Cause And Effect On The Uss Cyclops

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On March 13, 1918 the USS Cyclops was scheduled to arrive in Baltimore for repairs and cargo. The only problem, it never showed up. The USS Cyclops was a naval cargo ship that at the time was heading back to Baltimore, from Rio, for repairs. The ship was also loaded with new cargo and had only one operating engine. The crew’s lack of experience and mechanical power resulted in the death of 309 people aboard the USS Cyclops in 1918.
The 3 most practical theories are a mechanical malfunction with the ship, the captain sinking the ship on purpose, and the last theory is it was sunk by a German submarine or underwater mine. The most probable of all causes is a mechanical malfunction. When the ship left Rio, it was overloaded with a new cargo that the ship had not hauled before, manganese ore. To make matters worse, the ship had only one operable engine and was headed through the mysterious Bermuda Triangle. The second most probable cause would be that the captain sunk the ship on purpose. I know this sounds ludicrous but the captain was accused of being pro-German and it was later found out that the captain had changed his name to an American name from a German name. The disaster started when one engine went out and couldn’t be repaired. To make matters worse the ship was heavily …show more content…

This could have been crucial as WW1 was still going and this load of manganese ore would have been very helpful. After arriving at Rio, many of the crew reported the boat swaying from side to side much more than it should have when big or medium sized waves hit it. (The Unanswered Loss of USS Cyclops – March 1918.) This could be a sign of structural failure to the ship and that it was not seaworthy or safe. This was also the biggest loss of life in a non-war related disaster for the navy and one of the biggest losses of life in the Bermuda