German warships lost accidentally to explosions

[Sgt Stripes]

Hi. During WW1 the Royal Navy lost warships such as HMS BULWARK, VANGUARD and GLATTON due to accidental explosions while in harbour. Were any German warships similarly lost in this way and if so what were the ships names. Many Thanks  

[Knotty]

The only one I know of is the light cruiser, SMS Karlsruhe on 4 November 1914, a massive internal explosion destroyed the ship and killed most of the crew, while she was steaming in the Atlantic. The 140 survivors used one of Karlsruhe's colliers to return to Germany in December 1914. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Karlsruhe

 

[Sgt Stripes]

Many thanks Knotty for the information on the KARLSRUHE . One other ship that I know of ( not German but American ) was the USS MAINE which blew up in Havana harbour on 15 Feb 1898.   

[Sgt Stripes]

Hi. Just been told of a Italian warship, the Battleship BENEDETTO BRIN, that blew up at Brindisi with a heavy loss of life on 27 Sep 1915.   

[Wexflyer]

The ammunition arrangements for heavy guns were very different in the KM and RN.

KM - Charges held in individual brass cases. Flashproof. Fire resistant. Very safe.

RN - Charges held in silk bags. Not flashproof, more susceptible to fire. Not so safe.

[Malcolm12hl]

The list of early 20th century warships lost to internal explosions is quite a long one and includes the following vessels not already mentioned:

 

Britain - NATAL - armoured cruiser - 30.12.1915
France - IENA - pre-dreadnought - 12.3.1907
France- LIBERTE - semi-dreadnought - 25.9.1911
Japan - MIKASA - pre-dreadnought - 12.9.1905 (salvaged and re-built)
Japan - KAWACHI - dreadnought - 12.7.1918

Italy - LEONARDO DA VINCI - dreadnought - 2.8.1916 (attributed to sabotage)
Russia - IMPERATRITSA EKATERINA VELIKAYA - dreadnought - 18.6.1916

[TeeCeeCee]

http://www.gwpda.org/naval/thist24.htm

 

There have been notable ammunition fires in, iirc, a german cruiser and destroyer but the ships were not lost. I don't have a link for that. 

 

Maybe search for ammunition fires in warships

 

P. S. Iirc, on german big guns, it was the bag nearest the breech that had brass components (and there was at least 2 different types for these) the remaining charges were in silk bags a la the RN. 

 

Late addition: 

The germans had a spontaneous detonation on the cruiser Vineta in 1903 and the light cruiser Karlsruhe suffered an internal explosion in Nov 1914. 

 

Edited 25 August , 2018 by TeeCeeCee
Adding addition

[dman]

The ammunition arrangements for heavy guns were very different in the KM and RN.

KM - Charges held in individual brass cases. Flashproof. Fire resistant. Very safe.

RN - Charges held in silk bags. Not flashproof, more susceptible to fire. Not so safe.

 

RN also had fireproof cases for ammunition - problem is took time to get them out .  Do to RN desire to increase rate of fire  many captains 

kept ammunition "loose" - ie outside fireproof cases 

 

Also crammed turrets, ammunition hoists and passageways from magazines with loose ammunition - - results were evident at Jutland (May 31-June 1 1916) when 

3 battle cruisers were lost and another almost lost (magazines flooded by dying turret officer) by ammunition explosions when shell hits on turret ignited powder charges

which flashed back to magazines 

[TeeCeeCee]

Re: the casing of german propellant. 

 

A quote from the navweaps site for the german 12"/50 cal. 

 

"These guns, like most large caliber German guns of this era, used a "fore charge" which was propellant in a double bag silk case and a "main charge" which was propellant in a brass case. The brass case helped to seal the breech of the gun."

http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNGER_12-50_skc12.php

 

 

J Cambells 'Jutland' has the  main charge of the 12"/50, 11"/45 & 11"/50 covered in a stout brass case that covered 75% of the length, the other 25% was a thin brass foil that volatilised, or blown out the muzzle, on firing.

In the 11"/40 all of the length of the main charge was of thick brass. 

 

The fore charge (the first to enter and be rammed) was of an inner and outer silk bag with brass inserts with to give the cartridge strength.