military ship sinkings-bad weather?

Question

have any military ships been lost to bad weather lately? i don't think ive ever heard of any navy ship being lost in a bad storm. obviously they watch for bad weather but if a storm were detected, how probably would it be to avoid it given a short distance and what are the odds of it making it through? thanks

Answer 1

+ You are right, not lately, Military ships rarely sink due to weather alone these days. Firstly they are built pretty strong so that they don't leak and in fact can take a major hit and still float. Storm warning is pretty advanced, so it is hard to get caught by surprize. Military vessels can usually move at 20+ knots so even if a storm were traveling at 30 knots you could move to one side or the other and avoid it's worst track.
Some vessels can survive being turned over and then the "Self right".
I was in a pretty hairy situation in the 80's crossing from Hong Kong to Subic. We had pretty bad seas about 20' in this typhoon. One of the ships we were escorting was an old steam powered destroyer and about 1/2 way she lost fire in her boilers, hence her ability to steer, or just about anything. The destroyer went sideways to the seas and I watched as her mast's yard arms touched the sea and waves broke over her and I prayed for her crew to survive. Somehow (I bet there is an old boilerman chief petty officer who is intimate with the story) they relit their boilers and were underway and facing back into the high seas. I had already brought my ship up wind of the destroyer to try to break the seas as much as I could and to stand by to pick up survivors. These guys made it through and many of us thought they were done for. For that matter of the 11 of my 300 plus crew who were not seasick during the storm, we all got land sick when we hit the beach. I guess the odds are pretty good as to making it through these days. I can't even find a good web link for recent naval losses since WWII.

Answer 2

While none have been lost lately others have been lost before. In WW2 during a typhoon several destroyers were lost and many ships damaged including carriers and battleships. Today however fleets have satellites to give plenty of time to get out of the way. They detect storms days in advance of it's arrival. If a modern ship had to go through a storm I wouldn't want to be on the more top heavy warships like aegis cruisers and spruance class destroyers. I find most frigates would handle such storms well. Arliegh burke class destroyers with there extremely angled bows would pound into each wave and probably be damaged how bad I don't know. Carriers are nearly impervious to such storms. You are right to question modern warship construction they are not as robust as there predecessors. They keep getting skimpy on the frame work to lighten the ship and get more speed and cost less money.

Answer 3

On the USS Ticonderoga CVA14 I experienced that we hit a typhoon every year. Military ships go to sea and hit storms. One trip we tried to outrun a typhoon and were in it for 5 days. We broke 167 main beams and lost 120 foot of forward catwalk.The Enterprize went through the same storm and was writren up in national papers.(1968). The destroyers with us lost all their unprotected gear(life boats and fire hose , lights, etc) . Navy boats are compartmentalized and much more able to withstand the punishment of the storms.and restore the ship.

Answer 4

HMS victory along with 26 ships of line and 6 others defeated and captured france's 18 ships of line with 8 others and spain's 15 ships of line. The name was important in those days, they were traditional & give the crew pride and moral. The british in the battle or trafalgar won regardless of being outnumbered because of 1, the royal navy drills for reloading were the best in the world, 2, the heavy first rates were one of the best ships with firepower in the world, 3, the moral and pride of the sailors was immense under nelson. Today its more about the multiple tasks and great firepower the machines themselves can do at once.

Answer 5

the last occurence I can think of was during WW2 when Halseys 3rd fleet stumblled into a typhoon and 3 destroyers rolled over and sank with about 90% of their crews going down with the ship...since then in modern Navys its unlikely...warships have good stability, even when filled with holes from torpedos bombs and missels, and extensive watertight compartmentage to limit the spread of water that finds its way into the hull.
The only circumstance I could thionk of would be a ship icing up in a winter storm and losing its stability....

Answer 6

In ww2 a us navy ship was caught in a tsunami and had the entire bow section knocked OFF, seriously the first 40 feet or so of the boat.... GONE. The captain shifted into reverse to keep the pressure off the bulkheads and limped back to port. Built to endure unemy fire, I don't know how long it's been since a naval vessel has been lost to the weather.

Answer 7

not for quite a while...

Answer 8

no