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The battleship was the key strategic weapon of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Large numbers of battleships were built by the major military powers, in particular Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Spain, Japan, and the United States. Due to the high cost of building and maintenance, most were eventually scrapped to for the metal. Only a handful of true battleships have been retained as historical objects today. However, many battleships still exist as sunken wrecks in various stages of preservation in the oceans. While most these ships have long been considered "lost," modern technology and historical interest has drawn more attention to them while they remain relatively intact.

By tradition and maritime law, sunken warships remain the property of the government of the nation that owned them.

Location of sunken battleships

Table of Sunken Battleship Locations - Alphabetical by Location - Led by Modern Landmark Name
Nearby Modern Landmark	Nautical Location	Ocean	Ship Name(s)
Avranches, Normandy, France	English Channel	Atlantic Ocean	HMS Centurion
Azores		Atlantic Ocean	São Paulo
Bikini Atoll		Pacific Ocean	USS Arkansas, Nagato
Camperdown, Netherlands	North Sea	Atlantic Ocean	HMS Prince George
Cape Hatteras, United States		Atlantic Ocean	USS Virginia, USS New Jersey
Cape Helles, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey	Aegean Sea		HMS Goliath, HMS Majestic, Masséna
Cape Paderan, Vietnam		Pacific Ocean	Asahi
Cape Trafalgar, Spain		Atlantic Ocean	HMS Britannia
Cape Tres Forcas, Morocco		Mediterranean Sea	España
	Chesapeake Bay (Tangier Sound)	Atlantic Ocean	USS Texas
	Dardanelles		HMS Irresistible, HMS Ocean, Bouvet, Heireddin rbarossa
Donegal, Ireland		Atlantic Ocean	HMS Audacious
Gaba Tepe, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey	Aegean Sea	Mediterranean Sea	HMS Triumph
	Gulf of Mexico	Atlantic Ocean	USS Maine
Håkøy Island, near Tromsø, Norway	Balsfjord	Atlantic Ocean	Tirpitz
Jutland	North Sea	Atlantic Ocean	SMS Pommern
Kwajalein Atoll		Pacific Ocean	USS Pennsylvania
Kuantan, Malaysia	South China Sea	Pacific Ocean	HMS Prince of Wales
Lisbon, Portugal		Atlantic Ocean	Suffren
Lundy Island, Britain	Bristol Channel	Atlantic Ocean	HMS Montagu
Lüshunkou, China	Yellow Sea	Pacific Ocean	Petropavlovsk, Yashima, Hatsuse, Sevastopol
Malta		Mediterranean Sea	HMS Cornwallis
Sheerness in Medway River Estuary, Britain	North Sea	Atlantic Ocean	HMS Bulwark
Milos, Greece	Aegean Sea	Mediterranean Sea	Gaulois
Miyakejima, Japan		Pacific Ocean	Satsuma
Nojimasaki, Japan		Pacific Ocean	Aki
	North Atlantic	Atlantic Ocean	Bismarck
Okinawa	East China Sea	Pacific Ocean	Yamato
Oshima, Japan		Pacific Ocean Mutsu
Osmussaar Island	Baltic Sea	Atlantic Ocean	SMS Schleswig-Holstein
Ouistreham, France	English Channel	Atlantic Ocean	Courbet
		Pacific Ocean	USS Oklahoma
	Panama Bay, Panama	Pacific Ocean	USS Iowa
Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii		Pacific Ocean	The wrecks of USS Arizona and USS Utah are located in Pearl Harbor. The wrecks of USS New York and USS Nevada are located off Pearl Harbor.
	Pensacola Bay, Gulf of Mexico	Atlantic Ocean	USS Massachusetts
	Pentland Firth, North Sea	Atlantic Ocean	HMS King Edward VII
Portland, Britain	English Channel	Atlantic Ocean	HMS Formidable, HMS Hood, HMS Empress of India
Port Said, Egypt		Mediterranean Sea	Peresviet
Portsmouth, Britain		Atlantic Ocean	SMS Baden
Premuda	Adriatic Sea	Mediterranean Sea	SMS Szent István
Pula	Adriatic Sea	Mediterranean Sea	SMS Viribus Unitis
Quiberon Bay, France		Atlantic Ocean	France
Santander, Spain		Atlantic Ocean	Alfonso XIII
Sardinia	Gulf of Asinara	Mediterranean Sea	Roma, Danton (South of Sardinia)
Scapa Flow	North Sea	Atlantic Ocean	HMS Royal Oak, HMS Vanguard, SMS König, SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm, SMS Markgraf
Sedd-al Bahr, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey	Aegean Sea	Mediterranean Sea	Masséna
Sevastopol	Sevastopol Bay	Black Sea	Novorossiysk - Previously Giulio esare
	Sibuyan Sea	Pacific Ocean	Musashi
Sidi Barrani near Libyan Border		Mediterranean Sea	HMS Barham
	Surigao Strait, Leyte Gulf	Pacific Ocean	Fusō, Yamashiro
Świnoujście, Poland	Baltic Sea	Atlantic Ocean	SMS Schlesien
Toulon, France		Mediterranean Sea	SMS Prinz Eugen
Tripoli, Lebanon		Mediterranean Sea	HMS Victoria
	Tsushima Strait, Sea of Japan	Pacific Ocean	Navarin, Sissoi Veliky, Borodino, Oslyabya, Imperator Aleksander III, Knyaz Suvorov
Valletta, Malta		Mediterranean Sea	HMS Russell
Viborg	Gulf of Finland		Gangut
Virginia Capes		Atlantic Ocean	SMS Ostfriesland
?	Black Sea		Rostislav
?		Pacific Ocean	Hizen - Previously Retvizan
?		Pacific Ocean	Iki - Previously Imperator Nikolai I
?		Pacific Ocean	Iwami - Previously Orel
?			HMS Monarch

List of Sunken Battleships

The battleships listed are grouped according to how they came to be sunk in their final resting place. In each category, they are listed in chronological order by date sunk.

Sunk in Combat

The following battleships were destroyed in full combat. These ships are considered war graves.

Navarin

Sunk after striking a mine during the Battle of Tsushima on May 28 1905.

Navy: Russian Navy
Casualties: 619 officers and crew lost. Only three sailors were rescued after 4 days in the water.
Location: Tsushima Strait, Sea of Japan

Sissoi Veliky

Scuttled by her crew after sustaining heavy damage at the Battle of Tsushima on May 28 1905.

Navy: Russian Navy
Location: Tsushima Strait, Sea of Japan

Oslyabya

Sunk at the Battle of Tsushima on May 28 1905.

Navy: Russian Navy
Casualties: 515 men lost, with 250 survivors rescued
Location: Tsushima Strait, Sea of Japan

Borodino

Sunk at the Battle of Tsushima on May 28 1905.

Navy: Russian Navy
Casualties: 782 officers and men lost
Location: Tsushima Strait, Sea of Japan

Imperator Aleksander III

Sunk at the Battle of Tsushima on May 28 1905.

Navy: Russian Navy
Casualties: 782 officers and men lost; no survivors
Location: Tsushima Strait, Sea of Japan

Knyaz Suvorov

Sunk at the Battle of Tsushima on May 28 1905.

Navy: Russian Navy
Casualties: 782 officers and men lost
Location: Tsushima Strait, Sea of Japan

HMS Irresistible

Struck a mine on March 18 1915, while participating in the final attempt to force the Dardanelles straits.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: Very few
Location: In the Dardanelles straits, Turkey
Condition: Reported to have been heavily salvaged and scavenged, with ship remains scattered.

HMS Ocean

Struck a mine and also hit by shore batteries March 18 1915, while participating in the final attempt to force the Dardanelles straits.

Navy: Royal Navy
Location: In the Dardanelles straits, Turkey
Condition: Reported to have been heavily salvaged and scavenged, with ship remains scattered.

Bouvet

Struck a mine and also hit by shore batteries March 18 1915, while participating in the final attempt to force the Dardanelles straits.

Navy: Marine Nationale
Casualties: Over 600 men
Location: In the Dardanelles straits, Turkey
Condition: Reported to have been heavily salvaged and scavenged, with ship remains scattered.

HMS Goliath

Torpedoed by Turkish torpedo boat Muavenet-i Milliye on May 13 1915, while supporting the Battle of Gallipoli.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: 570 men out of a crew of 700
Location: Near Cape Helles, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey
Condition: Reported to have been heavily salvaged and scavenged, with ship remains scattered.

SMS Pommern

Torpedoed by destroyer HMS Faulknor during Battle of Jutland on June 1 1916. The torpedo hit was followed by a massive explosion in one of her magazines, and the ship broke apart and sank quickly.

Navy: Imperial German Navy
Casualties: All hands, 839 men.
Location: North Sea
Condition: Reported to have been heavily salvaged.
Relics: The bow ornament is now in the Laboe Naval Memorial.

Bismarck

File:Bismark039.jpg

The Final Battle , 27 May 1941. Surrounded by shell splashes Bismarck burns on the horizon

Sunk on May 27 1941 following an extensive naval battle against British battleships, aircraft, cruisers, destroyers, and aircraft carriers. Heavily shelled by battleships and cruisers, and also torpedoed by aircraft and destroyers. The German survivors reported that the heavily damaged ship was finally scuttled to prevent capture.

Navy: Kriegsmarine
Casualties: Almost 2100 men lost, with 115 survivors
Location: North Atlantic
Condition: Upright in 15,500 feet of water and in surprisingly good condition.

USS Arizona

Destroyed by Japanese aerial bombing on December 7 1941 during the Attack on Pearl Harbor.

Navy: United States Navy
Location: Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii
Casualties: 1,177 dead out of 1,400 crew members
Status: Official war grave site with the premier Pearl Harbor memorial built over the sunken hull. Still an active grave site, eligible Pearl Harbor veterans continue to be interred within the hull.
Condition: The Arizona was partially salvaged, with removal of almost all the superstructure, turrets, and guns. Following salvage and removal, the remaining hull is completely submerged, with the exception of one barbette, part of a mast, and the cutaway sides of one turret. Since the hull contains thousands of gallons of fuel oil, the hull corrosion rate is being actively studied.
Relics: A section of the boat deck has been placed at Waipio Point, Oahu, Hawaii. This amidships section had served as a ceremonial platform on the wreck but was cut away to make room for the overlying memorial. One of the ship's bells is at the University of Arizona.

USS Utah

Destroyed by Japanese aerial torpedoes on December 7 1941 during the Attack on Pearl Harbor. The Utah had been downgraded from a battleship and converted to a combined gunnery training ship and radio-controlled target ship. It has been speculated that Japanese planners had assigned the Utah a low priority as a target, but that the extensive wooden planking covering the Utah’s decks had misled Japanese pilots into believing that the ship was a high-priority aircraft carrier.

Navy: United States Navy
Casualties: 58 dead and 461 survivors
Location: Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii
Status: Official war grave site with small memorial nearby on Ford Island.
Condition: The Utah was capsized during the attack, and was partially salvaged but not recovered. The wreck was later partially righted and pulled closer to shore and away from the channel. The wreck is almost completely submerged, with a small amount of highly-corroded superstructure visible above the surface.

HMS Prince of Wales

The HMS Prince of Wales, was attacked and sunk by aerial torpedoes from Japanese aircraft off the coast of Malaya on December 10 1941, while deployed in defense of Singapore.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: 327 dead out of 1,612 men
Location: Near Kuantan in Malaysia
Status: Official war grave site.
Condition: Upside down in 150 feet of water.
Relics: The ship's bell was recovered, restored, and is now displayed in the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool.

Roma

The first capital ship to be sunk by guided missiles. Destroyed by German bomber-launched 'Fritz-X' missiles on September 9 1942, while en route to surrender to the Allies.

Navy: Italian Navy
Loss: 1350 killed and 596 survivors
Location: Near Sardinia in Mediterranean Sea

Musashi

Destroyed by US naval aircraft on October 24 1944, at the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea.

Navy: Imperial Japanese Navy
Casualties: 1,376 survivors out of 2,399 men
Location: Sibuyan Sea, Pacific Ocean

Fusō

Destroyed along with her sister ship Yamashiro on October 25 1944, at the Battle of Surigao Strait. Split in half after being torpedoed by US destroyers. The bow section was sunk by gunfire from the USS Louisville.

Navy: Imperial Japanese Navy
Casualties: No known survivors out a crew of approximately 1,400 officers and men. After the sinking, survivors refused rescue by US warships. Any survivors who successfully swam to the nearby island were likely killed by Philippine inhabitants resisting Japanese occupation.
Location: Near Kanihaan Island, Surigao Strait, Pacific Ocean

Yamashiro

Destroyed along with her sister ship Fusō on October 25 1944, at the Battle of Surigao Strait. Wrecked first by gunfire from US battleships, her hulk was sunk after being torpedoed by US destroyers.

There is some discussion among historians about the small possibility that the positions and roles of the sister ships Fusō and Yamashiro were reversed during their last battle. The Battle of Surigao Strait was fought at night and at some distance between the battleship combatants. There were very few Japanese survivors. To date, there has been no scientific survey of the wrecks that would resolve the debate.

Navy: Imperial Japanese Navy
Loss: 10 survivors out of approximately 1,400 men.
Location: Surigao Strait, Pacific Ocean

Tirpitz

Sunk on November 12 1944 by the Royal Air Force using special 5-ton bombs. Near the wreck-site there are artificial lakes along the shore formed from bomb craters from the giant Tallboy bombs that missed their target.

Navy: Kriegsmarine
Casualties: Approximately 1000 men lost, with approximately 700 survivors
Location: Håkøybotn Bay, Norway
Condition: Only the bow remains after most of the ship was raised and scrapped after the war.
Relics: Sections of armor plates are still used by the Norwegian Road Authority as temporary road surface material during roadwork. Additionally, a large chunk of the armor plating is held at the Royal Naval museum in Gosport, Hampshire.

Yamato

Destroyed while on a one-way mission to interdict American landings on Okinawa. Torpedoed and bombed by US naval aircraft on April 7 1945.

Navy: Imperial Japanese Navy
Casualties: 280 survivors out of approximately 2,778 men
Location: East China Sea
Condition: Broken in two and resting in 1400 feet of water. The bow section is upright and the main section upside down.
Relics: 18-inch ammunition is displayed at the Yasukuni Shrine. Some small relics have been collected from the wreck by remote-control submarines.

Sunk by Torpedoes or Mines

The following battleships were destroyed in wartime, but struck below the waterline with torpedoes or mines. These ships are considered war graves.

Petropavlovsk

Sunk after striking a mine on April 13 1904, early in the Russo-Japanese war.

Navy: Russian Navy
Complement: 662/few survivors; Ship sank quickly.
Location: Off Port Arthur (modern Lüshunkou), Yellow Sea

Yashima

Struck a Russian mine on May 15 1904 during the Russo-Japanese War.

Navy: Imperial Japanese Navy
Location: Off Port Arthur, China
Relics: A highly detailed builder's model still survives and is currently on display at the Royal Hospital School Holbrook in Suffolk, England.

Hatsuse

Struck two Russian mines on May 15 1904 during the Russo-Japanese War.

Navy: Imperial Japanese Navy
Casualties: 38 officers and 458 men lost, with 23 officers and 313 men surviving
Location: Off Port Arthur, China

HMS Audacious

Struck a mine on October 27 1914, becoming the first British battleship sunk in World War I.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: None from the HMS Audacious, though a crewman of the HMS Liverpool was struck and killed by debris from an explosion on Audacious.
Location: Off Donegal, Ireland
Condition: Upside down in 210 feet of water. Large openings blown in the hull from magazine explosions and the mine.

HMS Formidable

Torpedoed by U-boat on January 1 1915, while participating in gunnery exercises in the English Channel.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: 547 dead out of 780 men
Location: Near Portland in the English Channel
Status: Official war grave site.

HMS Triumph

Torpedoed by U-21 on May 25 1915, while supporting the Battle of Gallipoli.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: 73 dead out of 700 men
Location: Near Gaba Tepe, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey
Condition: Reported to have been heavily salvaged and scavenged, with ship remains scattered.

HMS Majestic

Torpedoed by U-21 on May 27 1915, while supporting the Battle of Gallipoli.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: 49 men
Location: Near Cape Helles, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey
Condition: Reported to have been heavily salvaged and scavenged, with ship remains scattered.

Heireddin Barbarossa - Previously SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm

Torpedoed by British submarine HMS E11 on August 8 1915.

Navy: Ottoman Navy
Casualties: 253 men
Location: Dardanelles, Turkey

HMS King Edward VII

Struck a mine on January 6 1916.

Navy: Royal Navy
Location: In Pentland Firth on the northern coast of Scotland
Condition: Upside down in 350 feet of water. In generally good condition.

HMS Russell

Struck a mine on April 27 1916.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: 120 men
Location: Off Grand Harbour of Valletta, Malta in Mediterranean Sea.
Condition: Upside down in 350 feet of water. In generally good condition.

Suffren

Destroyed by U-52 with a dramatic torpedo hit in a magazine on November 26 1916.

Navy: Marine Nationale
Loss: All hands, 648 men
Location: Off Lisbon in the Atlantic Ocean.

Gaulois

Torpedoed by U-47 on December 27 1916.

Navy: Marine Nationale
Location: Between the islands of Milos and Kythira in the Aegean Sea.

Peresviet - Later Sagami

Sunk twice by two different enemies. First sunk at her moorings by Japanese Army artillery during the Siege of Port Arthur. Raised and repaired by the Japanese and incorporated into the Imperial Japanese Navy as the Sagami. Returned by the Japanese to Russia in April 1916 and renamed Peresviet. She was due to be the flagship of the Russian Arctic flotilla but was sunk a second time while en route by mines laid by the U-73 outside Port Said, Egypt on 4 January 1917.

Navy: Russian Navy
Location: Off Port Said, Egypt, in Mediterranean Sea.

HMS Cornwallis

Torpedoed by U-32 on January 9 1917.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: 15 men
Location: Off Malta in Mediterranean Sea.

Danton

Torpedoed by U-64 on March 19 1917.

Navy: Marine Nationale
Loss: Some reports indicate 396 crew lost and with 806 survivors. Other reports reverse the figures.
Location: 30 miles south of Sardinia in Mediterranean Sea.

SMS Viribus Unitis

Sunk by mines attached by Italian frogmen riding manned torpedoes on November 1 1918.

Navy: Austro-Hungarian Navy
Casualties: Approximately 300 men
Location: Pula, Adriatic Sea
Condition: Partially salvaged, some parts remain on the bottom.

SMS Szent István

Sunk by two torpedoes launched from the Italian MAS-15 Motor Torpedo Boat on June 10 1918 while on sortie in the Adriatic Sea.

Navy: Austro-Hungarian Navy
Casualties: 89 men
Location: Near the island of Premuda, Adriatic Sea
Condition: Upside down in 200 feet of water
Relics: Brass name plate and other relics on display in a museum in Pula.

HMS Britannia

Torpedoed by U-50 on November 9 1918. The last Royal Navy vessel to be sunk during World War I.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: 51 men
Location: Off Cape Trafalgar

Alfonso XIII

Causing confusion among historians, Alfonso XIII was renamed España after her sistership España ran aground and sank off Morocco. Alfonso XIII struck a mine and sank near Santander in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War.

Navy: Spanish Navy

HMS Royal Oak

Torpedoed by a U-47 on October 14 1939, with loss of 833 men.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: Over 800 men
Location: Scapa Flow
Status: Official war grave site.
Condition: Upside down in 100 feet of water. In relatively good condition. The presence of hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel oil led to a special recovery effort to remove the leaking oil to prevent a major environmental problem. The presence of a large amount of deteriorated high explosive has been of concern.
Relics: The ships bell is the centerpiece to a memorial at St Magnus' Cathedral in Kirkwall.

HMS Barham

Torpedoed by U-331 on November 25 1941, while steaming to cover an attack on Italian convoys.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: 862 dead and 296 survivors
Location: Off Egyptian coast in Mediterranean Sea

Asahi

Torpedoed by USS Salmon on May 25 1942. This early British-built pre-Dreadnaught had been repeatedly converted into other ship types, and was serving as a transport.

Navy: Imperial Japanese Navy
Casualties: 16 men lost and 583 survivors
Location: Off Cape Paderan, Vietnam

Kongō

Torpedoed by USS Sealion on November 21 1944. The first super-dreadnought type battlecruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and upgraded to a battleship rating in the 1930s. Kongō was the only battleship sunk by a submarine in the Pacific War, and the last battleship ever sunk by a submarine.

Navy: Imperial Japanese Navy
Casualties: About 1250 men lost and 237 survivors
Location: Taiwan Strait

Other Ships

The Chilean battleship Almirante Cochrane, under construction, was purchased by the British, completed as an aircraft carrier, and christened HMS Eagle. Ending an illustrious combat career, she was torpedoed by U-73 and sunk near Majorca.

The Japanese Yamato-class battleship Shinano was converted to and completed as a super-carrier. While en-route from her builder's yard at Yokosuka to Kure for outfitting, she was torpedoed and sunk by USS Archer-Fish.

Lost At Sea

The following battleships were lost at sea for reasons other than combat.

HMS Victoria

Rammed and sunk by HMS Camperdown in one of the most famous warship collisions in history on June 22 1893.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: 358 dead and 357 survivors
Location: Mediterranean Sea off Tripoli, Lebanon
Condition: Most unusually, HMS Victoria stands vertically with her bow and three quarters of her length buried in the mud and her stern pointing directly upwards towards the surface. The unusual attitude of this wreck is thought to have been due to the heavy ram in the bow, the heavy single turret forward, and the still-turning propellers driving the wreck downwards in the mud.

Gangut

Sank on June 12 1897 after hitting an uncharted pinnacle rock.

Navy: Russian Navy
Casualties: None
Location: Near Viborg in the Gulf of Finland.

HMS Montagu

Ran aground and amongst rocks in fog due to poor navigation on May 30 1906. The ship could not be pulled off the rocks, so was stripped and abandoned in place.

Navy: Royal Navy
Location: Off the island of Lundy, England
Condition: Time and tide have broken up the ship. The waters offshore are reported to be full of armor plate sections and 12-inch ammunition.

HMS Bulwark

Destroyed by an ammunition and magazine explosion on November 26 1914.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: 14 survivors out of 750 crewmen
Location: Estuary of River Medway in Kent, England
Status: Official war grave site.
Condition: Ship was heavily destroyed at the time of the explosion.

HMS Vanguard

Destroyed by a magazine explosion on July 9 1917.

Navy: Royal Navy
Casualties: 2 survivors and 843 dead
Location: Scapa Flow
Status: Official war grave site.
Relics: A porthole is displayed in the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre and Museum at Lyness.

HMS Prince George

Ran aground while in tow on the way to be broken up on December 28 1921. Stripped and left in place as a breakwater.

Navy: Royal Navy
Location: Just off the beach at Camperdown, Netherlands
Condition: Awash in the surf and clearly visible from shore.

France

Capsized and sank on August 26 1922, after being sliced open by an uncharted rock in a well-travelled bay. Heavily salvaged and then abandoned.

Navy: Marine Nationale
Location: In Quiberon Bay
Condition: Heavily salvaged, only some leftover materials remain.

España

Ran aground in fog off the coast of Morocco in August 28 1923. Stripped and abandoned in place.

Navy: Spanish Navy
Location: Cape Tres Forcas, Morocco

Mutsu

Destroyed by an unexplained magazine explosion on June 8 1943.

Navy: Imperial Japanese Navy
Casualties: Approximately 1,100 men lost and 350 survivors
Location: Off Oshima, Japan
Condition: Upside down in 135 feet of water. Wreck was extensively salvaged in the 1970s.
Relics: Many artifacts are displayed at the Mutsu Memorial Museum in Tôwa Chô on Oshima Island. A main gun, anchor, propellor, and rudder are displayed in a Brick Park at Kure. The complete number 4 turret is on display at the former naval academy at Etajima, while one of the 140 mm secondary guns is displayed at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. One 16 inch gun is on display at the Museum of Maritime Science, Shinigawa-ku, Tokyo.

USS Oklahoma

Destroyed by Japanese aerial torpedoes on December 7 1941 during the Raid on Pearl Harbor. The Oklahoma remained as a capsized wreck in Pearl Harbor for over a year. Following a herculean engineering effort, the hull of the Oklahoma was righted and refloated. The decision was made to scrap the ship, and the hulk was being towed to San Francisco in 1947 when it sank at sea.

Navy: United States Navy
Location: Pacific Ocean, approximately 500 miles from San Francisco Bay. Exact location unknown.
Relics: An anchor is displayed in downtown Oklahoma City, only a few blocks from the memorial park at the site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building.

São Paulo

While being towed across the Atlantic to be scrapped in Britain in 1951, the tow lines snapped in a gale, and the ship was never seen again.

Navy: Brazilian Navy
Location: Atlantic Ocean, approximately 150 miles from the Azores. Exact location unknown.

Novorossiysk - Previously Giulio Cesare

After World War II, the Italian battleship Giulio Cesare was ceded to the Soviet Union as compensation for war damages. Destroyed in a mysterious explosion on October 29 1955, while moored in Sevastopol Bay. Due to the politics of the Cold War and the history of the ship, there were many theories about the cause of the explosion. The most accepted explanation was that the ship was destroyed by a magnetic naval mine, laid by the Germans several years earlier during World War II. During the next two years after the disaster, divers found 19 German mines on the bottom of Sevastopol Bay. Eleven of the mines were as powerful as the estimated blast under Novorossiysk.

Navy: Soviet Navy
Loss: 608 men
Location: Sevastopol Bay in Black Sea

Scuttled in Deep Water

The following battleships were intentionally sunk while not engaged in battle.

Sevastopol

Scuttled in 1904 during the Siege of Port Arthur, to prevent the ship falling into Japanese hands.

Navy: Russian Navy
Location: Lüshun, China

USS Maine

The first US battleship, the Maine was destroyed in Havana harbor on February 15 1898 by a mysterious explosion. At the time, this was believed to have been caused by a Spanish attack using a mobile mine, which precipitated the Spanish-American war. After years as a wreck and navigational hazard, the wreck was refloated, investigated, towed out to sea, and sunk with ceremony in 1912.

Navy: United States Navy
Location: Gulf of Mexico
Relics: The foremast serves as a memorial as the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The mainmast and an anchor serve as a memorial in Arlington National Cemetery. The bow shield and scroll decorations serve as part of a memorial in Bangor, Maine. One gun overlooks the harbor in Portland, Maine. One anchor was moved to City Park in Reading, Pennsylvania. A memorial cast from remnants of the Maine, together with a mortar shell, commemorates a former University of Notre Dame student, John Henry Shillington, who died in the explosion. The midship 6-inch guns are on outdoor display at the Washington Navy yard and Naval Station Anacostia.

HMS Hood

Scuttled in Portland harbor on November 4 1914 to block the Southern Ship Channel from penetration by U-boats or torpedoes.

Navy: Royal Navy
Location: Portland Harbour
Condition: Upside down in 60 feet, forming part of a breakwater.

Masséna

Scuttled off the Gallipoli Peninsula on November 10 1915 to form a breakwater.

Navy: Marine Nationale
Location: Off Sedd-al Bahr, near Cape Helles at the end of the Gallipoli Peninsular

SMS König

Scuttled by her crew at Scapa Flow on June 21 1919 while interned at the end of World War I.

Navy: Imperial German Navy
Location: Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, North Sea
Condition: Upside down in 120 feet of water. The hull has been blasted open to enable past salvage operations.

SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm

Scuttled by her crew at Scapa Flow on June 21 1919 while interned at the end of World War I.

Navy: Imperial German Navy
Location: Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, North Sea
Condition: Upside down in 120 feet of water. The hull has been blasted open to enable past salvage operations.

SMS Markgraf

Scuttled by her crew at Scapa Flow on June 21 1919 while interned at the end of World War I.

Navy: Imperial German Navy
Location: Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, North Sea
Condition: Upside down in 130 feet of water. The hull has been blasted open to enable past salvage operations.

Rostislav

Scuttled on November 16 1920 by the White Forces during the Russian Civil War to prevent capture by the Red Forces.

Navy: Russian Navy
Location: Black Sea

HMS Centurion

Scuttled of the coast of Normandy on June 7 1944 as a blockship to protect one of the artificial harbors installed as part of the D-Day invasion.

Navy: Royal Navy
Location: Off Avranches, Normandy, France

Courbet

Scuttled of the coast of Normandy on June 9 1944 as a blockship to protect one of the artificial harbors installed as part of the D-Day invasion.

Navy: Marine Nationale
Location: Off Ouistreham, Normandy, France

SMS Schlesien

Scuttled at Swinemünde on May 4 1945, to prevent capture by the Soviets. Used as a stationary target by the Soviet military. Later partialled salvaged.

Navy: Kriegsmarine
Location: Baltic Sea at Świnoujście, Poland
Condition: Portions of the wreck were reported to still be visible as late as the 1980s.

SMS Schleswig-Holstein

Sunk twice near the end of World War II. Bombed and sunk in shallow water in Gdynia on December 19 1944. Raised and moved by the Soviets, she was eventually scuttled again and served as a stationary target for the Soviet military.

Navy: Kriegsmarine
Location: Near Osmussaar Island in the Baltic Sea
Condition: Portions of the wreck are reported to still exist.
Relics: Ship's bell reported to be displayed at the German Army Museum in Dresden.

Expended as Targets

The following battleships were intentionally sunk as targets. While cheaper disposable targets were conventionally used to maintain crew proficiencies, destructive testing was commonly used to validate theories about armor, ammunition, or tactics in real circumstances.

USS Texas

The second US battleship, the Texas was a victorious veteran of the Spanish-American war. Converted to a bombardment target and renamed the San Marcos, she was sunk in 1911 by other US battleships, including the USS Kansas.
Navy: United States Navy
Location: Tangier Sound, Chesapeake Bay

HMS Empress of India

Sunk as a gunnery target in 1913.

Navy: Royal Navy
Location: Lyme Bay near Portland Bill
Condition: Upside down in 150 feet. Generally in good condition, though a large opening in the hull was made to salvage engine room equipment.

Hoche

Sunk as a target on November 25 1913.

Navy: Marine Nationale

Iki - Previously Imperator Nikolai I

Built as the Russian Imperator Nikolai I, but captured by the Japanese. Expended as a gunnery target and sunk by the battleships Kongō and Hiei on October 3 1915.

Navy: Imperial Japanese Navy
Location: ?

USS Massachusetts

Converted to a static target, she was scuttled in 1921 off Fort Pickens, from which she was bombarded for years. Designated an artificial reef in 1993.
Navy: United States Navy
Location: Fort Pickens State Aquatic Preserve, Pensacola Bay, Florida
Condition: Right side up on bottom in shallow water. Surprisingly intact considering location and history. Tops of gun turrets awash in swells.

SMS Ostfriesland

Sunk by aerial bombing on July 21 1921 as part of Billy Mitchell's demonstration of airpower against seapower.
Navy: Imperial German Navy
Location: Atlantic Ocean about 60 miles off the Virginia Capes

SMS Baden

Her crew attempted to scuttle her at Scapa Flow on June 21 1919, but she was beached and saved by the British. Converted by the British into a target, she was subjected to a carefully studied series of bombardment tests, and finally sunk by British battleships.

Navy: Imperial German Navy
Location: Off Portsmouth in 600 feet of water

SMS Prinz Eugen

Transferred to France at the end of WWI as a war prize. Used by the French as an aircraft target and for destructive underwater testing. Finally sunk as a gunnery target on June 28 1922 by the French battleships France, Jean Bart, and Paris.

Navy: Austro-Hungarian Navy
Location: Near Toulon

USS Iowa

Converted to the first radio-controlled target ship, she was sunk by the USS Mississippi in 1923.

Navy: United States Navy
Location: Panama Bay, Panama

USS Virginia

Converted to a target for aerial bombing tests, she was sunk as part of Army Air Corps bombing exercises in 1923.

Navy: United States Navy
Location: Off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina

USS New Jersey

Converted to a target for aerial bombing tests, she was sunk as part of Army Air Corps bombing exercises in 1923.

Navy: United States Navy
Location: Off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina

Hizen - Previously Retvizan

Sunk at least twice while serving in two different navies. Originally built by the Russian Imperial Navy (in the US using American-made parts) as the Retvizan. She was present at the Battle of Port Arthur where she was torpedoed by Japanese destroyers and grounded. After suffering heavy damage during the Battle of the Yellow Sea, she became trapped in Port Arthur and sunk at her moorings by Japanese army artillery on 6 December 1904, during the Siege of Port Arthur.

Retvizan was raised by the Japanese, repaired, and renamed Hizen. She served in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I, was retired in 1923 and sunk as a target in 1924.

Navy: Imperial Japanese Navy
Location: ?

Iwami - Previously Orel

Originally built by the Russian Imperial Navy as the Orel. She was present at the Battle of Tsushima where she was lightly damaged by gunfire. Orel was captured by the Japanese, repaired, improved, and renamed Iwami. She served in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I, was retired in 1923 and sunk as a target on July 10 1924. Orel was the last battleship to surrender on the high seas.

Navy: Imperial Japanese Navy
Location: ?

Aki

Expended in compliance with the Washington Naval Treaty on September 7 1924. Sunk by gunfire from the Nagato and Mutsu in the presence of Crown Prince and all the Japanese military heads.

Navy: Imperial Japanese Navy
Location: Off Nojimasaki, southern Boso Peninsula, Chiba

Satsuma

Expended in compliance with the Washington Naval Treaty on September 7 1924. Sunk by gunfire from the Kongō and Hyūga.

Navy: Imperial Japanese Navy
Location: Northeast of Miyakejima

HMS Monarch

Converted to a target ship and sunk as a gunnery target by HMS Revenge on January 20 1925.

Navy: Royal Navy
Location: ?

USS Arkansas

Converted to a target for atomic bombing tests in Bikini Atoll, she survived an aerial atomic bomb test but was sunk following a submerged atomic bomb test on July 25 1946.

Navy: United States Navy
Location: Bikini Atoll

Nagato

Converted to a target for atomic bombing tests in Bikini Atoll, she survived an aerial atomic bomb test but was sunk following a submerged atomic bomb test on July 25 1946.

Navy: Imperial Japanese Navy
Location: Bikini Atoll

USS Pennsylvania

Converted to a target for atomic bombing tests in Bikini Atoll, she survived both the aerial atomic bomb test and the submerged atomic bomb test in 1946. She was towed to Kwajalein Lagoon for studies, and sunk off Kwajalein Atoll in 1948.

Navy: United States Navy
Location: Off Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands

USS New York

Converted to a target for atomic bombing tests in Bikini Atoll, she survived both the aerial atomic bomb test and the submerged atomic bomb test in 1946. She was towed back to Pearl Harbor, and sunk following a massive assault by ships and planes in 1948.

Navy: United States Navy
Location: Off Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii
Relics: One of the propellors is on display beside the museum ship USS Texas, which is preserved in a memorial park near Houston, Texas.

USS Nevada

Heavily bombed during the Attack on Pearl Harbor, she was beached by her crew. Had long war-time service history after being repaired. Converted to a target for atomic bombing tests in Bikini Atoll, she survived both the aerial atomic bomb test and the submerged atomic bomb test in 1946. She was towed back to Pearl Harbor, and sunk by gunfire and aerial torpedoes in 1948.

Navy: United States Navy
Location: Off Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii

Scuttled And Later Salvaged

The following battleships were sunk, but were later salvaged and scrapped.

Poltava - Later Tango and Chesma

Built as the Russian pre-dreadnought Poltava, she fought in the Battle of the Yellow Sea, but failed to escape and was scuttled during the Siege of Port Arthur. Salvaged after the war in October 1905, she was refloated, repaired, and taken into service in the Imperial Japanese Navy as the Tango. Returned to the Russians during World War I and renamed Chesma. She was later captured by the British during the Allied invasion of northern Russia during the Russian Civil War. Scrapped in 1923.

Navy: Russian Navy

Pobeda - Later Suwo

Built as the Russian pre-dreadnought Pobeda, she fought in the Battle of the Yellow Sea. While moored at Port Arthur, she was sunk on December 7 1904 by Japanese army artillery during the Siege of Port Arthur. Salvaged after the war in October 1905, she was refloated, repaired, and taken into service in the Imperial Japanese Navy as the Suwo. Scrapped in 1946.

Navy: Russian Navy

Liberté

Caught fire and exploded in Toulon harbor on September 25 1911. The explosion severely damaged nearby warships, including the battleship République.

Navy: Marine Nationale

Leonardo da Vinci

Destroyed in Taranto harbor by Austrian saboteurs on August 2 1916. Later raised and partially repaired, then scrapped.

Navy: Italian Navy
Loss: 249 men

Imperatritsa Mariya

Destroyed in Sevastopol harbor on October 20 1916 by an internal explosion. Raised in 1918 and scrapped in 1927. Her turrets and guns were salvaged and used in coastal defense batteries near Sevastopol.

Navy: Russian Navy

Slava

Scuttled by her crew on October 17 1917 after sustaining heavy damage during the Battle of Moon Sound in the Baltic. The Slava had taken too many hits below the waterline and was drawing too much water to navigate the dredged channel in the strait at Moon Sound. The Slava was scuttled in the strait in an attempt to block passage by German warships pursuing the Russian fleet.

Navy: Russian Navy

Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya - Later Svobodnaya Rossiya

Scuttled on June 18 1918 in Novorossiysk to prevent capture by the Germans. Later raised and scrapped. Her turrets and guns were salvaged and used in coastal defense batteries near Sevastopol.

Navy: Russian Navy

Kawachi

Destroyed by an internal explosion from unstable cordite on September 12 1918 in Tokuyama Bay. Later raised and scrapped.

Navy: Imperial Japanese Navy
Casualties: 621 men out of a crew of 1059

Potemkin - Later Panteleimon

Legend of the silver screen, the Potemkin and her crew had one of the most curious and famous histories of any battleship. Destroyed at Sevastopol in April 1919 by Interventionists in the Russian Civil War. The wreckage was later raised and scrapped.

Navy: Russian Navy