Famous Ocean Liners That Sank: Titanic, Lusitania, Britannic & More

History's most notable ocean liner disasters:

1. RMS Titanic (1912) — Iceberg; 1,500+ dead. North Atlantic. Most famous.
2. RMS Lusitania (1915) — German U-boat torpedo; 1,198 dead. Off Ireland. Shifted US toward WWI.
3. HMHS Britannic (1916) — Titanic's sister; mine in Aegean; 30 dead. Hospital ship.
4. RMS Empress of Ireland (1914) — Collision in St. Lawrence; 1,024 dead. "Canada's Titanic."
5. RMS Lancastria (1940) — German bombers off France; ~4,000–6,000 dead. Worst British maritime loss.
6. MV Wilhelm Gustloff (1945) — Soviet sub in Baltic; ~9,400 dead. Deadliest ever.
7. MV Cap Arcona (1945) — British RAF in Lübeck Bay; ~7,000 dead. Concentration camp prisoners.
8. RMS Empress of Asia (1942) — Japanese sub near Singapore; ~1,000 dead.
9. MS Georges Philippar (1932) — Fire/sinking Gulf of Aden; 54 dead.
10. SS Andrea Doria (1956) — Collision off Nantucket; 46 dead. Not a liner sinking (stayed afloat 11 hrs), but iconic.

Notes

• RMS Queen Mary (1934) — Never sank. Retired 1967; hotel in Long Beach.
• Many WWII losses were requisitioned liners (troopships, hospital ships).
• Wilhelm Gustloff remains history's deadliest single-ship sinking.