81 years ago, on 9:16 PM, Jan 30 1945, the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff sank after being torpedoed by a Soviet sub in the Baltic Sea. Carrying 10,000+ passengers, mostly refugees, it sank in an hour. Over 9,000 died including many children. The sinking is the deadliest maritime disaster in history.

8 comments

1. FAFO

2. Entirely avoidable as well.  They were operating as if they still controlled the seas thoroughly.  Went into deep waters, was fully lit, and was visibly armed.  If they intended to use it to transport civilians rather than continue to use it as a troop transport they could have shrouded the guns and marked it as a hospital ship.

3. Yet another nazi war crime, using human shields for their troop transport

4. Fun fact is that the ship would have been named after Adolf Hitler, but he decided to name it after his Swiss colleague, who was assassinated by a brave Jew.

5. For a moment I thought it was the Cal Arcona (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Cap_Arcona). But sadly apparently a similar event happened 3 months later again…

6. RIP to all those who died.

   The Soviet captain who torpedoed the ship, Alexander Marinesko, was imideatly awarded the order of the red banner and later the hero of the Soviet Union, the USSR’s highest award. Many Russians as well as the Russian government still consider this tragedy a “military success”.

7. She was a valid military target. This does not mean it is not a tragedy but this is not a war crime.

   Remember that during the evacuation of the Baltics themselves it were Soviet ships on the receiving end. Unfortunatly, the Eastern front of WW2 is a story in which civilians were not excluded from the violence and international treaties were generally ignored. A tragedy for all innocent people involved

8. Read Salt to the Sea- superb book which culminates in the disaster. Historical fiction with a really interesting style.