# Highest number of military casualties in a single event (peacetime)?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 4, 2016, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483 "2016-06-04T10:16:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2016, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/1 "2016-06-04T10:16:10Z")
What are examples of military incidents, accidents, maneuvers, exercises etc. that cost the lives of an unusually high number of soldiers (airmen, sailors, marines) or civilians during peacetime? “Peacetime” in this context may also refer to an incident during times of war, but removed from an actual theater of war (i. e. were the fighting takes place).
Since I assume that losses of ships and aircrafts will rank high on that list, let’s differentiate:
a) naval
b) aviation
c) land
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2016, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/2 "2016-06-04T10:25:56Z")
Technically, they were on their way to _start_ a war, but the term “kamikaze” (divine wind) originally refers to two attempts by the Mongols to conquer Japan. In both cases, the Mongol ships were sunken by massive typhoons, and Japan was spared.
The second fleet (according to the Wikipedia) had 140,000 men.
> **[Kamikaze (typhoon)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamikaze_(typhoon))**
>
> The kamikaze (Japanese: 神風, lit. 'divine wind') were two winds or storms that are said to have saved Japan from two Mongol fleets under Kublai Khan. These fleets attacked Japan in 1274 and again in 1281. Due to the growth of Zen Buddhism among Samurai at the time, these were the first events where the typhoons were described as "divine wind" as much by their timing as by their force. Since Man'yōshū, the word kamikaze has been used as a Makurakotoba of waka introducing Ise Grand Shrine.
> The latt...
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### Author:  [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2016, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/3 "2016-06-04T10:57:07Z")
After the Civil War the steamboat [_Sultana_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultana_%28steamboat%29#) was estimated to have around 2,100 recently released Union prisoners of war on board when its boilers exploded on April 27 1865, killing around 1,800.
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2016, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/4 "2016-06-04T11:09:51Z")
A munitions ship [exploded](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion) in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1917, killing about 2000.
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### Author:  [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2016, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/5 "2016-06-04T11:18:29Z")
Er, I misread the question, please disregard.
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### Author:  [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/6 "2016-06-05T00:17:39Z")
I’m not sure whether the Salang tunnel explosion meets your criteria (of being outside a theatre of war). It was in any event an accident and not an act of war, and resulted in the deaths of thousands of Soviet soldiers.
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2016, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/7 "2016-06-05T00:49:38Z")
> [@Telperion](#):
>
> Er, I misread the question, please disregard.
I think it’s obvious that I also misread the question, only not in time to edit. :o
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2016, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/8 "2016-06-05T04:06:23Z")
I think the likely answer is going to be some incident of disease breaking out in an army. Diseases used to kill more soldiers than combat did.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2016, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/9 "2016-06-05T04:10:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> I think the likely answer is going to be some incident of disease breaking out in an army. Diseases used to kill more soldiers than combat did.
Probably true, but the OP asks for “military incidents, accidents, maneuvers, exercises” and I don’t think disease fits those categories.
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### Author:  [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2016, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/10 "2016-06-05T09:06:51Z")
What I had mind were incidents like this one: 80 soldiers (mostly young recruits) and one civilian drowned on March 31st, 1925 during a [Reichswehr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichswehr) exercise when a ferry boat capsized on the river Weser near Veltheim, Westphalia (in northwestern Germany).
There is a small monument and a plaque in honor of the victims:
[http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/20209612.jpg](http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/20209612.jpg)
From what I have been able to gather, this was the biggest loss of life **during peacetime** in German military history.
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### Author:  [@GWF\_Hefel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GWF_Hefel)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2016, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/11 "2016-06-05T10:14:04Z")
Arrow Air Flight 1285 was a chartered DC-8 returning the 3rd/502 Infantry battalion of the 101st Airborne to Ft Campbell in December 1985 from UN Sinai duty. It crashed on takeoff from Gander in Canada. 248 soldiers and 8 crew dead.
I was in the 2nd/502 at the time and had the unpleasant task of carrying the casket of the first soldier buried. It was an icy cemetery in West Virginia and his mother did not stop screaming.
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### Author:  [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2016, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/12 "2016-06-05T13:24:38Z")
There was a collision in 1887 between two British battleships HMS Victoria and HMS Camperdown where 358 sailors drowned.
[http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/macslog/StupidityreignsandthenAdm.html](http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/macslog/StupidityreignsandthenAdm.html)
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/13 "2016-06-05T14:50:54Z")
> [@Frank](#):
>
> I think it’s obvious that I also misread the question, only not in time to edit. :o
Well, Halifax was pretty far from a theater of war, so your example met the OP’s definition.
Likewise [the Port Chicago disaster](http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/port-chicago-disaster) in 1944.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/14 "2016-06-05T15:52:01Z")
> [@GWF\_Hefel](#):
>
> Arrow Air Flight 1285 was a chartered DC-8 returning the 3rd/502 Infantry battalion of the 101st Airborne to Ft Campbell in December 1985 from UN Sinai duty. It crashed on takeoff from Gander in Canada. 248 soldiers and 8 crew dead.
>
> I was in the 2nd/502 at the time and had the unpleasant task of carrying the casket of the first soldier buried. It was an icy cemetery in West Virginia and his mother did not stop screaming.
Yes , of course. Thanks for reminding me (us) of that terrible day.
ETA: Thank you for your service.
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### Author:  [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2016, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/15 "2016-06-05T21:09:08Z")
> [@GWF\_Hefel](#):
>
> Arrow Air Flight 1285 was a chartered DC-8 returning the 3rd/502 Infantry battalion of the 101st Airborne to Ft Campbell in December 1985 from UN Sinai duty. It crashed on takeoff from Gander in Canada. 248 soldiers and 8 crew dead.
>
> I was in the 2nd/502 at the time and had the unpleasant task of carrying the casket of the first soldier buried. It was an icy cemetery in West Virginia and his mother did not stop screaming.
I was going to post the same incident, till I saw your post.
My brother was on that plane.
My deepest regards to you for doing one of the more emotionally draining duties in the military.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2016, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/16 "2016-06-05T21:21:02Z")
While it didn’t have nearly the number of casualties of some of these incidents the Green Ramp Disaster was pretty horrific. At Pope Air Force Base a crashing F-16 covered waiting 82nd Airborne paratroopers in burning jet fuel and debris. 24 died and 80 injured. Many of the survivors were horribly burned.
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### Author:  [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/17 "2016-06-05T21:35:11Z")
I’m not sure if this fits the OP’s criteria either, it was in war-time but during an exercise:
> **[Exercise Tiger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_Tiger)**
>
> Airborne assaultBritish Sector
> American Sector
> Normandy landingsAmerican Sector
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### Author:  [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2016, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/18 "2016-06-06T17:17:03Z")
Royal Navy has had its moments
> **[Scilly naval disaster of 1707](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scilly_naval_disaster_of_1707)**
>
> The Scilly naval disaster of 1707 was the loss of four warships of a Royal Navy fleet off the Isles of Scilly in severe weather on 22 October 1707.\[a\] Between 1,400 and 2,000 sailors lost their lives aboard the wrecked vessels, making the incident one of the worst maritime disasters in British naval history. The disaster has been attributed to a combination of factors, including the navigators' inability to accurately calculate their positions, errors in the available charts and pilot books, a...
> **[HMS Victory: Archaeologists reveal 'real reason' behind disaster](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/hms-victory-archaeologists-reveal-real-reason-behind-disaster-1513708)**
>
> The incident is regarded as one of the worst maritime disasters for the Royal Navy.
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2016, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-number-of-military-casualties-in-a-single-event-peacetime/756483/19 "2016-06-06T19:15:18Z")
The [[Quintinshill rail disaster - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintinshill_rail_disaster)](Quintinshill rail disaster) killed more than 200 soldiers in the Scottish borders. The total number was never 100% confirmed because a) big fire, b) the regimental paperwork was on the troop train that burned.