What happened to the German warship?

Question

When the Germans attack Themyscira, a metal warship is seen behind the smaller boats that go to the beach. However, after the fighting ends, the warship disappears.

Is it just a continuity error, or did something happen to it? If so, what?

Answer 1

According to the film's official novelisation, as it passed through the barrier, the battle cruiser hit a hidden reef and was holed below the waterline.

Beyond, the enormous ship that had brought the Germans had hit the coral reefs. Black, gritty smoke from the sinking battleship swept across the reef and over the beach. It smelled like it had come from the burning pits of hell.

_{^{Wonder Woman: Official Movie Novelisation}}

It then sank.

Answer 2

You have to pay close attention to the scenes where the Germans are first crossing the barrier, but the fate of the ship is shown on-screen — it sank.

Each time the ship appears in the background, you can see that it's tilting to the side a bit more. This starts from the first time we see it on the clear side of the barrier, and by the last (3rd time, I think) time we see it, it's almost at a 45 degree angle to the water.

Note that the water surrounding the island is both covered in a very dense fog and full of large rocky outcroppings. Most likely, the ship ran into a rock and punched a hole in the side of it's hull. That would explain why it was listing dangerously to one side. By the end of the beach scene it's probably at the bottom of the sea.

Answer 3

The little boats were an amphibious assault. They were all armed to take the beach. That is unusual, maybe even a continuity problem.

Even the German Navy would not have had enough rifles to arm every random sailor in case the ship sinks. And the boats searching in the fog earlier probably would not have had a fully armed boat crew. Most likely they pierced the veil, reported back to the ship, then were armed to proceed with an assault. The large ship came in after them, then likely hung up on rocks as it approached (think of the Costa Concordia cruise ship sinking).

I can't really go with coral reef as a cause of sinking. The novelization may say it, and coral could certainly do the job, but there is no coral in the Mediterranean or north-west Atlantic. It is a more "exotic" sounding cause, but it doesn't make sense even in a fantasy setting. Tom Clancy mentioned they tried to put coral in Chesapeake Bay in the Patriot Games movie until he and others pointed out how non-tropical it was. Writers don't always get that.