Can you name a crew more unlucky that the crew of the USS Indianapolis? Didn't think so.
HMS Hood.
>>561658
The William D. Porter ("Willy D"), a WW2 US Fletcher-class destroyer
>First mission: top-secret escort of a battleship to N Africa, hell yeah
>While leaving dock, drag anchor across the deck of neighboring ship, ripping out their railing and destroying their lifeboats
>whoops
>Proceed on mission
>huge BOOM, whole fleet scrambles thinking a submarine is about
>turns out the Willy D accidentally dropped a live depth charge off their stern
>a sailor is caught by a freak wave the same day, never seen again
>a boiler abruptly fails, Willy D drops out of formation
>Admiral Ernest King chews out the Willy D's captain, Wilfred Walter, for embarrassing him in front of the president
>as it turns out, the "secret mission" is escorting FDR to the Tehran conference
>Later in the voyage, fleet is doing AA drills
>Cpt. Walter decides to do torpedo drills too
>Since they're only pretending to fire torps, they use the fleet battleship as a mock "target"
>One of the sailors accidentally arms a torpedo
>WHOOOOSH
>Cpt. Walter looks on in horror as his ship fires a live torpedo at the ship with the President of the United States on it
>When the Battleship sees the torpedo, it turns so sharply that FDR's aides have to hold his wheelchair so he doesn't roll away
>FDR asks to be taken to the railing to see the torpedo
>One secret service agent draws his pistol, thinking maybe he'll shoot the torpedo if the ship doesn't turn fast enough (lol)
>FDR writes in his diary: "On Monday last a gun drill. Porter fired a torpedo at us by mistake. We saw it — missed it by 1,000 feet."
>Admiral King is PISSED
>orders the Willy D to leave the fleet, return to Bermuda
>upon arrival, US Marines arrest the entire crew at gunpoint, a first in US naval history
>Board of Inquiry finds out the guy who armed the torpedo, sentences him to 14 years hard labor
>FDR pardons him
>After this point, other ships greet the Willy D with a mocking "Don't shoot, we're Republicans!"
>>562105
But wait, there's more
>Willy D reassigned to Alaska because they can't possibly fuck anything up there, right?
>Sailor gets drunk
>Fires off one of the ship's main guns, which drops a 5-inch shell into the front yard of the base commandant, who is having a party for officers' families in his back yard at the time
>nobody was hurt, but commandant's flower garden is annihilated
>Willy D reassigned again - this time in the Pacific
>does pretty ok on escort and patrol duty
>supoorts the invasion of Okinama with AA fire
>accidentally riddles a fellow US destroyer, the USS Luce, with gunfire
>Willy D attacked by "stealth" kamikaze plane (made mostly of wood/canvas)
>Plane is successfully shot down well in front of the ship, everyone cheers
>kamikaze plane continues to move under the water, glides directly below the Willy D, explodes
>hull ripped open
>Willy D sinks, but in a rare stroke of good luck, all hands are rescued without one casualty from the sinking
>The saga is finally over
The incident with FDR and the torpedo was not declassified until 1958.
>>562105
>>562108
Was it crewed by Russian expats?
>>562130
I'm not sure they were so much "unlucky" as "terminally retarded"
>>561658
HMS Terror?
Mary Rose
>>562105
That's not so much unlucky as incompetent.
>>562190
The Russian crew weren't retarded they were just unfortunate to be stuck in between a conflict between admirals, on outdated vessels while trying to sail around the entire world to participate in a war that was already lost.
And they also had the misfortune of being Russian.
>>561658
poor bastards desu. swimming in the water day and night, seeing sharks eating your comrades, your brothers-in-arms, wondering if you will be next. Chilling.
>>562710
tragedy
