The worst submarine from every era, explained: in April 1945 a brand new German U-boat, U-1206, sank off Scotland because of its own high-tech toilet. One wrong valve, seawater in the batteries, chlorine gas, and the crew had to surface in daylight in the middle of a war.

This animated history ranks the submarines that failed in every era and why they failed: David Bushnell's Turtle and Ezra Lee's failed attack on HMS Eagle in 1776; Wilhelm Bauer's Brandtaucher and the first submarine escape in Kiel; the Confederate H. L. Hunley that killed 21 of its own crew; Nordenfelt's steam submarines and their sloshing boilers; Britain's K class "Kalamity" boats and the Battle of May Island; HMS M2 and its flooded seaplane hangar; the giant French Surcouf that vanished near Panama; the Soviet K-19 "Widowmaker"; and Spain's S-80, about 70 tons too heavy. Plus dishonorable mentions: HMS Thetis, USS Squalus, the Typhoon class, the Collins class and INS Arihant.

Chapters:
0:00 The submarine sunk by its toilet
0:34 1776: the Turtle
1:37 1851: the Brandtaucher
2:33 1864: the H. L. Hunley
3:50 1885: the Nordenfelt
4:51 1917: the K class
5:56 1932: HMS M2
6:46 1942: the Surcouf
7:50 1961: K-19
8:43 2013: the S-80
9:33 Back to the toilet: U-1206
10:50 Dishonorable mentions
12:50 What makes a submarine the worst

Sources: Royal Navy Submarine Museum; Smithsonian; Friends of the Hunley / Warren Lasch Conservation Center; Militärhistorisches Museum Dresden (Brandtaucher); U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (Squalus); Peter Huchthausen, "K-19: The Widowmaker"; Spanish Ministry of Defence and Navantia statements on the S-80; press reports on INS Arihant (2017–2018). Casualty numbers and some details differ between sources and are presented as approximate.

Next in the series: the best tank from every era.

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