Shipwrecks have always been a part of seafaring, and attempts to reduce their number have been consistently ongoing. However, the roll-on roll-off ferry concept, which has only been around since just after World War II, has been found to be problematic on a number of tragic occasions. The ro-ro ship was a development of the landing ships used with such success at D-Day, enabling tanks to drive ashore. As ferries were developed in the post-1945 era, and started to carry more vehicles, the introduction of drive-on and drive-off operations followed: it saved time when the ships were in port and was soon in widespread use on all major ferry routes.
However, ro-ro operations require many safety features, some of which were lacking in the early days of these ships’ operations. A ship with a car deck, which has doors at both ends so that vehicles can drive on and off without turning round when the destination is reached, has inherent dangers. These ferries had a fatal flaw – the car deck itself would be
