List of maritime disasters in the 20th century
A maritime disaster is an event which usually involves a ship or ships and can involve military action. Because of the nature of maritime travel, there is often a substantial loss of life. The term maritime disaster can refer to both commercial ships and military naval ships. A maritime disaster can result in one or more of the following simultaneously;
- Loss of life
- Pollution of marine environment
- Degradation of the aquatic ecosystem
- Economical loss at a grand scale
- Destruction of onshore properties
The sinking of the British ocean liner in 1912, is probably the most famous shipwreck, but not the biggest in terms of lives lost. The wartime sinking of the German in January 1945 in World War II by a Soviet Navy submarine, with an estimated loss of about 9,400 people, remains the deadliest isolated maritime disaster ever, excluding such events as the destruction of entire fleets like the 1274 and 1281 storms that are said to have devastated Kublai Khan's fleets in his invasions of Japan. The 1987 loss of the Philippine ferry, with an estimated 4,386 dead, is the largest peacetime loss recorded.
Peacetime
All ships, including those of the military, are vulnerable to problems from weather conditions, faulty design or human error. The disasters listed below were not related directly to military action, though some of them occurred during periods of conflict. The table listings are in decreasing order with respect to the number of casualties.| Year | Country | Description | Deaths | Image |
| 1987 |  Philippines|1986MV|Doña Paz||2Wartimewith great loss of life can also occur in times of armed conflict. Shown below are some of the known events with major losses.Russo-Japanese WarWorld War IWorld War IIThere are at least eight maritime disasters during WWII, each of which has a greater death toll than any other maritime disaster.Second Chinese Civil WarSix-Day WarIndo-Pakistani War of 1971Falklands WarIran-Iraq WarVietnam WarIn 1967, during the Vietnam War, the USS Forrestal was floating on the water not too far from the Vietnamese coast. A Zuni rocket from one aircraft flew into the fuel tank of another aircraft, starting a big fire. Within minutes, the fire became bigger and damaged other planes. More than a hundred men and women lost their lives. This was known as the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. |