The greatest maritime loss of life in U.S. history is not the Titanic, but a steamboat disaster in 1865. After Union POWs returning from the horrors of Andersonville crowded The Sultana on their way home, 3 of the 4 boilers exploded, sinking the ship on the Mississippi river and killing 1,700 people onboard.
In WWII, Japan used underwater manned suicide torpedoes called Kaiten to destroy American ships. If they were successful, they blew up. If they missed, they sank to the bottom of the ocean.
