Cursed boats, naval supperstitions?

[Lt West]

Hello i am Lt. West,
Does anyone on subsim belive in cursed ships for example the number 13 whats so bad about that titanic didnt even have a cabin number 13! And there is always the question about christining.Newly constructed ships there is evidence that bad things happen to boats that were chrissened like K-19 the russian submarine which had a reactor malfunction and most the crew died of radation poisoning.(watch the movie K-19 the widowmaker if you havent already its awesome!!!)The K-19 was christened but the bottle bounced off because a wimpy little girl threw it and she wasn't strong enough.Then there is the Titanic made by White star lines and sank on april 14th 1912 killing over 1000 people on board.The thing is white star never christened there ships. Then there is the titanic's sister ship the Britanic, she was converted into a hospital ship in World War 1 and was sunk by a mine on November 21st 1916 of the greek island of Kea in the Kea channel.
So the question is should we christen our boats if we dont will she be cursed and what if the bottle bounces off?

[Kapitan_Phillips]

Originally Posted by Lt West

Hello i am Lt. West,
Does anyone on subsim belive in cursed ships for example the number 13 whats so bad about that titanic didnt even have a cabin number 13! And there is always the question about christining.Newly constructed ships there is evidence that bad things happen to boats that were chrissened like K-19 the russian submarine which had a reactor malfunction and most the crew died of radation poisoning.(watch the movie K-19 the widowmaker if you havent already its awesome!!!)The K-19 was christened but the bottle bounced off because a wimpy little girl threw it and she wasn't strong enough.Then there is the Titanic made by White star lines and sank on april 14th 1912 killing over 1000 people on board.The thing is white star never christened there ships. Then there is the titanic's sister ship the Britanic, she was converted into a hospital ship in World War 1 and was sunk by a mine on November 21st 1916 of the greek island of Kea in the Kea channel.
So the question is should we christen our boats if we dont will she be cursed and what if the bottle bounces off?

Good topic. I think with K-19, it wasnt so much a jinx, but defective Soviet equipment. Polyenin (sp?) mentioned at the start that incorrect fuses were used in the launch console, and the Soviet regime is notorious for taking more and more money from the Naval budget

[CCIP]

Yea, but it's a kind of perverse (un)luckiness if you will. How many nasty incidents can a boat like that live through and still continue service?

CSS Hunley springs to mind immediately. I forgot the number of times it sank killing its own crew, even before its final deployment

[Lt West]

Yeah, The K-19's production was rushed wasn't it i mean with all the faulty equipment and some bad crew members it was destined to sink.I Belive right now K-19 is scrapped probablly sitting in some junk yard by Moscow.I saw one of her engine telegraphs on ebay for 500 dollars

[Captain Nemo]

Up until fairly recently the K-19 was rusting away in some Russian sub base in the Arctic. I think it's finally been scrapped now. An interesting story and not a bad film either.

Nemo

[Takao]

I though the bottles were supposed to be scored first, so that they broke easily.
Last I heard the K-19 had been bought by some rich russian businessman so he could turn it into a submariner's bar. Surviving crewmembers were in opposition to this and had been attempting to block the K-19's transformation. Altough I have not heard anymore about this.

Now this is one cursed ship

http://www.unexplainable.net/artman/...cle_8807.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Joyita

[Sailor Steve]

I don't believe it for a minute. A ship is only as unlucky as the people on board believe her to be.

Of course, that could become a self-fulfilling prophecy...or curse.

[Oberon]

"A person who believes he is going to die, will often find a way to make it happen."

[Kapitan]

Originally Posted by Lt West

Hello i am Lt. West,
Does anyone on subsim belive in cursed ships for example the number 13 whats so bad about that titanic didnt even have a cabin number 13! And there is always the question about christining.Newly constructed ships there is evidence that bad things happen to boats that were chrissened like K-19 the russian submarine which had a reactor malfunction and most the crew died of radation poisoning.(watch the movie K-19 the widowmaker if you havent already its awesome!!!)The K-19 was christened but the bottle bounced off because a wimpy little girl threw it and she wasn't strong enough.Then there is the Titanic made by White star lines and sank on april 14th 1912 killing over 1000 people on board.The thing is white star never christened there ships. Then there is the titanic's sister ship the Britanic, she was converted into a hospital ship in World War 1 and was sunk by a mine on November 21st 1916 of the greek island of Kea in the Kea channel.
So the question is should we christen our boats if we dont will she be cursed and what if the bottle bounces off?

Just a bit about K-19 the reality was it was a man (high ranking admiral from moscow) who christend K-19 not a girl, also it sufferd many a accident 1961 1972 were the two worst noted.

what about vessels that have been renamed ? that also carries a bad omen.

[Kapitan]

K-19 the film isnt an accurate portrayal of the events, time and time again from both surviving crew and other people have stated no where at any time was their an american ASW destoyer shadowing K-19 during her reactor accident, two foxtrot boats were the only two vessels on scene.

The captain was never dismissed like the film portrayed at the beginning Captain Zatayev himself in an interview told the events as he recalled them, for the people who believe the K-19 was the soviet unions first nuclear submarine your also far wrong that was the honary role of K-3 a november class submarine K-19 was the first nuclear missile carrying submarine that was nuclear propelled.

Theres alot of issues with the film its even led to lawsuites from survivors as they feel they have been portrayed as drunks and complete idiots.

So the K-19 film is a good story that tells half truths but that is all it will ever be.

K-19 was to be restored and made into a museam in st petersburg but the scrappers got thier hands on her she now sits in a pile of bits near bolshya lopatka naval base.

[StdDev]

How about SS-192 USS Squalus.
Sank during sea trials.. killed 26 men..(32 saved)
Salvaged and became the USS Sailfish
USS Sailfish had a fairly good war record (40K tons of Japanese ships) and survived the war!

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by StdDev

How about SS-192 USS Squalus.
Sank during sea trials.. killed 26 men..(32 saved)
Salvaged and became the USS Sailfish
USS Sailfish had a fairly good war record (40K tons of Japanese ships) and survived the war!

Funny how it was absolutely forbidden to call her "Squalus" aboard, so the crew nicknamed her "Squailfish"

[Lt West]

:rotfl: What about the titanic white star lines never christened there ships both the titanic and the britanic sank what about that?!?! :hmm:
P.S. i love emoticons!!!!

[Takao]

You gentlemen left out the "kicker" of the USS Squalus/USS Sailfish story. One of her victims was the IJN Chuyo. When she was sunk, the IJN Chuyo was carrying 21 survivors from the sunken submarine USS Sculpin. The USS Sculpin was the submarine that first located the USS Squalus lying on the seabed after her accident. Of the 21 survivors aboard the IJN Chuyo, only 1 would survive the carrier's sinking.

[Etienne]

Originally Posted by Lt West

:rotfl: What about the titanic white star lines never christened there ships both the titanic and the britanic sank what about that?!?! :hmm:
P.S. i love emoticons!!!!

Most of the White Star Line's ships didn't sink. Yeah, they lost a few. Doesn't prove anything. Superstition's just make-believe.

I'm not even sure most of the ships I was on were christened. I only know for sure about one, and that was a cruise ship, so christening = PR op. Of the others, 4 have had their names changed. There's only one of these ships I've ever called "Unlucky", but that was in jest. They fixed up the engine, and she seems to be having better luck now, from what I've heard.

I'd say most civillian ships will have their names changed during their career, as most shipowners will retain ownership of the name when they sell the vessel. Most people will also rename a ship when they buy it - OMG Shipping wouldn't want to operate the HyperGloboNet Explorer. And HyperGloboNet wouldn't want their name to be associated with the ship if they're not operating it.

It's quite amusing to walk along a wharf and notice how the names welded on a ships hull don't match the ones painted on them. A ship I worked on had markings for three or four company logos on her side plating.

As for Titanic not having a cabin 13, I'd say most hotels don't even have a room 13. Many don't even have a 13th floors! Modern cruise ships don't usually have that cabin number either, simply because their numbering scheme don't produce. (You can usually get the deck and side from the cabin number, and sometimes if it's a crew or guest cabin)

And frankly, I couldn't care less if a ship has been christened or not. As one Captain I've worked with put it, "There's no such thing as bad luck, just bad decisions."