Worst Wartime Shipping Disasters

[Iain Stuart Yardley]

There are probably greater ones than these listed but we may never know due to the fog of war.

1. 9343 dead, Wilhelm Gustloff torpedoed in Baltic Sea, 30th Jan 1945.
2. 6200 dead, Goya torpedoed in Baltic, 16th Apr 1945.
3. 5620 dead, Junyo Maru torpedoed off Sumatra, 18th Sep 1944.
4. 5400 dead, Toyama Maru torpedoed near Okinawa, 29th Jun 1944.
5. 5000-7000 dead, Cap Arcona bombed in Lubeck harbour, Germany, 3rd May 1945.
6. 3000-4500 dead (possibly 7000), Lancastria bombed off St Nazaire, France, 17th Jun 1940.
7. 3000 dead, Yoshida Maru torpedoed off Shanghai, 26th Apr 1944.
8. 3100 dead, Provence II torpedoed in Greek Islands, 26th Feb 1916.
9. 2800 dead, Thielbek bombed in Lubeck harbour, Germany, 3rd May 1945.
10. 2700 dead, General von Steuben torpedoed in Baltic, 10th Feb 1945.
11. 2500 dead, Neptunia torpedoed off Tripoli, Libya, 18th Sep 1941.
12. 2500 dead, Oceania torpedoed off Tripoli, Libya, 18th Sep 1941.

 

[Iain Stuart Yardley]

Also:

1000 dead, steamer Hsin Yu sank off China, 29th August 1916.
1600 dead, Mont Blanc-Imo collision, Halifax harbour, Canada, 6th December 1917.

 

[lewis beacham]

Don't for get RMS Lusitania 7th May 1915 killing 1,198 sinking in only 18 minutes

 

[Jim Kalafus]

And, the difficult-to-research Jianga, which struck a mine while evacuating refugees fleeing either Communist or anti-Communist forces. Officially 2800 were on board, unofficially over 5000.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200111/23/eng20011123_85196.shtml

 

[Martin Owen Cahill]

On the subject of the Wilhelm Gustloff you may be interested in the link below

www.gustloff.zdf.de

Further comment can be found on the Wilhelm Gustloff threads

 

[Pavel Shvalov]

Do not about "Armenia", sunken in the Black sea in 1941. The total number of victims is estimated from 3000 to 8000, only eight people survived.

 

[Simon Koncz]

3 ships were sunk on the 3rd may 1945 in the same attack. Cap Arcona, with over 7,000 drowned or shot by SS guards, the Deutschland (the record is very coy about the loss rate, but it is described as "very heavy")and the Thielbek with 2,750 killed. I would assume the Deutschland carried a similar number and had a similar loss rate.
Perhaps 11-12,000 in total.
The blackest day in maritime history.

 

[Ezekiel]

11. 2500 dead, Neptunia torpedoed off Tripoli, Libya, 18th Sep 1941.
12. 2500 dead, Oceania torpedoed off Tripoli, Libya, 18th Sep 1941.

This is incorrect - the combined death toll for Neptunia and Oceania was 384, out of 5,838 troops and crew on the two ships. The overwhelming majority were saved thanks to the slow sinking times (two hours for Neptunia, over four for Oceania), the calm and relatively warm water (Mediterranean off Libya in mid-September) and the rescue effort quickly mounted by the escorting destroyers (one took over 2,000 survivors onboard).