The Submarine Sunk by the Last Torpedo It Fired
In October 1944 USS Tang, the deadliest American submarine of the war, fired her last torpedo. It turned in a circle and sank her. Of 87 men, nine lived.
Modern: 1800 onwards
From 1800 to the present day.
The British Cruiser That Torpedoed Itself in the Arctic
In March 1942 HMS Trinidad fired a torpedo at a crippled German destroyer in an Arctic snowstorm. It circled back and hit her, killing 32 of her own men.
The Admiral Who Knew Japan Would Lose the War
Isoroku Yamamoto planned Pearl Harbor while warning that Japan could not beat America. He gave it a year. Sixteen months later he was dead in the jungle.
The Ice Cream Ship That Sailed to War With the Pacific Fleet
In 1945 the US Navy towed a million-dollar concrete barge across the Pacific. Its job: to make ten gallons of ice cream every seven minutes for the fleet.
The Most Successful Pirate That Ever Infested Any Sea
Rahmah ibn Jabir terrorised the Persian Gulf for forty years. Blind, partially crippled and surrounded in 1826, he took his young son below decks and lit the powder.
The Queen Who Served Justice in a Nutshell
Under Queen Ranavalona I, guilt and innocence in Madagascar were decided by swallowing a deadly nut. Tens of thousands died, many of them willing participants.
Project Habakkuk: The Aircraft Carrier Made of Ice
In 1943 the Allies seriously planned an aircraft carrier made of ice and wood pulp, and built a model in Canada. Here is how Habakkuk began and why it never sailed.