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Its original purpose was low-cost cruise market. The German KdF organization provided cultural activities to 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. During the majority of the Second World War, Wilhelm Gustloff was used primarily as a barracks ship for U-boat trainees.
Its final voyage was an evacuation of civilians and wounded German soldiers and sailors from Gotenhafen (now and before the war known as Gdynia) under the flags and marks of the Red Cross, shortly before it was sunk by a Soviet submarine.
The ship left Gotenhafen early on January 30, 1945. That evening, escorted by only a small minesweeper, Wilhelm Gustloff was attacked. Somewhere between Danzig and the Danish island of Bornholm it was torpedoed by the Soviet submarine S-13The Soviet submarine S-13 captained by Alexander Marinesko, sunk the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff on January 30, 1945, with three direct hits by torpedo. On February 10, 1945, it sunk another German ship, the SS General von Steuben. It was decommisioned i, taking three direct hits at around 9.00 p.m.
An eyewitness account claimed that 400 members of the Women's Auxiliary of the German Navy, died almost instantly after the second torpedoA modern torpedo is a self-propelled guided projectile that operates underwater and is designed to detonate on contact or in proximity to a target. Torpedoes are weapons that may be launched from submarines, surface ships, helicopters and fixed-wing aircr hit almost directly under the empty swimming pool in which they were sitting. The mass panic that followed the torpedo hits resulted in an increased loss of life, as many of the refugees ignored orders in the rapidly sinking ship, to allow women and children to disembark first, and many were trampled in a rush for access to the lifeboats and life jackets available. Some equipment was lost as a further result of the panic. The Gustloff sank in less than ninety minutes.
The ship was built for less than 2000 passengers. However because of its originally recreational purpose it actually had capacity to board much more. Unfortunately it was carrying less than 50% of the rescue equipment necessary for the significanly increased number of passengers. It is estimated that of the approximately 5000 to 7000 refugees and over 1000 soldiers and sailors on board at the time, only 1239 passengers survived, saved by German vessels in the vicinity. According to the ships own records, the official total was 6,050 people. However taking into an account those who sneaked on board the ship unaccounted, the death toll was actually much higher. Today one may find reports of 9,000, 10,000 and more. Of course, these numbers are only estimates made by different methods. For example, the Discovery ChannelImage use policy Discovery Channel is an American cable TV network that has a variety of science programming, particularly documentaries and nature shows. Discovery Channel went on the air in 1984 and is owned by Discovery Communications, which also owns program "Unsolved History" (broadcast on January 4January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 361 days remaining (362 in leap years). Events 871 Battle of Reading Ethelred of Wessex defeats Danish invasion army 1493 Christopher Columbus leaves the New World, ending his first, 20042004 is a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 2004 calendar), and has also been designated the: International Year of Rice International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition Elections are to be held in 73 co) has undertaken an extensive computer analysis of the sinking of the Gustloff, which in particular supported an estimate of 9,400 dead.
There were many other refugees transport ships sunk by the Soviets and the British. However the Gustloff remains the worst disasterA disaster is an unexpected natural or man-made catastrophe of substantial extent causing significant property damage or destruction, loss of life or sometimes permanent changes to the natural environment. Disasters may also be unforeseen events which dev in shipping history, in terms of loss of life in a single vessel.
The novel Im Krebsgang (2002) (English translation: Crabwalk), by Danzig-born German author Günter GrassGunter Grass Nobel Prize-winning author, was born in Free City of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland) on October 16, 1927. His parents had a grocery store in Danzig Langfuhr. The Kashubian- German Grass attended the Danzig Gymnasium Conradinum. Drafted into the A, is based on the story of the disaster.
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