Famous Sunken Ships of the 20th Century Quiz

Answer: 1965

On November 13, 1965, the Yarmouth Castle caught fire when a mattress was stored too close to a lit light bulb in an unused stateroom. She went down at around 6 AM with 90 people lost.

Answer: Britannic

The Britannic, second of Titanic's sister ships, was in the Aegean Sea and struck an underwater mine. The ship capsized and went down within 55 minutes of the explosion. Thirty people were lost due to their lifeboats being sucked into the propellers when Captain Bartlett tried to make it towards the shore of Kea.

Answer: Carpathia

On July 17, 1918, the Carpathia was steaming around the east coast of Ireland when it was torpedoed and sunk by German U-Boat 55. The Carpathia is also well known for the rescue of Titanic's survivors after she went down in 1912. Carpathia had 157 passengers and crew that survived the tragedy.

Some of the crew were lost below when the torpedo struck and the ship immediately started to flood.

Answer: Andrea Doria

In July of 1956, the Andrea Doria was struck in the side by the SS Stockholm. Forty-six people died on board the Andrea Doria and 5 were killed on the Stockholm. Although most of the lifeboats could not be used because of the serious list of the Doria, everyone that survived the initial impact was saved. Quick work by other ships and great communications helped in this tragedy which could've turned into a scenario similar to Titanic.

Answer: Edmund Fitzgerald

On November 10, 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald went down quickly in Lake Superior during a fierce storm. Gordon Lightfoot's song made the ship famous. The "Big Fitz" went down with all 29 crew members aboard. It was believed that an improperly installed hatch fastener may have contributed to the sinking.

Answer: Wilhelm Gustloff

On the night of January 30, 1945, The Wilhelm Gustloff was torpedoed three times in the Baltic Sea. It was the worst maritime disaster as far as loss of life since the Titanic disaster. She went down with over 9000 German refugees and wounded soldiers and crew who were escaping the war zone of Germany. The Gustloff was sunk by a Soviet submarine.

Answer: Bismarck

Bismarck was the flagship of the German Navy and is known for sinking the Hood. As revenge for the sinking of the Hood, battleships Rodney and King George V helped to destroy the Bismarck once and for all. The Norfolk and Dorsetshire also helped. Bismarck's rudder was hit by a torpedo plane which jammed and caused her helm to not operate.

The crew of the Bismarck was then ordered to scuttle the ship so as not to have it fall into enemy hands.

Answer: Oceanos

In August of 1991, the Oceanos had problems. Poor maintenance of this 40-year-old vessel caused some loose hull plates and some water systems were disassembled so they could be repaired. One fitting was a pipe which was no longer there. It caused a 10 cm. hole in the watertight bulkhead.

Another problem was the back-up valve for the sewage system was malfunctioning and caused the sea water to pour into the ship through the bathroom facilities such as toilets and showers. In this accident, the captain and crew abandoned ship before all of the passengers were off. everyone onboard was saved.

Answer: 1915

On May 7, 1915, the Lusitania was sunk by German U-Boat 20 off the coast of Ireland. She carried with her 1198 passengers which included about 100 children to the bottom. The Lusitania was also carrying ammunitions and other war materials and was then targeted to be sunk. Robert Ballard concluded, though, that this was not the cause of the second much larger explosion.

He theorizes that it was due to a coal dust explosion instead.

Answer: Titanic

On April 14-15, 1912, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sunk within 2 hours and 40 minutes. She carried 1522 people to her death because there were not enough lifeboats to evacuate all of the passengers. At the time, the Titanic was the worst sea tragedy ever until the Wilhelm Gustloff sinking in 1945.