HMS Victoria Rammed and Sunk: Admiral's Fatal Order Kills 358
HMS Camperdown rammed and sank the flagship HMS Victoria during fleet maneuvers off Tripoli, Lebanon, on June 22, 1893, killing Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon and 357 of his crew. Tryon had ordered his two columns of battleships to turn inward toward each other, but the columns were only 1,200 yards apart, far less than the 1,600 yards needed for the maneuver. Several officers on both ships recognized the order was suicidal but carried it out because questioning the admiral was unthinkable in the Royal Navy's rigid hierarchy. Captain Charles Bourke of HMS Camperdown reportedly protested twice before executing the turn. Tryon's last words were allegedly "It was all my fault." The disaster prompted a fundamental reassessment of the culture of blind obedience in the Royal Navy.
June 22, 1893
133 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Royal Navy
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George Tryon
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battleship
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HMS Camperdown (1885)
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British Mediterranean Fleet
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flagship
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HMS Victoria (1887)
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Royal Navy
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Battleship
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HMS Camperdown (1885)
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Mediterranean Fleet
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Flagship
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HMS Victoria (1887)
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George Tryon
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Tripoli, Libya
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Mediterranean Sea
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