1994 MS Estonia

MS Estonia | The story of her sinking - CaNa > .

The Estonia tragedy happened in 1994, in one of the worst maritime disasters of the 20th century. Ultimately, it was caused by the free surface effect due to seawater on the vehicle deck. 

Accident report: https://onse.fi/estonia/

45-3-19 USS Franklin (saved)

.45-3-19 American carrier U.S.S. Franklin - 1945, 19 March - BrMo > .

USS Franklin (CV/CVA/CVS-13, AVT-8), nicknamed "Big Ben," was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during WW2 for the United States Navy, and the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in January 1944, she served in several campaigns in the Pacific War, earning four battle stars. She was badly damaged by a Japanese air attack in March 1945, with the loss of over 800 of her crew, becoming the most heavily damaged United States aircraft carrier to survive the war. Movie footage of the actual attack was included in the 1949 film Task Force starring Gary Cooper.

After the attack, she returned to the U.S. mainland for repairs, missing the rest of the war; she was decommissioned in 1947. While in reserve, she was reclassified as an attack carrier (CVA), then an antisubmarine carrier (CVS), and finally an aircraft transport (AVT), but was never modernized and never saw active service again. Franklin and Bunker Hill (damaged by two kamikazes) were the only Essex-class carriers not to see active service as aircraft carriers after WW2. Franklin was sold for scrap in 1966.

41-5-24 Hood

How Did The Bismarck Manage To Sink HMS Hood So Quickly? - Reel > .

Loss of HMS Hood - But why did it blow up?? - Drach > .

Refit of HMS Hood - But what if she had survived? - Drach > .

On 24th May 1941 at 05:52 the pride of the British fleet, HMS Hood, engaged the mighty German ship Bismarck in battle. At 06:00 the Hood was hit and it sank in less than 3 minutes. Only 3 of her 1418 crew survived – the single biggest loss of life in a single engagement in the history of the Royal Navy but why this 860 feet long ship sank so quickly has been a mystery for over 70 years. Now, the team that discovered the giant wreck eleven years ago is on its way back to finally find the answer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hood .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Denmark_Strait .

http://www.hmshood.com/history/denmarkstrait/whyloss.htm .

Java Sea - Battles

.42-2-27 Battle of the Java Sea - WW2 > .

The Battle of the Java Sea was a decisive naval battle of the Pacific campaign of WW2.

Allied navies suffered a disastrous defeat (2 light cruisers sunk, 3 destroyers sunk, 1 heavy cruiser damaged, 2,300 sailors killed) by the Imperial Japanese Navy, on 27 February 1942, and in secondary actions over successive days. The American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) Strike Force commander— Dutch Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman—was killed. The aftermath of the battle included several smaller actions around Java, including the smaller but also significant Battle of Sunda Strait. These defeats led to Japanese occupation of the entire Dutch East Indies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Java_Sea .

Airplane tender USS Langley (CV-1/AV-3) - scuttled.

The oiler USS Pecos, and destroyer USS Edsall, carrying Langley survivors, were subsequently sunk by Japanese.

Battles of the Java Sea, Sunda Strait, Bali Strait

The Eastern Strike Force, consisted of two heavy cruisers (HMS Exeter sunk 42-3-1 and USS Houston), three light cruisers (Doorman's flagship HNLMS De Ruyter, HNLMS Java, HMAS Perth), and nine destroyers (HMS Electra, HMS Encounter, HMS Jupiter, HNLMS Kortenaer, HNLMS Witte de With, USS Alden, USS John D. Edwards, USS John D. Ford, and USS Paul Jones).

The Japanese task force protecting the convoy, commanded by Rear-Admiral Takeo Takagi, consisted of two heavy (Nachi and Haguro) and two light cruisers (Naka and Jintsū) and 14 destroyers (Yūdachi, Samidare, Murasame, Harusame, Minegumo, Asagumo, Yukikaze, Tokitsukaze, Amatsukaze, Hatsukaze, Yamakaze, Kawakaze, Sazanami, and Ushio) including the 4th Destroyer Squadron under the command of Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura. 

The Japanese heavy cruisers were much more powerful, armed with ten 8-inch (203 mm) guns each, and superb torpedoes. By comparison, Exeter was armed only with six 8-inch guns and only six of Houston's nine 8-inch guns remained operable after her aft turret had been knocked out in an earlier air attack.

40-11-5 Jervis Bay

.Sinking of HMS Jervis Bay - Wartime Farm > .

HMS Jervis Bay was a British liner later converted into an armed merchant cruiser, pennant F40. She was launched in 1922, and sunk on 5 November 1940 by the German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer.

After her acquisition and commissioning, Jervis Bay was initially assigned to the South Atlantic station before becoming a convoy escort in May 1940, based at the Royal Naval Dockyard in Bermuda. Given brief repairs at Halifax, Nova Scotia, she became the sole escort for the 37 merchant ships of Convoy HX 84 from Bermuda and Halifax, Nova Scotia to Britain (the Jervis Bay had escorted a convoy from Bermuda which had merged at sea with a convoy from Halifax, as was the practice; a single large convoy being relatively easier to protect than two smaller ones due to the decreased ratio of the circumference of a circle as its area is increased).

When the convoy encountered the German warship Admiral Scheer about 755 nautical miles (1,398 km) south-southwest of Reykjavík, the Captain of Jervis Bay, Edward Fegen, ordered the convoy to scatter, and set his own ship on a course towards the German warship to draw its fire. Jervis Bay was hopelessly outgunned and outranged by the 28 cm (11 inch) guns of the German ship, but it attacked the larger ship with its guns, firing more to distract the German ship from the merchantmen than with hopes of doing any damage. Although the German's shells ravaged the Jervis Bay, and Fegen was wounded and many crew killed, Fegen and the surviving crew fought on until their ship was sunk. Captain Fegen and many of the crew went down with the ship.

Sixty-eight survivors of Jervis Bay's crew of 254 were picked up by the neutral Swedish ship Stureholm (three later died of their wounds). Guy Byam was one of the survivors of the sinking; he was later killed while covering an air raid over Germany for the BBC.

Captain Fegen was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross as a result of this action.