r/CatastrophicFailure • u/ScipioAtTheGate • 6d ago

Fatalities Sinking of the Austrian Battleship SMS Szent István in World War One (1918)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_BAlm7zJwg
64 Upvotes

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u/WhatImKnownAs 6d ago edited 4d ago

I'm copying my comment from the last time you posted this:

89 sailors and officers died from crew complement of 1094. It was mandatory for all sailors of Austro-Hungarian navy to learn to swim (unlike in some other navies) and also rest of the fleet was nearby and saved the majority of the crew. Here is a photo showing ship already turned upside down and crew swimming around. You can see another Austrian battleship nearby.

They also tried to save ship at first, even tow it back to port, thats why all main guns are turned on other side, to counter listing, but in the end it was too late.

(This info from an unknown redditor in a previous thread.)

8

u/ScipioAtTheGate 6d ago

The slow speed of the sinking also helped as well as the fact that most of the crew had already been ordered above deck by the time she capsized, in an unsuccessful effort to have their weight standing on deck help to counterbalance the list.

2

u/Due_Weakness_782 5d ago

The way the stern rose before slipping beneath the waves felt almost graceful for something so catastrophic.