Wilhelm Gustloff (ship)
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The Wilhelm Gustloff was a passenger ship built by the Blohm and Voss shipyards, and was named after the Nazi Wilhelm Gustloff. It was launched on May 5, 1937. On a mission to help evacuate Germans trapped by the Red Army in East Prussia, it was hit by three torpedoes from a Soviet submarine in the Baltic Sea on the night of January 30 1945. The sinking remains the worst disaster in maritime history — it left over 9,000 people dead, more than half of them children.
History
The ship was built as a cruise liner for the German Kraft durch Freude (KdF) (Strength Through Joy) labor organization which provided recreational and cultural activities for German workers, including concerts, cruises and other holidays. The Wilhelm Gustloff was the flagship of the KdF cruise fleet until 1939.From September 1939 to November 1940, it served as a hospital ship. Later during the Second World War, the Wilhelm Gustloff was used as a barracks ship for U-boat trainees in the Baltic port of Gdynia (called Gotenhafen during the German occupation of Poland).
Sinking
Final voyage
The ship's final voyage was to evacuate civilians and wounded German soldiers and sailors from Gdynia near Danzig (Gdańsk) to Kiel. Along with 173 crew members and 918 men of the 2. Unterseeboot-Lehrdivision (2nd Submarine Training Division), the ship carried (officially) 373 female naval auxiliary aides, 162 severely wounded troops, and 4,424 civilian refugees, mostly women and children. It is estimated, however, that as many as 8,000-9,000 refugees were in fact crowded onto her. Although the ship was built for fewer than 2,000 passengers, it had the capacity to board many more for a short trip by utilizing its public recreational spaces to accommodate people, but it was carrying less than 50% of the rescue equipment necessary for the extra passengers.The ship left Gdynia early on 30 January 1945, accompanied by the passenger liner Hansa, also filled with refugees, and two torpedo boats. The Hansa and one torpedo boat developed problems and could not continue, leaving the Gustloff with only one torpedo boat escort, the Löwe. The ship had four captains on board, three civilian and one military, and they could not agree on the best course of action to guard against submarine attacks. Against the advice of the military commander, Lieutenant Commander Wilhelm Zahn, a submariner who argued for a course in shallow waters close to shore and without lights, the senior civilian captain, Friedrich Petersen, decided to head for deep water. When he was informed by radio of an oncoming German minesweeper convoy, he decided to activate his ship's red and green navigation lights so as to avoid a collision in the dark, making the Gustloff easy to spot in the night.
The ship was soon sighted by the Soviet submarine S-13 which torpedoed the Gustloff about 30 km offshore, between Władysławowo (Neustadt in Westprussia) and Łeba -- hitting her three times soon after 9.00 p.m. In the panic that followed, many of the refugees were trampled in the rush to lifeboats and life jackets. Some equipment was lost as a result of the panic. The water temperature in the Baltic Sea at this time of year is usually around 4°C; however, this was a particularly cold day, with an air temperature of -10° to -18° C and ice floes covering the surface.
70 minutes after being struck the Wilhelm Gustloff sank in a depth of 45 meters (150 feet). The sinking remains the worst disaster in maritime history, leaving some 9,000 people dead, more than half of them children.
1216 people survived the catastrophe (other reports claim 1239). The German torpedo boat Löwe rescued 472, the torpedo boat T 36, arriving soon after the sinking, rescued 564 survivors. The minesweeper M 341 collected 37, the navy tender TS II 98, the steamer Göttingen 28. Nine more were fished from the sea in the early morning hours of 31 January by the freighter Gotland, also evacuating refugeees, seven by the torpedo tender TF 19, one by the watch boat V 1703.
Estimated deaths
7956 refugees were registered. It is estimated that after the registration 2,000 people were allowed on the ship. With the crew there must have been over 10,000 people on board. At sea, hundreds of refugees from Reval came on board.1,239 passengers survived, saved by German vessels. According to the ship's records, the total number of passengers who died was 6,050 people. Including the unregistered, the death toll was almost certainly higher. Today, one may find reports of 9,000, 10,000 and more. These numbers are estimates made by different methods. For example, the Discovery Channel program "Unsolved History" has undertaken computer analysis of the sinking which estimated 9,400 dead (among over 10,600 on board). The analysis considered load density based on witness reports and simulation of escape routes and survivability with the timeline of sinking. More than half of the victims were children.
Until the beginning of April 1945, the German Navy managed to evacuate about 2.5 million people from East Prussia into the Reich, while 33,000 refugees, members of the Navy and Army died.
Controversy
There were many refugee transport ships sunk during the war by the Allies and Axis. However the Gustloff remains the worst disaster loss of life in one vessel. There is some debate over whether the sinking was a war crime or not. Proponents claim that it was a refugee ship (unlike the Cap Arcona with her deportees), while others claim that since it was a military training ship and was carrying German soldiers, it was a legitimate target.Wreckage
is the resting place of the Gustloff. This is 30 km offshore, east of Łeba (17.33E) and west of Władysławowo (18.24E). It has been designated as a war memorial site (off-limits to salvage crews). On Polish navigation charts it is noted as "Obstacle No. 73".Novel
The novel Im Krebsgang (2002) (English translation: Crabwalk), by Gdansk-born German author and Nobel prize winner Günter Grass, is based on the story of the disaster.See also
- Alexander Marinesko
- List of ship and ferry disasters
External links
- [A Memorial to the Wilhelm Gustloff]
- [www.wilhelmgustloff.com]
- [The Greatest Marine Disaster in History... and why you probably never heard of it.]
- [Shipwreck Expedition May 2003, led by Mike Boring]
- [link] Allied view of the things
- [Maritimequest Wilhelm Gustloff Photo Gallery]
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