In this episode we're looking for the big red button that sinks a battleship, or how else that the crew would do it. To support this channel and the Battleship New Jersey, go to: www.battleshipnewjersey.org/v...
For the british Navy it suited them fairly well seeing the german ships being scuttled --- though they couldnt say so in public ! That could be interpreted as larceny,arson or treason by the french and italian governments.
Imagine the act of boarding a ship you have never been aboard with everything labelled in a foreign language and being able to find your way to the place where you can reverse scuttling, with a very annoyed enemy crew trying to stop you. Terrifying to me.
As far as the labeling, I expect that there were a fair number of sailors from the upper midwest on board the USS Guadalcanal that had some degree of fluency in German. I expect there were a couple of those boys on the boarding crew.
Look up the story of the US capturing German U boat U505, it’s not far from this. Fortunately, they succeeded in stopping the scuttling, captured many secrets, and the boat can be seen in Chicago at the museum of science and industry.
@@dougherbert7899 Exactly what I was going to bring up. I saw U-505 when it was still displayed exposed to the elements. I recommend that anyone who can make the trip to see it. Both the museum as a whole and the submarine in particular are well worth the effort. Oh and watch the movie U-571 before you make that trip. Both to have a good appreciation of the sub and of boarding actions. ;-)
@@pauld6967 My grandfather lied about his age to enlist at 16 years old, and by 17 was on the USS Peoria (PF-67) as a radio operator. Their mission was hunting down U Boats in the North Atlantic. It’s pretty unreal to walk through U-505, touch German steel, and think about the bravery by some of the American sailors that saved her. My grandfather is still alive and telling stories at 92 years old, and I like to remind anyone that will listen that fascism taking over the world was a real threat in the not so distant past. His older brother fought in the Pacific as well, another one of my heroes.
@@dougherbert7899 I hear you. My father served in WW II and when I had the chance to fly in Aluminum Overcast, a B-17, the most poignant moment of the flight was when I manned the position my father had been trained for. He had passed away some time before that flight but for that bit of time,....well, let's just say it was a powerful moment akin to what you say about being able to touch the hull and equipment.
I could ignore reality and say that the germans were planing for the future, as the scuttled remains of the german fleet became a welcome source for "radiation free" steel after the first atomic bombs were detonated, which is used for example in Geiger counters, scientific instruments and some medical equipment.
@@AndrewBaker-ym3mk likely would’ve been scrapped, way too difficult spending the money on refitting unfamiliar ships in a post war depression and in the face of increasing restrictions on navy’s sizes. Still a remarkable amount of coordination to sink an entire fleet at once.
According to Hans Goebler, crewman on the U-505, he pulled the cover off the sea strainer. Tanks 6 and 7 valves stuck and would not open. The scuttling charges were not set because the captain was injured and the other 2 crewmen who knew how to set the charges had either abandoned ship or were injured. The boarding party closed the tank valves and replaced the sea strainer cover. They then pumped out the tanks, saving U-505.
@@Real_Claudy_Focan The French had fleets not at Mers el Kebir. Later in the war when the Nazis moved to take Vichy and non Vichy French naval assets the French scuttled much of their other fleets.
The more of these New Jersey videos I see, the more I am amazed at the amount of engineering, design, and planning that goes into a ship like this. So many engineers have to all know what's needed and how to put it in a new ship and have it all work together, and not miss anything important.
Don't forget the valves used for counterflooding. While they can be used to correct a list, if all of them are opened it is a very efficient way to sink a ship. No sea chests needed, the ship's own damage control systems can also be used to scuttle her.
Counterflooding, at least aboard these very large vessels, probably involved the wing tanks and void spaces located in the torpedo defence systems. It would be a very rare situation when a ship designed for a damage control had to resort to flooding its habitable spaces to refrain from sinking
WW: No. There are no "counterflooding valves" that would cause a ship to sink. Ballast tanks and fuel tanks, water tanks are typically used for Trim & Ballast", which includes counterflooding. Pumps are used to move liquids around. The various types of tanks are NOT connected direct to the sea, and would not passively flood. (old sailor).
@@KB4QAA Actually, in many cases ships were designed to counterflood through sea valves. In large warships, normally this involved the torpedo protection system, BUT remember that hatches and valves to access these systems were generally available from the inside of the ship. A combination of opening the right valves and the right hatches absolutely can cause a sinking.
@@WardenWolf Water does not flow on its own. It must be pumped. Unpowered pumps do not allow free flow of liquid. I believe you have created a god of "counterflooding" that is a complete misconception. (CDR-ret'd).
Several ships have capsized due to fire-fighting efforts. The most obvious example is the French liner Normandie which capsized at her berth in New York harbour after firefighters poured tons of water into her.
We've got the U505 here in Chicago in a really nice indoor museum. As expensive as it would be, I'd love to see some American ships displayed the same way.
From what I've heard, these big ships weren't designed to be out of the water for long periods of time. Eventually they would collapse vertically. I believe that's one of the big reasons they didn't end up building a permanent drydock around the Texas.
@@legogenius1667 From what I know its more of a problem the bigger the vessel is. Texas is too big and would collapse over the decades due to her own weight, but a relatively small U-Boot could be able to keep its shape quite well.
@@yoshisaurusrex3767 Yea for something small it could totally work, there's quite a few boats and submarines that are kept that way no problem. For the New Jersey though, it would be a bit of a bigger issue lol.
Learning more about the USS New Jersey (and battleships, and the USN of the past 80 years) through these videos has been one of the best parts of the last year or so -- great to see the tours have opened up again!
Blowup the magazines. My uncle Buck was an engineer on one of the ore boats on the Great Lakes almost blew up their boiler. They were training a new crewman in the boiler room to feed coal automatically into the boiler. One time when he was “trained” and passed his test, he forgot to fully push the feed button all the way in to activate the timer. After a period of time too much steam built up and the safety valves began to pop open. They dumped the steam down the ash vents that went outside the ship and kept the boiler from becoming a middle and going through all the decks. They got a good talking to from the Captain. They told him they received no training at the academy in NYC fir this type of situation.
I’ve gone up to the exterior of the Ling at low tide in a canoe and it’s pretty corroded. I think it just sprang a leak on it’s own. There’s also a big dent in the side of it from a barge hitting it years ago but I don’t think that caused any leak.
Our warships are wonderfully designed to take a lot of punishment and still stay afloat. As Ryan noted about the Hornet, they put a lot of munitions into her and she still didn't go down. When ships are sunk as artificial reefs, they make sure that no WTD is left closed, they cut numerous other holes between decks and into the outer skin, above waterline, and then plant lots and lots of explosives. So, it would seemthe crew would have to through the ship opening all water tight fittings before opening the seacocks.
I'm sure a lot of that is just from the difficulty of removing machinery that will have a lot of oil leftover, and that they don't want to sit and slowly leak out into their nice new reef.
@@rianfelis3156 I don't know about the machinery and how it's prepped for sinking. It cost $21,000,000 to clean out Oriskany to prepare her for sinking off of Pensacola.
It got a lot better after they got the lapel microphone. But the last few videos they seem to be switching randomly between the lapel mic and the mic on the camera itself. Or they are doing something else to the audio. It is really jarring and makes the audio quite poor. Also 3:05 Wow! WTF?
Ryan keeps smashing his mics against large metal objects, because well, battleship. So its a matter of getting new ones fast enough to keep up with his abuse.
@@BattleshipNewJersey Yeah, heavy gauge steel tends to not be really flexible or shock absorbent. I found that out the hard way while doing some work aboard USS Iowa right after she had been recommissioned. They don't call them 'Knee Knockers' for nothing. 😲😂
One thing I've wondered about for a while is why the bottom of the hull is often called the bowels of the ship. Shouldn't it really be the bladder? I mean it's pretty much always got water sloshing around down there.
Ryan, I really appreciate the excellent service you provide. You are very well versed and very informative about matters nautical and naval. Thank you so much.
Very interesting to learn why they can't start those engines anymore. (Coolant sealed off). I'd love to see one of these Iowa class ships fired up again, even briefly. Just amazing marvels of engineering, even all these years later.
Sounds like a great action move plot. "Our only hope to stop the terrorists is to reactivate the ship" And, of course anything can be done in a two minute A-team style montage where they break out the welding tanks and go to town.
Actually, you'll WISH it had exploded instead of the Captain exploding when he catches you. Also if you get caught playing cards while on watch in CIC. One of our Junior Ossifers did that during a quiet mid-watch and had the misfortune of having an Executive Officer suffering from insomnia wander in. The first 'Explosion' saw our young officer fired on the spot and sent to his bunkroom 'in hack.' The second 'Explosion' happened early the next morning when the Captain requested a helicopter to take the young man off the ship. "I don't care if you drop him in the ocean ... just get him the hell OFF MY SHIP!." His language was a bit saltier than that, but using it here even as a direct quote would get me banned. That was a young man who really wished the ship HAD exploded, his promising Navy career was over. So were the careers of two Petty Officers who had joined in the card game.
@@robertf3479 Damn, talk about an overreaction! I can understand the importance of paying attention to what's going on. But to destroy a young officer's career over 1 minor instance of playing cards, seems ridiculous!
@@patricksheridan5924 You beat me to it. One thing I forgot to mention, at that time we were underway ... Condition 3 (Wartime Steaming) off Libya. Just a couple of months earlier we had followed the liner Achille Lauro to Alexandria Egypt after terrorists had hijacked her. Not long after this incident we were below Kadaffi's 'Line of Death' with missiles flying overhead. I would not want a CIC Watch Officer that careless aboard, entrusted with the ship's safety.
I imagine that scuttlings, especially massed ones like the German fleet at Scapa Flow probably look a bit like the last 3 minutes of a Phineas and Ferb episode, plus a lot of screaming and desperation.
really great presentation on a subject not often covered, all of your videos are well done and very informative. Also, because you asked nicely, i wont scuttle the nearest museum ship i see.
The US Navy did scuttle several warships in Norfolk in April 1861 to keep them out of Confederate hands. Included were USS Pennsylvania, the USS Merrimac, USS Columbia, USS Columbus, USS Delaware, USS Dolphin, USS Germantown, USS New York, USS Plymouth and USS Raritan. As these were wooden ships and in shallow water, the scuttling method used was fire. Of course the portion of the Merrimac below water survived and was used as the basis for the iron clad CSS Virginia. Later when the Union was retaking Norfolk, the Virginia was scuttled again by the Confederates.
I always found the idea of the bismark been scuttled as meaningless. The ship at that point was a burning hulk and dead. The RN sank the bismark regardless of if scuttling charges had been set. On that note, I'm skeptical they managed to do so considering the state ship when the order was given.
According to Burkhard Baron von Müllenheim-Rechberg,the highest surviving officer from the Bismarck, Bismarck had been rendered combat ineffective & was very slowly sinking as the Brits kept plastering her with everything they could throw at her. The Bismarck’s scuttling charges detonated between 1010-1020 hours, Rodney hit her with a torpedo on the port side at 1000, Dorsetshire hit her with torpedoes (one to port & the other to starboard) between 1025 & 1035 & she sank at 1040. Several witnesses said they saw no torpedo damage on the starboard side, and Robert Ballard found no penetration below the waterline or of the armored citadel when he surveyed the wreck in June, 1989. He did find compelling evidence the ship had been scuttled.
Either way, Bismarck was going to sink. It was made of steel, after all. You poke enough holes it's going down. Given the rather ravious attitude the Brits had at that moment, I'm half convinced that, had Bismarck not gone down either as a result of shellfire and torps, or on his own accord, the order would have been given to ram him. As I understand it, the British really, REALLY wanted that ship deleted.
@@177SCmaro It was the 'poking holes in it' bit that was proving to be infuriatingly difficult for the Royal Navy. Eventually, yes, Bismarck was going to sink, but she was still shrugging off direct hits thanks to her incredibly thick armor.
@@xaenon First of all, Bismarck's armor was pretty thick for the time but it may interest you to know that it was only one half inch thicker than Iowa's belt and Iowa wasn't really considered a dedicated "line of battle ship" in some ways it was more like an extremely well armed and armored battlecruiser - a fast battleship. King George V actually had a thicker belt armor then Bismarck. Secondly, in the British mad rush to close to point blank range the problem became their main guns couldn't depress low enough to hit at or below the waterline so, instead, they ended up carving up Bismarck's superstructure like a thanksgiving turkey which, while overpenetrating the superstructure still obliterated Bismarck's ability to fight back, that isn't going to sink him, which is why they had to resort to torpedos to finally expedite his departure from the surface world. As I said, Bismarck was going to sink. Also, for the record, there never was a battleship armor that could withstand point blank hits from battleship-grade guns. Even Yamato-class turret face armor, some 26 inches thick, was penetrated in a test fire of 16 in shells at point blank range (and unrealistic scenario in practice but it demonstrates the point in theory). Battleship armor resists shells, it's doesn't make one invulnerable. I'm not saying Bismarck wasn't a tough ship but that toughness has been somewhat exaggerated over time. There is a certain romanticism with "the biggest battleships" that becomes more like legend than fact.
@@177SCmaro I'm just stating some facts, partner. They pounded the living snot out of Bismarck and she resisted an astonishing amount of punishment. It's how and why there was so much speculation about whether she was scuttled or not. Oh, and I seem to recall hearing something about her belt armor being made of some particularly high grade of steel, not quite so common in other ships of her basic size and class. I think we can both agree, though, that she was a tough ship.
Watch, Quarter, and Station Bill designates assignments like watch standing, battle station, abandon ship area, etc. One of my assignments was securing and salvage (?). I asked about that and was told you are one of the last ones off because you’ll open the sea chest in engine room. Strike a somber note on that thought
👍Never heard the key to the sea chest one, but they use to send out the new guy to cut in the cooling water to the handrails. I remember one time they wanted to see how well a new snipe was making rounds and they put a rag over the oil level indicator on the main sump. When he came in control booth after making rounds they asked him what the oil level was and he said he didn't know, he couldn't see if for a rag tied around it.
I used to pull the dip stick on the spring bearing in shaft alley #1 when I went on watch in Main Control. When my fireman messenger reported that the spring bearing oil level was full for the second hour in a row I'd pull out the dip stick and he knew he'd been caught gundecking his readings.
NOt being a Navy guy myself, I never heard of 'keys to the sea chest'. But as a U.S. Army mechanic, I have variously sent other enlisted and LTs off on the hunt for 'lock washer keys', 'BA-1100-N' 'ID-10-T'' and 'ST-1' batteries (spell them out), and a number of other things.. Also 'left-handed smoke wrenches', "muffler bearings', metric crescent wrenches, and wobbilator shafts...
Aside from Scuttling a ship. Every USN ship that I served aboard had a series of items that were immediate response items. These were commonly things like a primary Gyro, in the same room was some of the fire control functions. Basically these were things like stand outside the door and throw an axe (or hammer) at the gyro and quickly close the door. If you hear a big bang your done, if not try again. Essentially it was just a destroy the stuff you don't want them to get. As to the rest they already know it's a ship and how it works.
you should check the ARA Santisima Trinidad (an Argentine navy Type 42 Destroyer who fought in the Argentinean side during 1982 Malvinas/Falklands conflict). The ship was UK made so after the war the embargo forced Argentina to cannibalize Santisima Trinidad in order to keep the sister ship ARA Hercules in commision. That was the reason behind the ship was in port as a floating spare ship since late 80s. By 2013 the ship was in such a bad shape that one of the pipes broked up it sunk on its mooring. The ship was eventually refloated and nowadays its waiting to be scrapped
Graff spee probably wanted to use magazine charges to cause maximum damage as it was so shallow there they needed to not just sink the ship but actually destroy things like radar (brits disguised as scrap merchants took this item)
1779 a fledgling American Navy was cornered in the Penobscott River by the British Navy - rather than let the ships be captured, they were burned or scuttled on orders from the Commodore, Dudley Saltonstall. Bernard Cornwell wrote a book about it - The Fort -fascinating reading.
I knew a sailor who served on a smaller ship, Vietnam era. He said that they trained in disabling the ship in the event of capture, destroying everything of value without actually sinking it. Explosive charges to destroy engines, guns, electronics.
Great line about the German Navy being proud of scuttling more BB's than anyone else. They must have been thinking "We lost, but darn it, we lost BIG!" USN - "Ok....but we prefer to win."
I toured the USS Ling as a Cub Scout around 1971 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. I thought that was sooooo cool, especially since my dad had served in subs (USS Sea Robin (SS-407) and USS Barb (SS-220)) during the Korean era. On Dock Landing ships, the gag was to send someone for the stern gate key.
In 1997 The Historic 1912 Steam Paddlewheeler Belle of Louisville (previously named Idlewild, & Avalon) was partially sunk, due to someone opening a freshwater intake valve. Luckily it was able to be refloated and still serves today, cruising on the Ohio River.
Spanish battleships in first years of XX century had "bottom valves" with blank plate bolted in the pipe. You must unbolt the closing plate and open the valve an then the magic starts. Of course, remember to leave all door decks open! It was a slow process. This was used in battleship "Colón" fighting against "Oregon" during Cuba war.
"I'm proud that the U.S. Navy never scuttled one of its battleships" .... .... I like that statement Ryan. Keep up the good work; I enjoy your videos immensely!
@@RichardFMeldrum Richard - Ryan is speaking about battleships as a class of ship. The Lexington was an aircraft carrier - although it was built on a hull of a battlecruiser. In 1942, during the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands, the U.S. Navy tried to scuttle the heavily damaged USS Hornet - but the Japanese took care of that that.
I suspect the main reason to weld over any "sea chests", places where water could enter the hull, would be to make it easier to maintain the ship as a museum without worry that some internal pipe can rust through or be damaged or a valve leaks or somebody might turn some valve and sink the ship by accident. Another reason I can think would be to evacuate water from these systems to preserve them just in case. From that point of view, welding over these would actually make it easier to start the ship in the future, not harder. Valves leak and with "hundreds" of them you can be sure some of them will and could cause damage. I mean, any project to start this ship would be major undertaking and couple of welds will not deter or make it significantly more difficult to complete the project. On the other hand internal damage would do just that.
Welding over suction and discharge ports is done during the mothballing process for all the reasons you stated. It's also to keep suction and discharge ports from becoming clogged with marine growth.
Bismarck scuttled was confirmed a few years ago. They found outward explosion marks on parts of the hull, water tight hatches and doors secured open, and a section with a sea plug was found with the plug opened clean & free
There's a fair question of if those efforts even mattered much at that point. She was so shot up and torpedoed scuttling efforts likely only sped up what the Royal Navy had inflicted.
@@Joesolo13 I agree completely they simply sped up nature but I think out of respect for their efforts it should be acknowledged that they did Have the ship go down on their terms and prevent any boarding efforts by the Royal Navy who was renowned for saving ships thought to be a lost cause during ww2 as seen in some of the ships they captured ☺️
I would disagree, the RN only whished to sink her, hence the unending shelling. And sinking an already sinking ship is hardly going out on one's own terms. And the evidence of internal explosions and open hatches isn't sufficiently conclusive. Its as valid as them being left open by panicked and fleeing crew. At the end of the day its six and two threes. The truth is, we really do not know if she was actually scuttled. We know the order was given, but not if ws carried out. The evidence is at best scetchy.
@@tisFrancesfault a fair point indeed there’s no doubt the Royal Navy didn’t intend to board her but the crew of Bismarck didn’t know that for certain and while the open hatches from craziness of abandon ship order is def valid also but I think the open sea plugs and the damage showing explosions going outward from inside the hull show the order to scuttle her was at least attempted to be carried out but you’re very correct no way to be 100% if that’s what sank her or if it was all the British iron she played catch with or a mix of the two. I think the evidence that it was attempted is enough to throw these sailors a bone and respect that they did scuttle her (the results of the efforts are debatable for sure) but the evidence shows they did try so they deserve the acknowledgment of their efforts for sure.
It's a moot point. Evidence does point to yes, Bismarck was scuttled but she was already so damaged at that point that she would have eventually sunk regardless. It does point to the amount of damage it takes to sink a Battleship. Designed to take the enemy's largest shells and torpedoes, some even survived a nuke dropped on them during post-war testing. Not saying saying it would have been fun or even survivable for the ship's crew, but the ships still floated. (And yes, not dropped directly on them. Even a WWII nuke dropped directly on Bismarck or an Iowa would have sunk them post-haste)
Love these videos, Ryan. Please keep up the great job, especially showing us parts of the ship generally unavailable to the public. I have a related question for you: In your opinion which museum ship provides the most access to the public? I have been to several in the US and have been rather disappointed in what is accessible on some. Thanks for your input!
As far as we've seen, we have more open than any of the battleships. With smaller ships its a harder comparison. Technically, every inch of Constellation is viewable by the public.
I never was sent to get the keys to the sea chest but I sent a couple of new recruits on that mission. We also sent new guys looking for water line to tie things up. As a substitute, they could go to the mess decks and see if they had any leftover hamstring. We also sent extra-annoying new recruits to the boiler room to borrow a BT punch. This was usually delivered by the biggest Boiler Technician available when they got there. These were fun little rites of passage, among many, that are no longer allowed in the New Navy.
One of our new firemen was sent to the other engine room to get a steam blanket for the boiler. The space supervisor sent him back with lagging material tucked into his coveralls to keep it warm.
Before the environmental damage that R-12 Freon would do was discovered, we used to send a guy to the AC&R shop to get a bucket of Freon. If the cylinder was inverted, the Freon would come out in liquid form but would quickly evaporate. So the newby would go to the AC&R shop and they would fill his bucket and then cover it with a rag so he didn’t spill any. And by the time he got back to our shop 2 decks up, the Freon would be gone. And then we would rag on him about not doing what he was told to do. I am sure that this prank contributed substantially to the hole in the ozone layer.
The large valves that open to the sea are called SEACOCKS> The germans navy scuttled so many ships due to the fact that the surrendered german fleet was ensconsed at scapa flow in scotland> the crews in protest to their treatnet scuttled the entire fleet in one place> salage continues to today>
This video coincides with my training as an engine room mechanic on Nimitz class. We were also taught to blow the Main shafts hull seals. Our SSTG's and Desalination plants had their own sea chests. Sorry to say I did fall for the tubes of Relative bearing grease prank.
Well Ryan, thankfully never sent to search for those keys haha, but was sent to find an E7 down in an auxiliary machinery room for a very important canisteem......😆 Nothing like being new and young and dumb on a ship!!
The overboard valves of the installed eductor system of the ship I served aboard had locks on them. During PMS I was supposed to test the system but no one knew where they were. PMS deferred.
I was a member of the Scuttling Detail aboard the USS Sacramento in the late 70's. My job was to open the large cutoff valves in the JP-5 pump room and spike the main. Others in the engine rooms would be doing what was described in the video. Radiomen and others upstairs would be weighting codebooks and throwing them overboard. Being member of the Scuttling Detail meant you didn't have an abandon ship station. I'm glad we never had to scuttle her. P.S. we had no explosives that I was aware of.
Or liferaft seats, I was on the team too. Gag the boiler safetys, max the fuel to the boilers and run like hell. The Machinist Mates blew the main condenser scoop injection .
I had the opportunity to run around on a west German 80's era frigate , to source some parts prior to it being recycled. It had some red squares here and there, with a belt to attach something. Looking around in the steering compartment it became clear these where places to set charges, to scuttle the ship. They where placed on the ships hull, bulkheads, and vital machinery in propulsion systems and steering. Definitely no self destruct button, but like anything on such a warship, a team effort, well planned and well prepared. Designed to utterly destroy the ship and render her useless even after salvage.
According to the British experience at Jutland all you have to do is leave the flash doors to the magazines open before heading into battle and let the enemy battlecruisers do the rest.
Basically the self-destruct would essentially be the ship's Sea Chest all you really have to do is open them up opening number of hatches up and that would be enough to sink it, it would take a good bit of time but it would sink the ship
I happen to be related to a master welder and metal worker! I could send him down there to break those welds on the Sea chests smooth out the burrs and you can get that thing ready to go fight aliens.
@@ostrich67 very interesting! Thanks for helping me learn something! So the darn thing would have to be out of the water before someone could break the welds on those plates
When I was a Navy airedale, in the 60's, a young sailor came into my hangar looking for a air hook to check out? I told him that he was being hazed and to tell who ever sent him, it would be backordered and cost 10k to their shop account! He said thanks and off he went, never saw him again.
I never was sent to search for a sea chest, but in boot camp I was set to get striped paint for the mail buoy, and fifty feet of chow line. I spent a good three hours walking all over the base for that stuff, never did find it, nor did I get in trouble.... My dad was in the navy, so I knew, but my company commander didn't! ;)
Keys to the Sea Chest are kept right next to the Machinist's Punch. You use that right after you've tightened the Boatswain's Nuts. Make sure you stop by medical first, and ask for 100ft of Fallopian tubing. Dunno, the valves are good, but if you don't have explosives, I'm looking at the flex coupling or the eductor lineup...
One of the more famous "scuttle party" happened in november 1942. Allies invaded Marocco during operation Torch. After that, nazi Germany decided to occupy Vichy's France (which was not under german control at that time) to support/reinforce Italy. And when they did, they tempted to take over the whole french navy fleet based in Toulon. French sailors and officers then scuttled the fleet in harbour, and some submarines managed to flee at sea, joining free french forces
We sent people to find: 50' of waterline, a lightbulb for the smoking lamp, keys for the helm, a Bosin's punch, and batteries for the sound powered phones.
Another example of the United States scuttling ships was the Penobscot Expedition of 1779. The expedition was 44 ships sent by the rebel Massachusetts Congress to attack a British fort in what is now Maine. The attack was clumsy and slow and a Royal Navy relief force was sent from Halifax. The rebels were trapped against the shore and fled up the Penobscot River pursued by the Royal Navy. As the water grew shallower, all the the 44 ships was forced to scuttle or surrender.
A drydock, an ironworker, some bottles of oxygen and some thermic lances could get those saltwater coolant inlets and outlets un-welded over if you should want to go on a cruise. Might be able to do it with a manual plasma torch depending on how overkill the welds are, this is a battleship after all.
The mine sweep i was on had two ways to scuttle one we had TNT blocks on board with time pencils and number two was to open the diesel day tanks into the bilges and light it on fire. since minesweeps were wood hulled they would burn very fast. The chief of staff for operation end sweep was Commander Lloyd M. Bucher once of the USS Pueblo (AKL-44) he was not about to lose another ship under his charge. he made sure we had the things we needed to scuttle our ships
I lived in Montevideo in the 80's and at that point some of the superstructure was still above water. The ship had buoys all around it so people would sail into her. My friends and I would sit on the beach and talk about what we would do if we could somehow get out and board her. Alas this never happened. Now the old girl is completely sunken into the mud, and I don't think anything is visible any more. I did get to meet some of her crew that had decided to stay in Uruguay to escape Hitler's wrath. On old timer had a map of the ship he took (when he abandoned ship) hanging in his shop. It showed the decks and the various locations he worked and frequented. I suspect smoking combined with all the great food in Montevideo (fantastic beef) have claimed all the last survivors by now. I always wished they would have raised her. She was only in something like 20 feet of water. Oh well. Good memories.
In the case of one German U-boat, just flush the toilet! Open every fire main and compartment door. Turn "off" all bilge pumps. Use all the counterflooding (both sides), finish by flooding the magazines. Loss of freeboard will result! When they sank the Oriskany, "on an even keel" was a major concern. In wartime (and deep water), not so much.
Scuttle your own ship is more a mental victory for the crew, because the enemy wasn't only successful at taking the ship home as a trophy but they weren't even able to clain the kill on it too. So the crew of the ship had not only served on a superior, but also an unsinkable ship for the enemy too. Please note that this is just a guess and not a fact. I asked myself why I would rather scuttle my ship than loose it by the enemy.
You might not want sensitive equipment to fall into enemy's hands, for example. Radar? Electronics? Any countermeasure launchers / ECMs? For current ships, certain materials even (like radar absorbing ones, for example)? You dont want your potential opponent to have access to that. Hence why UK did all that jazz when their F35 crashed some time ago in the mediterranean, raised it and recovered debris from the sea bed. Costs a lot, but less cost than having secrets potentially open to be exposed.
The idea of The Bismark being scuttled is kind of funny to me considering the famous order repeated by Churchill to the allies was "sink the Bismark". One way or another that ship was going under.
