Why This 17th-Century Warship Was a Disastrous Failure

On August 10, 1628, the Swedish warship Vasa, billed as the most advanced warship in the world, set sail on its maiden voyage from Stockholm Harbor. Within a mile, it had sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
From the Series: Combat Ships: Doomed Vessels

[@ronaldderooij1774]

The Dutch shipwright was arrested. But he was smart enough to have recorded all his objections to the King's wishes for an extra deck in letters and was acquitted by the court. He returned to the Netherlands as far as I know with his pay.

[@s.r.961]

*LAUGHS IN DUTCH*

[@kingaxron]

such a dutch thing to do, malicious compliance XD

[@doobie9550]

I just watched a different video and it claimed the shipwright died when the ship sank

[@timjohnson1199]

"Well, the boss said it's okay and I get paid by the hour"

[@travelerofabyssrium14]

*Slow Clap*

[@projekktmonarch5766]

paid with food

[@carllernberg]

Well the problem was that the constructor wasnt really paid, at least not in decent time.

[@aapelikahkonen]

They actually had a bunch of lads run on the deck from port to starboad and back to test the stability. Routine stuff, usually a piece of cake. This time they had to abort the test since the ship was about to fall over after just a few runs. Shortly after, they still went out to sea. The lads must have been absolutely certain of the looming catastrophe.

[@darksigge9495]

and it is was 3 runs even

[@KristerAndersson-nc8zo]

No they had to Heavy guns on the upper gundeck and not enough ballast. Du är en Finländare Hyvää!

[@caseydykes853]

Can u imagine how Terrified they would have been. The minute you express concerns you would get labelled a traitor

[@tarkin1980apa]

Narrators in american documentaries are just hilarious. It's not a wrestling game you're commenting.

[@sartainja]

tarkin1980 They treat us like we are idiots.

[@tfranken1561]

tarkin1980 sounds to me like Joseph Balderrama, I believe he was born in Mexico City and moved to London as a child. So maybe it's British narrators that were born in Mexico in American documentaries that are the problem. But your right does sound like a wrestling match.

[@michaelw6277]

It’s not just narrator but the ridiculous music.

[@Sofus.]

They are all wikipedia experts, they have never been to the places they mention.

[@Arcaryon]

@@Sofus. Don't discredit Wikipedia. If people read only half of the stuff that you can find for free online, including in the Wiki, we would live in a better world. I don't need to visit the US to tell you how Trump is as a president nore do I need to travel to Japan to understand the details of the Senkgoku Jidai. That's how writing stuff down works. It tells me what other people experienced and thought. Edit: And before I forget, he is just the narrator, cut the guy some slack. The director is who you wanna blame.

[@alyssabrianlaube6935]

Opening music is so offputting, narrator thinks he's selling a Harley to a midlife crisis Guy Ferrari

[@blacktimhoward4322]

Blame humanity. Smithsonian made dry, no-energy docs for years and no one watched them, so here we are

[@MrGoo514]

Worst narrator ever!

[@kless001]

Perfect comment!

[@projectilequestion]

Accuracy of comment 9.5/10

[@BillyN31]

ALYSSA L It’s like a monster truck commercial...SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!!

[@sammoore9689]

The VASA is actually studied, as a management disaster, and used in teaching about how not to run a large program.

[@nate78824]

Perhaps the USPS could use this...

[@fergus247]

whats the tl;dr ?

[@ebayerr]

Adolphus Gustavus(1594-1632),King of Sweden,was one of the greatest generals in the history of warfare. He was seen as the new leader for the Protestants after Germany had been devastated by the "Thirty Years War" in the first half of the 17th century. He dreamed of extending his kingdom to German shores,so that the Baltic might become "a Swedish lake".So to this end,he hoped to relieve the Protestants cause in Germany and also because he was an "enthusiastic" Protestant. On Sept.17,1631,Gustavus overwhelmingly defeated the imperialist army under Tilly at the battle of Breitenfield,near Leipzig. The following spring he again met on the battlefield against Tilly and this time mortally wounded him. In November 1632,Gustavus defeated the Imperialist general Wallenstein at Lutzen but was wounded and killed in the battle.

[@joevignolor4u949]

It sounds like he should have stuck to land battles and left ship design to navel architects.

[@fetlix]

Tons of information was left out, like the fact that they extended the ship (made it longer) without making it wider etc, so it was a very slim ship and so on

[@Nianiosoglou]

so even worse than how they described it!

[@QuantumPyrite_88.9]

I've seen the Vasa in Stockholm and you have to see it to actually understand the idiocy of the design .

[@fetlix]

@@Nianiosoglou i'm not a history book, i just give small teasers

[@QuantumPyrite_88.9]

@Star Star Correct . There is a ratio between the total weight of the ship , displacement of water , length and breadth . The video states there was no ballast or not enough ballast in the hold which would have made the ship more bottom heavy and more stable . Even without deploying sails which essentially blew the ship over , no way would this ship handle rough waters in a storm . Made to look impressive = Poor engineering and design .

[@jamesaron1967]

@@QuantumPyrite_88.9 Its draft was also shallow. There were a number of defects in its design. Basically, if you wanted to build a ship with all the design elements that would cause it to quickly sink on its maiden voyage, it had them all. It was 'perfect' in that sense...

[@TheMartinbowes]

What an appalling voice over! I feel like he was capitalising every third word.

[@blacktimhoward4322]

Blame humanity. Smithsonian made dry, no-energy docs for years and no one watched them, so here we are

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

Typical American voiceover - emphasizing too many words so the whole thing becomes meaningless.

[@tombrydson781]

Martin Bowes yes harsh

[@AndrewArndts]

Sounds similar to what happened with the Mary Rose. However, she survived her shake down cruise. bloody shame what happened to the Vasa.

[@edi9892]

I thought of the Mars, another Swedish ship. It was essentially a Galleon a century before others ever made them...

[@ericdew2021]

I was in Stockholm several years back and went to the Vasa Museum. I didn't know what it was (I thought it was like "Smith Museum" or something). Went there and realized it was a museum dedicated to just one artifact, the Vasa ship. And it was amazing. First off, it's one of the best scholarly work in tracing the history of the ship, all the people who were there. The dead (effectively mummified by the water) were brought back up and each one were more-or-less identified based on actual name, or from the clothing, position on board the ship. The archaeological scholarship work is incomparable. Definitely a must-see (and re-see) at Stockholm.

[@iiroperkele3330]

Fun fact Finnish polytech students dove to the ship just as it was recovered and placed a small statue of a Finnish olympic gold metalist Paavo Nurmi on the deck. You can imagine the confusion in the researchers' faces when they realise there's a statue of a Finnish runner in a 17th century ship.

[@pontito]

Ofc the Finns would find a way to mess with us swedes xD Gotta love the Finns!

[@norrinradd3549]

It’s just a pity, that the Swedish didn’t learn from the loss of the Mary Rose, just over eighty years earlier. Which, sank because too many people had crowded on to it, making it top heavy. As well as the fact, that they had left the gun ports open, while they heeled over, in a tight turn..........

[@johan.ohgren]

It's the King that was the problem, not the craftsmen. Ans the original designer died before the ship was completed.

[@Alex-yz6uq]

@@johan.ohgren How was the king the problem?

[@lalnablehector1285]

@@Alex-yz6uq because he wouldn't listen to any of the massive problems that got pointed out.

[@Alex-yz6uq]

@@lalnablehector1285 No, he told them to continue at all cost, but since the problems where pointed out when the King was away fighting wars, it was probely harder for him to know how bad the problems where

[@Alex-yz6uq]

@Thelondonbadger Yes, but he still, he was away fighting in wars, so how would he get to know the problems?

[@sandramorey2529]

I made a special trip to see the Wasa in 1967. They were spraying it to keep it moist, but the story was not available for an English speaker. So until I saw this, I didn't know exactly why it sunk. It was still very impressive and interesting.

[@Hykje]

"What is your plan, my king?" "Guns -lot of guns."

[@tammcd]

What not to do in the future = don't pander to a willful autocrat who does not listen to expert advice.

[@colbattusa]

Noted-stay away from Democraps

[@maureenvideogallery8803]

Sounds a bit familiar for present day. In US

[@ryandavis7593]

battmd Sounds kind of like a certain Republicant. I am neither. A certain Brit said “clowns on the left and clowns on the right”. It just depends on which ones tip the ship?

[@ALexpWTFISTHAT]

@@maureenvideogallery8803 right? Scale it up with the ship as the US. And I think we all know who the blithering, mindless "king" would be

[@windwoman3549]

Heh heh heh . . . I see what you did there.

[@user-ge4uk9ui8y]

Been to the museum and saw the ship, it's insane how people could build such ships with just wood, the decorations are amazing too

[@mutualbeard]

The story of the Vasa has interested me for many years. The the early narration had me checking he "Smithsonian" logo on the screen. I thought I had clicked on "TOP TEN ALIEN SHIPWRECKS"

[@greatunclestroller7179]

Swedish king: lets build a 17th century warship with a hull of a viking longboat

[@edschermer]

It is impressive to see! As someone that took sailing as a teen in Scouting...it was fairly obvious that it would go over in a breeze...tall and narrow...

[@hermanstromberg9007]

I have ancestors who died on that ship. A truly majestic ship.

[@Bad_Chad]

Whoa that is an interesting connection.

[@yawarhussain7219]

Oh, you have a long genealogical record.

[@Bad_Chad]

Yaver Husein I think I know where you went lol

[@kalaharik72]

Let's be real, no you didn't buddy. There was definitely no detailed records of that nature back then. Stop being an attention seeker

[@soundknight]

@@kalaharik72 could have been passed down word of mouth...

[@nickc3657]

Thanks for the very helpful music and necessary voiceover

[@thezdbailey]

I've been fascinated by this ship over my last 20 years. I just listened to a podcast last week where Will Ferrell mentioned it as the greatest museum on the face of the earth. I felt so vindicated, even if it was just by one celebrity.

[@billbasherbill1364]

Same thing happened to the Mary Rose, King Henry 8s flag ship.

[@cccspwn]

Sweden: Worst Piece of Engineering in Naval History Also Sweden: IKEA

[@rikk319]

They've obviously learned from their mistakes.

[@jacobnash9677]

One of the best museums I have ever been too.

[@FLORIDAPERSONable]

Amazing way to preserve and explain history

[@mayoroftarkov6581]

i have been there and saw it irl on the museum a really cool ship

[@treborironwolfe978]

*17th Century Swedish Shipwright* pleas, "Your Majesty, but.. but.. but..."

[@vilstef6988]

A disaster. Because of the nature of the Baltic and the lack of shipworms, the ship was preserved once it was salvaged.

[@Grivian]

"And it was in that moment the Vasa....was lost. Next up, tune in for the long awaited rematch between JOHN CENA and the Undetaker"

[@noraneko8926]

The Vasa: sink because it was top heavy. Imperial Japanese Navy: I'll pretend didn't hear that.

[@noodengr3three825]

I got to visit the museum in 2018. An amazing experience. Both the ship and the steps taken to preserve it. Go if you can

[@usualguffage3867]

The king hath decree’d “that ship never sank. Someone bought it for plentiful gold”

[@suzettehenderson9278]

The King wasn't wrong about the future of Naval warfare, nor the need to have standard equipment in battle, too bad he didn't understand when to park his ego and let the engineers figure out how to manage his vision.

[@jeffvoreis2868]

what's with the electric guitar and narrator? Close your eyes and you'd think it was an episode of Diners, Drive-in's, and Dives.

[@QuantumPyrite_88.9]

The Vasa is now a memorial to the arrogant idiocy of a king who had no acumen in hydrodynamics and naval engineering . Take a look at the Portuguese Man of War . Lighter and faster with rows of fixed cannon , but it had a large open deck for more cannon which could be re-positioned and aimed as it moved past an opponent . No waiting for "favorable winds" to reposition . Below the waterline ballast is everything . Ballast can be nothing but stones for the weight , but the best ballast is cannon rounds , bags of grape shot and powder ... complete with elevators from the hold to the deck . Bigger is not better when a ship becomes nothing but an un-maneuverable target .

[@Insert-Retarded-Reply-Here]

Quantum Mechanic Tell that to the Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad First Rate Ship

[@philippoole1716]

The Vasa was one of two ships to be built to 5he same plan. After completion the admiral had his crew run back and forth across the deck of the ship. It rolled uncontrolledly. Launched and it sank. The second ship was built but it was wider, it did not sink!! The Lion of The North, Gustav Adolphus lost.

[@eM_Pee]

It's a truly magnificent sight, I highly recommend visiting it.

[@homefront3162]

I was 1/2 expecting to see monster trucks with this narrator

[@NoName-fx9zi]

For monster trucks you need a little more growl in your voice. This guy's voice would work better for an old Levi's jean jacket commercial.

[@AndreBSaba]

amazing video

[@aimesdavid2800]

All he had to do was listen to his engineers and advisers.

[@felixdosono1645]

This might be the inspirational design of the Flying Dutchman from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie!

[@lalnablehector1285]

no the inspiration for The Flying Dutchman in Pirates of the Caribbean was the actual Flying Dutchman, tales of that ship have been around since the golden age of piracy and the East India Company.

[@fozzylozzy1131]

@@lalnablehector1285 The look of the Flying Dutchman was partially inspired by old Dutch "fluyts"-17th-century vessels which resembled galleons-and more specifically, the Vasa, a massive Swedish warship which sank in Stockholm's harbor upon its maiden voyage in 1628 (the ship was salvaged in 1961 and housed in a special museum in the Swedish capital). With its high, heavily ornamented stern, the ship provided a rich foundation for Rick Heinrichs' wilder and more fantastical designs

[@ElementofKindness]

Pffft. Who needs engineers, when we have politicians? 🤪

[@LGRW313]

I visited the Vasa museum in Stockholm. Highly recommend it!!

[@alex_spartan1805]

The English Mary Rose suffered the same fate. Innovation sometimes requires trial and error.

[@Gwaithmir]

I can recall a NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC article on the raising of the Vasa when I was in high school. At least two sailors didn't escape the ship. The salvagers uncovered their skeletons inside one of the lower decks.

[@rboosterman9944]

Vasa Manager to Engineer, "take off your engineering hat and put on your management hat"

[@TaterChip91]

Never heard about this ship before but, when he said "so they made the ship taller." Well, I know how this story is going to end🤣

[@davidjacksonjackson3212]

I am a history buff, I have been to see this ship it was a great experience. if you get the chance defiantly go and see it.

[@moritzbrunnhofer7321]

It`s dev. worth a visit. Have been there and have not been disappointed!

[@carterdreyer2655]

The Flying Dutchman from potc is designed from the Vasa fun fact.

[@boathemian7694]

I’ve been to look at VASA twice. It’s unbelievable.

[@martinaustin6230]

I visited this ship in person. It was beautiful. Also another interesting story. Not all the cannons were recovered, some are still considered missing, but they were likely stolen by scavengers.

[@breezywarhead8489]

For auction of course. Most of the missing stuff is at rich wealthy family collection

[@lucianene7741]

Visited it. Tall, dark and gloomy, the exhibition hall is a perfect setting for the sinister story of the ship. Well preserved weapons and artifacts together with some wax models of crew members and guests (some of them women) complete this awesome collection.

[@knightlypoleaxe2501]

This ship was actually continued from a ship they had begun construction on. Not only did they make it taller, it was much shorter initially, because laying the keel was the toughest/ most important part I believe.

[@mehicantaco4757]

Ja för fan!

[@bulletsalad3927]

that was really cool !

[@pickitup7008]

Good info! And unlike the other “know it all’s” in the comments....I like the commentary

[@theallseeingmaster]

Bits of that ship went on tour shortly after its recovery; I saw them at a shopping mall when I way very young.

[@speedraser2605]

I demand to see this wonderful structure!

[@NyanyiC]

You should. Its magestic and well preserved in a lovely museum in Stockholm. Be sure to visit

[@RaineriRi]

I haven't seen it in 26 years and planning to see it after this corona thing is over!

[@d31zzz_]

I saw it u should go

[@yaladoodle]

I recommend going and visiting Stockholm, where there the Vasa museum has the entire recovered ship on display. While you’re at it, you should also check out the Kronan museum . It was a ship pretty similar to the Vasa. But that is all the way in Kalmar. In the East side of Sweden.

[@Moja421]

@@yaladoodle but "Kronan" sank in battle, right?

[@traceeburris511]

The centerpiece of how not to build a gunboat

[@krazeekalvin]

Took my son last year to the museum

[@secondarymachine7521]

Well, that's one way to add ballast..

[@fieldkitchen]

I have seen it in person. Impressive as is Stockholm.

[@roselotusmystic]

GREAT Museum!

[@NarcJ]

''The customer is always right'', maybe not

[@hansmelbye1804]

Could you guys do a video about the Fram? Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen's ship that went to the Arctic and Antarctic.

[@pistonburner6448]

A little known fact is that Harrison Ford's great great great great grandfather was there, and when he saw the ship he said: "It belongs in a museum!!"

[@foysalsiddik6897]

And they call The IJN Yamato useless.

[@Insert-Retarded-Reply-Here]

Foysal Siddik Well, it still was though

[@bkjeong4302]

Yamato was useless due to being conceptually obsolete, and even then she was only about as useless as her contemporaries (since the reason she was conceptually obsolete was that the entire battleship concept was outdated in WWII, meaning that every Axis AND Allied battleship built from the late 30s onwards was obsolete on launch). She wasn’t uniquely useless as often made out to be. Vasa was just so badly designed she couldn’t even sail out of harbour.

[@jamesaron1967]

@@bkjeong4302 Yeah, unfortunately the _Yamato_ was built for a WWI still naval confrontation in an era where the aircraft carrier was ascendant as a power projection platform.

[@bkjeong4302]

James Aron It’s far from unique to Yamato: one of my pet peeves about that ship is that she is singled out for being built in the carrier era and being obsolete on launch, when the same also applies to contemporary American/British/German/French/Italian battleships, which were all just as pointless and wastes of money, and for the same reasons. And no, it is false that those other nations built their battleships for supporting roles, and even if they did, that still doesn’t justify those other battleships-capital ships simply cost way too much to be built just for supporting roles. Rather, what happened was that everyone got it wrong and thought battleships would be primary fleet units in surface combat when the time for that had passed by the late 1930s.

[@molybdaen11]

At least she was able to cruise the ocean and sunk like a warrior.

[@soulfangz]

I was there at the vasa museum and it was some short film about it, it was like- 1500 meters until the ship started to y’know- sink Interesting thing is there was a few skeletons, not whole but so you could see it was a human. And the clothes actually was stored under the water, plus the smallest flag fast still huge

[@Retaliatixn]

*Me when I see the title :* Lemme guess, the Vasa ?

[@johan.ohgren]

*reading title* Me: "Is it Vasa?" Yep, it is..

[@joevignolor4u949]

This is a cautionary tale about what happens when technical decisions are driven by non-technical factors such as politics and finance. Unfortunately these things still happen today. One modern example was the space shuttle. Its operational requirements were determined by politicians and bureaucrats. Another example is the 737 Max. Adding bigger more, powerful engines to an old air frame so as to retain the type rating was done purely for financial reasons.

[@FallenPhoenix86]

3:02 "The mighty combat ship"... "mighty".... Yeah, not so much.

[@cwu4591]

Imagine firing those guns

[@joevignolor4u949]

Yes. And if everything else wasn't enough to capsize the ship firing the guns certainly would have.

[@jasperlawson6315]

The Dad rock intro 😂😂

[@TheIceland2000]

All the fuzz just for getting a shoe into the Eurasian commerce...Like today...Klondike fever for ever!

[@dantheman4838]

This ship is basically the Swedish Mary Rose but I had never heard about it until now.

[@mandarin1257]

I was about to add another deck to the next flagship of my navy! So glad to have this cautionary tale so I know to not do it.

[@Ling__Ling__]

*GUSTAVUS! ALDOPHUS! LIBERA ET IMPERA! ACERBUS, ET INGENS, AGUSTA PER ANGUSTA!* Also tons of people saying Gustavus is “mindless” when they’ve obviously never heard of his amazing reforms to the army. I mean he cross trained musketeers to ride horse, pikemen to use a musket, etc. and used lots of light infantry which coordinate with one another plus light, mobile artillery compared to mostly isolated heavy infantry, cavalry, and artillery that many European commanders at the time used.

[@yaladoodle]

Is no one going to talk about how hard the guy at 3:20 must have hit his head before filming?

[@WitchettyMan]

Looks more like a cyst, he should see Dr Sandra Lee.

[@midknight0693]

i liked the voice over

[@sangeethkris3399]

what's the name of the music being played at the end of the video?

[@Reitz86]

Visited the museum in 1991👍❤️🇸🇪

[@mermaidinamanhole5796]

That king must've become a meme back then.

[@pride2184]

Nah he was much beloved because he was a military genius in combat actually making Sweden a powerful nation he died in battle from either friendly fire or enemy scout shot him .. then the empire he created collapsed.

[@joonte1010]

@@pride2184 wut? We are talking about Gustavus Adolphus the great, he was neither a meme or cause of the empires collapse, he founded the Swedish empire, which was rather short lived (only around 100 years) but alot of damage was caused on countries abroad during this time.

[@chrisscott6254]

A disastrous failure you say? This ship is my spirit animal

[@piotrd.4850]

Fun facts: defense procurement agency created after this incident exists to this day. It has sculptures of drunken Polish nobles, against whom it was built. Some alcohol onboard was preserved until rising.

[@Democratic_Industrialism]

I love you Smithsonian !!!!!

[@cepti7688]

From planes, to this....

[@MichaelDelvalle-nt4gp]

i got to see it irl it was huge

[@1pcfred]

It's a shakedown cruise (Shakedown, shakedown cruise) And I was just another fool (Shakedown, shakedown cruise)

[@donnie6178]

It looked like she was a gorgeous Battleship.

[@patriciajrs46]

They left the cannon doors open and it sank quickly.

[@shade9272]

Another random recommendation from youtube. At least this one was interesting.

[@AudieHolland]

And She's Keeled Over! Wasa is down! Out For The Count! It's Game Over!

[@adamms96]

his voice sounds like there should be hard rock playing in the background but the video does not fit so much XD

[@clanpsi]

Why are your videos so short? They should be ten times as long.

[@lucianene7741]

03:12 My precious!

[@vincentpascual3619]

If they made it wider it would have compensated for the listing.