Sinking of HMS Victoria

The sinking of HMS Victoria took place at approximately 15:30 on 22 June 1893, after HMS Victoria, the flagship of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, collided with HMS Camperdown while on fleet manoeuvres in the Eastern Mediterranean. The collision caused significant damage to Victoria's bow, with a large hole produced causing the ship to rapidly capsize. Victoria took approximately fifteen minutes to sink, with 358 members of the crew, including Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon, lost in the disaster.

In 1893, the Royal Navy saw the Mediterranean Sea as a vital sea route between Britain and India (via the Suez Canal, completed in 1869), under constant threat from the navies of France and Italy. The impressive naval force that the British concentrated to protect these sealanes made the Mediterranean Fleet one of the most powerful in the world. On 22 June 1893, the bulk of the fleet, eleven ironclads (eight battleships and three large cruisers), were on their annual summer exercises off Tripoli in the Ottoman Empire (now Lebanon).

Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon, the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, was a strict disciplinarian who believed that the best way to keep his crews taut and efficient was by continuous fleet evolutions, which before the invention of wireless were signalled by signal flags, semaphore and signal lamp. He had devised a new system of ship handling intended to depart from the system of flag signalling, which was limited in what could be imparted by whatever was in the existing signal book. His speciality was the "TA" system, which took its name from the signal that would indicate it was in operation. Tryon developed the "TA" system as a means for complex manoeuvres to be handled by only a few simple signals, but which required his ships' captains to use their initiative; upon his flying the flag signal "TA", all ships in the formation were to follow the movements of the flagship without the need to wait for or acknowledge any other signals. However, initiative was a quality that had become blunted by decades of naval peace since Trafalgar, and which was unwelcome in a hierarchical navy that deified Admiral Horatio Nelson while misunderstanding what he had stood for. A taciturn and difficult man to his subordinate officers, Tryon habitually avoided explaining his intentions to them, to accustom them to handle unpredictable situations.

In June 1893, the bulk of the Mediterranean Fleet departed Malta for the Eastern Mediterranean to take part in the annual exercises. On 23 June, having anchored at Beirut, the fleet weighed anchor and headed for sea, with the eleven major ships split into two columns, led by the flagships of the fleet commander and his deputy.

Tryon led one column of six ships, which formed the first division of his fleet, in his flagship Victoria travelling at 8 kn (9.2 mph; 15 km/h). His deputy – Rear-Admiral Albert Hastings Markham – was in the lead ship of the second division of five ships, the 10,600 long tons (10,800 t) Camperdown. Markham's normal divisional flagship – Trafalgar – was being refitted. Unusually for Tryon, he had discussed his plans for anchoring the fleet with some of his officers. The two columns were to turn inwards in succession by 180°, thus closing to 400 yd (370 m) and reversing their direction of travel. After travelling a few miles in this formation, the whole fleet would slow and simultaneously turn 90° to port and drop their anchors for the night. The officers had observed that 1,200 yd (1,100 m) was much too close and suggested that the columns should start at least 1,600 yd (1,500 m) apart; even this would leave insufficient margin for safety. The normal turning circles of the ships involved would have meant that a gap between the two columns of 2,000 yd (1,800 m) would be needed to leave a space between the columns of 400 yd (370 m) on completion of the manoeuvre. Tryon had confirmed that eight cables 1,300 m (4,300 ft) should be needed for the manoeuvre the officers expected, but had later signalled for the columns to close to six cables 1,000 m (3,300 ft). Two of his officers gingerly queried whether the order was what he intended, and he brusquely confirmed that it was.

He ordered speed to be increased to 8.8 kn (10.1 mph; 16.3 km/h) and at about 15:00 ordered a signal to be flown from Victoria to have the ships in each column turn in succession by 180° inwards towards the other column so that the fleet would reverse its course. However, the normal "tactical" turning circle of the ships had a diameter of around 800 yd (730 m) each (and a minimum of 600 yd (550 m), although standing orders required "tactical rudder" to be used in fleet manoeuvres), so if they were less than 1,600 yd (1,500 m) apart then a collision was likely.

As there was no pre-determined code in the signal book for the manoeuvre he wished to order, Tryon sent separate orders to the two divisions. They were:

"Second division alter course in succession 16 points to starboard preserving the order of the fleet." "First division alter course in succession 16 points to port preserving the order of the fleet."