Why Do Captains Go Down With Their Ships?

[DeepSix]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

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IIRC one of the other men was a planesman whose error had contributed to the Sculpin's sinking. When it was clear the boat was lost he was too ashamed to save himself.

Yeah, that was Ensign W.M. Fielder, USNR, temporary diving officer. The depth guage may have stuck, but in any case he kept pumping water out and kept the planes up, and Sculpin - already damaged - broached in front of a Japanese destroyer. With the captain, the exec, and the gunnery officer all killed, the acting commanding officer decided to scuttle her. It is not known for sure if Fielder's error was his reason for staying on board, but it's a reasonable guess.

@Dantenoc - That was the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee; I don't know if it's true but I once heard or read somewhere that Langsdorf, her captain, scuttled her and then shot himself with his sidearm while standing underneath the German naval ensign (flag). I don't think any of the other crew members were lost; as Ducimus says he may have made his decision in order to spare their lives instead of waste them in what he perceived to be a useless battle.

Don't know if that part about his suicide is true, but if it is I believe his decisions have more in common with the scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow in WWI than anything else. And again, as Ducimus says; I believe it was a case of him thinking, "I have failed, and cannot live with that, but the enemy will not have my ship." Pure speculation on my part, though.