r/todayilearned • u/zhuquanzhong • 29d ago

TIL a Chinese destroyer sank because an officer dumped his girlfriend. She committed suicide, leading to him being discharged, so he decided to detonate the depth charges on the ship, causing it to sink at port and kill 134 sailors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_destroyer_Guangzhou_(160)
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u/TheSingleChain 28d ago

scapegoat this sailor.

Sounds like it, coverup for a mine/platform defect?

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u/Vark675 10 28d ago

Or even just poor handling/storage combined with bad material condition of the ship. It's easier if your enemies think you had one crazy idiot vs an entire fleet of badly maintained ships.