Admirals in Collision

On 22nd June, 1893 the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet was about to anchor off Tripoli, Lebanon, when Admiral Tyron ordered two lines of battleships to turn towards each other. The lines were too close and Admiral Markham's HMS Camperdown sliced into the bows of Tyron's HMS Victoria. Within ten minutes the Victoria had sunk taking Tyron and 350 of her crew to their deaths. In an instant the Mediterranean Fleet had lost its Admiral and its flagship, named after the reigning monarch. A stunned Britain and the Admiralty wanted answers. How could such a catastrophe occur? Why did no one prevent the collision? Why did the Victoria sink so fast, when the damage she sustained was limited to her bows only? Richard Hough's investigation of this famous historic incident reveals how the disaster occurred and what the repercussions were. It brings the Victorian Navy alive and peers deep into the lives of the Admirals involved in the collision.