The Sinking of USS Memphis – Mother Nature's Wrath

Mother Nature takes no prisoners, and this applies to ships as much as anything else. Some of the most famous sinkings in human history, such as Titanic, are a direct result of nature. And that's not even touching on Typhoon Cobra.

One unfortunate armored cruiser, USS Memphis (formerly USS Tennessee) also applies here. Run aground by massive waves, generally cited as a tsunami. Evidence tends to lean more towards hurricane driven waves, nowadays, but regardless of the exact cause...

Memphis was swamped. Swamped and slammed into rocks. This cruiser is a classic example of why even massive warships must respect the power of nature.

Further Reading:

[rutabagasteu]

Rogue waves were thought to be myth, but satellite photos showed them.

My ship, an early DDG, encountered Hurricane Camille in the Atlantic Ocean. 50 foot waves.

[kirkmorrison]

Mother Nature, always wins when it gets angry. Every sailor knows this, and tries to be ready for it

[nicholasconder]

From the description of the event, it certainly sounds like USS Memphis was the victim of a rogue wave phenomenon called "3 Sisters". From what I have read, in some cases rogue waves come in triplets, where there are two very large waves followed by a monstrous wave. This fits the description given by the crew of the USS Memphis and other observers of the disaster.

[petestorz]

USS Memphis ex-Tennessee was class leader of the Tennessee class armored cruisers. Her size and main guns caliber were close to then-current pre-Dreadnoughts (and her main guns were greater in caliber than most countries' contemporary armored cruisers), albeit more lightly armored and faster. It may be splitting hairs, but I think armored cruisers, in 1916, were obsolescent rather than obsolete. But by the 1920s they were obsolete, and many were being scrapped.

[vger]

My grandfather was stationed aboard the Pennsylvania class armored cruiser San Diego ACR-6. She was sunk by a German mine two years later.

[kwd]

A very similar incident happened to Columbus on his third voyage to the New World in 1498. His ships were anchored off the coast of Trinidad. As Columbus was preparing to leave a huge wave came out of nowhere and raised his flagship, the Vaquenos, to an immense height, snapping the anchor chain and then dropped the flagship so low that they could see bottom. Fortunately, there was only one wave. (Samuel Eliot Morison, The European Discovery of America, The Southern Voyages, 1974, Page 150)

[sdbdub]

Absolutely fascinating!! Never knew that a USN ship at anchor was caught off-guard. There's a 39 minute video of this same occurrence that I am destined to watch now. ~QM1(SW/AW) 1988-2000.

[RedXlV]

I always approve of shade on Admiral Halsey for his repeatedly steering fleets straight into typhoons.

[alexh]

There was another gunboat there with Castile that survived. When I worked at BIW it was a story they told us, I can’t remember which one but Castine and the other ship were sister ships but one was built at Bath iron works and the other wasn’t and the BIW ship came out relatively unharmed and the other ship was a mess

[robertcooper]

Armored cruisers in the US Navy seem to be a forgotten class of ship. You hear about the BBs and DDs and everyone knows about the Langley. But the ACs and the later battlecruisers always seem overlooked.

[vipertwenty]

The hurricane could conceiveably have caused an underwater landslide off a steep underwater slope. The displacement of water that would cause could be in turn the cause of the sudden extreme waves.

[selkiemaine]

40 minutes to raise steam is FAST. From cold boilers it would have been, depending on the vessel, from 5 to 24 hours.

[brucewelty]

the 'non-existant" rogue waves. Quotes as the Navy only recently accepted that they exist and are not at all uncommon.

[roberthilton]

Captain Edward Beach Jr. (author of 'Run Silent, Run Deep', and other books) wrote 'Wreck of the Memphis' in 1966. Given the context of what was known at the time, what did you think of it?

[johnslaughter]

Capt. Beach was CO of USS Washington, sister of USS Tennessee, prior to taking command of Tennessee. Washington was due to go in the yard, so Capt. Beach was transferred. As noted by someone else, his son, Edward "Ned" Beach, Jr. would go on to become somewhat famous. Besides the books he wrote, he was a submariner during WWII. He made 10 war patrols and earned a Navy Cross.

[scottjackson]

No doubt that the superior who ordered the boiler restriction, wasn't held responsible for the deaths and loss of the ship. The captain should have ordered more boilers online sooner.

[timbonjovi]

I have been looking for pictures of the wreck of this ship for a few years. I cannot find any pictures of this wreck after a certain point. And it's kind of drove me crazy because I know people have taken pictures of it during the time frame

[topgun]

most likely it got hit my 3 70ft rogue waves which are more common and more likely then a tsunami but a hurricane can cause a tsunami since hurricane's shift ocean sediment and can cause land slides

[lordsherifftakari]

the combination of long period waves or Rollers in concert with Hurricane driven swells which have a different period between them are the primary cause of "Rogue Waves"
when the 2 differing wave periods line up, their individual amplitude stacks creating truly monster waves easily able to thoroughly trash a warship. being moored in Shallow water only makes matters worse!

in 1916 though, Rogue Waves were unknown or as lore from old leathernecked sailors but generally passed off as myth.
today, Rogue Waves have been scientifically documented and measured revealing their truly terrifying nature and destructive potential.

in all proper context regarding the story, U.S.S. Memphis was wrecked by the rapid onslaught of several Rogue Waves

[richv-gejl]

We getting a historical society committee to maintain its memory I. Santo Domingo