in 1963, and K-27, which was scuttled in 1982 despite being mildly radioactive. So far nothing has happened on that front. 

4. Garfield Phones From a Sunken Shipping Container Have Washed Ashore for Decades

The sea returns all kinds of things to the land over time. Some things can be lost at sea for years before it washes up somewhere. For about 40 years, Garfield phones have been washing up on shore in Brittany and it’s also thanks to a sunken ship with the most impressive cargo of all time. 

In 2019, after being plagued by the phones for years, a shipping container full of them that sank in the ’80s was finally identified. The container had been swept into a cave that could be accessed at low tide, like a strange pirate treasure. 

3. An Overflowing Toilet Sank a U-Boat

U-boats were terrifying during the war and sank as many as 3,000 Allied vessels. That’s obviously a lot of lives lost and damage caused so anything that could take out a U-boat was welcome. And, in one case, it was a toilet that did one in.

U-1206 was in the war towards the end of combat and was one of the most advanced vessels in the fleet. For whatever reason, German engineers decided that removing the septic system to save space was a good idea. Instead, the subs just shot waste into the sea. The problem was that it only worked near the surface. 

After failing to figure the toilet out on their first voyage, the captain called in an engineer who turned the wrong valve and began to flood the sub with seawater and poop. Why was there a valve that let that happen? Who knows?

The mix of poop and seawater flooded the battery room, which was conveniently located under the bathroom. The batteries began to release poisonous gas as a result. 

Flooding and filling with gas, the sub had to surface, and it needed to do so quickly. They fired torpedoes to increase buoyancy and then surfaced right in front of allies who attacked. Most of the crew was taken prisoner and U-1206 sank.

2. The Eastland Sinking Killed More People Than the Titanic

Some nautical disasters can be chalked up to bad luck, but not all of them. The Eastland Disaster was a tragedy and the blame for the death toll falls on extremely poor planning. Unlike the Titanic, the Eastland didn’t head out onto the open sea; it was on Lake Michigan. And when it sank, nearly 850 people died. 

The Eastland was a passenger liner, taking 2,573 passengers from Chicago out across the lake to a park for a day trip and picnic. The boat, one of five carrying employees of Western Electric Company, was already known to be unsteady and had nearly capsized more than once in the past. 

On the day of the fatal voyage, it was listing, in port, before all the passengers were even on board. Rather than cancel the trip, the crew simply tried to use ballast to balance the boat. They fixed it, then it started listing the other way. 

At 7:25 a.m. it was listing 25 degrees to port and was taking on water. At 7:30 it headed out anyway and then rolled to its side. Because there were so many people on board, even though it happened right at the port with people watching, hundreds were crushed under the boat and couldn’t be saved. 844 people in total died.

No one was ever held accountable for the deaths and the cause was speculated to be indirectly related to the Titanic. The boat was outfitted with new lifeboats after the sinking of the Titanic, which didn’t have enough for its passengers. The Eastland’s lifeboats are believed to have made the boat top-heavy, which caused the instability. 

1. The Whaling Ship Essex Was Sunk By a Sperm Whale

The whaling ship Essex sank on November 20, 1820, and may qualify as the most dramatic sinking in history next to the Titanic, at least in terms of the overall impact it has had on culture. This seems hard to understand at first since everyone knows the Titanic and, probably, very few people know the Essex. But it’s less that the Essex sank that it’s famous, and more why it sank.

The Essex was rammed by a sperm whale. It was out on a two-and-a-half-year whaling voyage when it encountered a pod. Smaller boats were sent out to harpoon the whales and one was hit.

At the same time, one whale broke away from the pod and it was a big one. Reports said it was 85 feet, much larger than the average 65 feet for adult sperm whales.  It headed straight for the Essex and smashed into the hull. The size and speed were too much, even for a 238-ton whaling vessel. The hull buckled, and the boat sank. 

If the story sounds vaguely familiar, it may be because this was the inspiration for Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.