This article first appeared earlier and is being reposted due to reader interest. Easier said than done. Yet for all their vast hulls, big guns and thick armor plates, these titans of the sea have proven quite mortal since their debut in the early years of the twentieth century. More than a hundred battleships and pre-dreadnoughts have succumbed to various causes, according to one vigorously sourced list. This first appeared in 2017 and is being reposted due to reader interest. So here are the top five ways in which battleships die. Note: some cases are ambiguous. For example, the Bismarck was damaged by a torpedo launched by British Swordfish aircraft, which slowed the German battleship until the Royal Navy’s battle fleet caught up and sank the