On January 31, 1918, Britain’s Royal Navy “fought” a battle with itself in the Scottish Firth of Forth near the Isle of May, a series of naval accidents in the dark and the mist that led to the loss of 104 British sailors killed. A total of 8 Royal Navy submarines and ships were involved in 5 collisions, resulting in the loss of 2 submarines and damage to another 4 submarines and a light cruiser. Our retelling of tale after tale of Naval “Oops” Moments (we have many articles in addition to the one in this link, just search our site using key words such as “Naval Oops Moment,” Naval, Maritime or the like) that consist of an incredible number of unfortunate, sometimes sad and sometimes almost funny, maritime blunders continues.
Digging Deeper
As we have pointed out repeatedly over the years, the British Royal Navy is a highly professional organization steeped in glory and success, but they have suffered their share of Naval Oops Moments.