RN ship losses

5 Mar 1942 // Tug HMS Wo Kwang, sailing from Java to Australia with evacuees from Singapore and survivors from other ships, was sunk by Japanese destroyers south of Java. About 40 people died; 18 men escaped in a boat but only two survived to reach land 24 days later. #RoyalNavy #WW2 #NavalHistory

5 Mar 1918 // HM Drifter William Tennant, a Kirkcaldy boat employed as a net barrier tender at Grimsby, sank after colliding with steamer SS Principal in the Humber Estuary. No lives were lost. #RoyalNavy #WW1 #NavalHistory

5 Mar 1917 // HM Drifter Campania II, a Buckie boat employed as a net barrier tender on Tyneside, disappeared off the Northumbrian coast amid gale-force winds and snow. 12 men were lost. Eight bodies and debris from the drifter washed up at Anstruther, Fife, on 6 March. #RoyalNavy #WW1 #NavalHistory

5 Mar 1916 // HM Trawler Calliope II, a Milford Haven boat in use as a minesweeper, was run into by Norwegian steamer Dane north of the Butt of Lewis, and sank with the loss of one man. #RoyalNavy #WW1 #NavalHistory

5 Mar 1807 // Gun-brig HMS Pigmy (14 guns) ran aground off the Île d'Oléron in the early hours during a squall, because of mistakes by the pilot. At dawn they were seen and fired on by a nearby fort and forced to surrender. All on board became French prisoners of war. #RoyalNavy #NavalHistory

It's so very grim.

117 of her crew died. 34 survived but when their raft was found on 9 March by Dutch submarine K.XI only 13 were still alive. Despite Yarra's courageous defence all ships in the convoy were sunk, with few survivors. [3/3] (Image: Australian War Memorial 016263) #RoyalAustralianNavy #WW2 #NavalHistory

The Yarra then attacked the overwhelmingly superior enemy force, battling for over an hour to protect her convoy before she succumbed to gunfire from the cruisers. She continued to fire on the enemy even while heavily damaged and listing. Her guns only fell silent when she sank. [2/3]

Sloop HMAS Yarra. Image: Australian War Memorial: 016263. Description: a side view of a small warship painted in a camouflage pattern, her bows to the left. She is at anchor with land visible behind her.

4 Mar 1942 // At sunrise, sloop HMAS Yarra, escorting southwards from Java a convoy of three vessels which had earlier escaped from Singapore, sighted a squadron of three Japanese cruisers and four destroyers. The Yarra ordered the convoy to scatter and deployed a smokescreen. [1/3]

4 Mar 1916 // HM Trawler Flicker, a Hull boat in use as a patrol vessel at Dover, disappeared overnight on 4/5 March while on patrol, presumed sunk by a submarine-laid mine off Dover. All fourteen crew died. Just one body was recovered. #RoyalNavy #WW1 #NavalHistory

4 Mar 1843 // Paddle sloop HMS Megaera ran aground and broke up on Bare Bush Key, Jamaica, having just left Port Royal to cross the Gulf of Mexico to Veracruz. The loss was blamed on a strong current, but the court martial told her captain to be more careful in future. #RoyalNavy #NavalHistory

'Loss of the Blanche, March 4th 1807', aquatint by Thomas Sutherland after Thomas Whitcombe, 1807. British Museum: museum no. 1871,1111.645. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

4 Mar 1807 // 38-gun frigate HMS Blanche (ex Spanish Amfitrite, captured 1804) went off course and was wrecked on rocks off Ushant with 45 men lost. Her compasses were deflected by ironwork in her hull. ('Loss of the Blanche' 1807 print: British Museum CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) #RoyalNavy

4 Mar 1706 (O.S.) // 4-gun hoy HMS John and Sarah, serving as tender to HMS Dorsetshire, was approached by a group of ships in poor visibility off the Isle of Wight. They turned out to be French privateers. After one fired into her with cannon and muskets, she surrendered. #RoyalNavy #NavalHistory

4 Mar 1653 (O.S.) // English Navy ships Samson (40 guns), Peregrine (30 guns) and Levant Merchant (28 guns) were all lost at the Battle of Leghorn. The Samson blew up after being disabled and attacked by a fireship, and Peregrine and Levant Merchant were captured after hard fighting. #NavalHistory

Willem van Dienst, 'The Battle of Leghorn' (c1653). National Maritime Museum, Greenwich: public domain image via Wikimedia Commons. Description: a naval battle with many sailing ships engaging each other with gunfire, and a town and hills visible on the land behind. In the foreground one ship, involved in close-quarter action with another, has exploded and is sinking amid fire and smoke.

4 Mar 1653 (O.S.) // 40-gun ship Bonaventure exploded at the Battle of Leghorn after a shot from Dutch flagship De Zeven Provincien ignited her magazine. There were only five survivors from 180 on board. Image: Willem van Dienst 'The Battle of Leghorn' c1653, Wikimedia Commons. #NavalHistory

Image: Reinier Noorns, 'The Naval Battle near Livorno, 14 March 1653' (c. 1653-64), in the collections of the Rijksmuseum (SK-A-294), public domain. 14 March 1653 is the Gregorian calendar date: in Britain, still using the Julian calendar, the battle is dated to 4 March 1653. [2/2]

Reinier Noorns, 'The Naval Battle near Livorno, 14 March 1653' (c. 1653-64), Rijksmuseum: SK-A-294 (14 March 1653 is the Gregorian calendar date: in Britain, still using the Julian calendar, the battle is dated to 4 March 1653). Description: a painting of a large number of sailing vessels engaged in a battle, with many firing broadsides and wreckage and men visible in the water around them. In the background land can be seen, with green hills and a distant town on the left.

4 Mar 1653 (O.S.) // 40-gun 3rd-rate English Navy ship Leopard was captured by the Dutch at the Battle of Leghorn after battling first two, then three, enemy ships for six hours. She suffered 70 dead and 54 wounded before, heavily damaged, she surrendered to the Dutch squadron. [1/2] #NavalHistory

Thank you. It's fascinating, and very moving, to hear such recollections.

Couldn't help laughing

Agreed on both counts

3 Mar 1945 // Air-sea rescue boat HMAS Steady Hour, based at Darwin, was destroyed by an accidental fire without casualties in Melville Bay in the Northern Territory of Australia. #RoyalAustralianNavy #WW2 #NavalHistory

3 Mar 1945 // Whaler HMS Southern Flower was torpedoed off the east coast of Iceland by German submarine U.1022. She sank very quickly leaving only one survivor, her skipper, from her 26 crew. #RoyalNavy #WW2 #NavalHistory

3 Mar 1942 // Auxiliary minesweeper HMS Gema, which had escaped from Singapore a few days earlier, was scuttled at Tjilatjap, Java. #RoyalNavy #WW2 #NavalHistory

3 Mar 1941 // HM Trawler Cobbers was sunk by German aircraft off Lowestoft with the loss of eleven men, including her skipper, from her crew of fifteen. #RoyalNavy #WW2 #NavalHistory

3 Mar 1921 // HM Drifter Gloaming struck rocks and was wrecked off Lizard Point while escorting submarines from Pembroke Dock to Torbay. No lives were lost. The court martial reprimanded Lt George Whitfield, in command, for failings in navigation and confused orders. #RoyalNavy #NavalHistory

3 Mar 1916 // HM Drifter Boy Harold, a Lowestoft boat employed as a net barrier tender at Otranto, sank after striking a mine while returning with other drifters to Brindisi after a patrol. Seven of her crew lost their lives. #RoyalNavy #WW1 #NavalHistory

3 Mar 1824 // During a gale 10-gun cutter HMS Dwarf was blown against the Eastern Pier in Kingstown Harbour, Dublin, and wrecked, despite every precaution being taken to secure her at her moorings. One man, a Royal Marine, died when he fell overboard. #RoyalNavy #NavalHistory

3 Mar 1802 // HMS Sensible (former French frigate Sensible, captured 1798) was wrecked off Mullaitivu, Ceylon, due to navigational error. No lives were lost. The court martial on the loss blamed both her master, James O'Conner, and her commander, Captain Sauce. #RoyalNavy #NavalHistory

I'm not sure. What a revelation it would have been, if so. The official report from Capt Martin Naismith recommended: 'With regard to SS RUTHERGLEN, it is submitted that she should not be informed that the rammed submarine was British but should receive the usual reward for sinking the enemy'.

2 Mar 1942 // HM Drifter Ut Prosim was sunk in Dover harbour when the port came under long-range shellfire from the French coast. A shell exploded next to her as she lay at Prince of Wales Pier, and she quickly rolled over and sank with the loss of one man. #RoyalNavy #WW2 #NavalHistory