Worst Maritime Disasters - Wilhelm Gustloff

The sinking of the British Titanic in 1912 with more than 1500 deaths reported might be the most disastrous maritime event to have occurred, especially when there is a popular movie about it too. But that might not be the case as there is another incident much worst in the number of casualties.

The world witnessed the Second World War, a catastrophic event that caused millions of innocent lives to be taken away. The worst part will be when the German Navy transport ship, Wilhelm Gustloff was wrecked in the ocean in January 1945 by the Soviet Union submarine.

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It was believed that 9,400 people died on that boat. To this day, it still remains the worst maritime disaster in the world which has resulted in many lives being taken.

Multifunctional Ship

Wilhelm Gustloff was originally built for the "NC Gemeinschaft Kraft durch Freude" (Strength Through Joy) program. This program was set up by the Nazis party to promote employees' rights in the workplace.

The purpose of the ship was to provide recreational and cultural activities for officers as well as German workers. These activities can be anything like concerts, cruises, or vacations and this will act as a tool for civil servants to communicate and give a better image of Germany to its people.

The ship measured 684 feet long and had a volume capacity of more than 25,000 tonnes. The ship was supposed to be named after Adolf Hitler himself but instead, it was given the name Wilhelm Gustloff who is the chief leader of the Nazi party in Switzerland. He was killed in 1936.

The ship can accommodate as many as 1,900 people onboard including 400 crew members. All cabins in the Gustloff had similar sizes and were divided equally among everyone making Gustloff classified as a ship without social class.

The only exception will be a huge cabin for the leader himself, Adolf Hitler at the time.

It is almost impossible to book your way into this ship. This is because only the chosen one invited by the ruler's party is allowed to board this ship. Aside from operating as a cruise ship, Gustloff was also used for oriented missions for the public's interest.

On 10 April 1938, it functioned as a poll place for the Germans and Austrians that lived in England to vote for the separation of Austria. In Mei 1939, Gustloff together with other ships, took the Legion Condor soldier back to Germany after the Spanish Civil war ended.

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With the start of World War II, Gustloff starts to serve as a hospital ship in the Baltic Sea and Norway. In November 1940 and onwards, it docked in Gdynia, Poland to work as a barrack as part of the Second Training submarine.

Attacks On Wilhelm Gustloff

When Russia approaches East of Prussia, the necessary preparations were made for the Hannibal Operation which is the mass evacuation of the German army and civilians in the area. More than 1000 ships were assigned to accomplish this mission including all types of trading ships including small boats used by fishermen.

Wilhelm Gustloff was one of the ships responsible for transferring German citizens, the army as well as technicians.

On 25 January 1945, this ship docked in Gdynia, Poland, and starts taking in refugees. When the word spread that Wilhelm Gustloff was boarding passengers, the dock was filled with panicking refugees and chaos took place as everyone was fighting their way into the ship.

Approaching 29 January, the list of the ship showed that 7,956 people were on that ship before the registration was put to a halt. However, that did not stop 2,000 or more people from sneaking in after that. Gustloff left the port after noon on 30 January carrying an estimated 10,000 passengers heading to the navy military base, Kriegsmarine in Kiel.

The original plan was that Gustloff will be accompanied by two torpedo boats and one passenger boat carrying civilians and the army but there were some technical issues with other boats resulting in Wilhelm Gustloff going solo.

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On top of that, one of the torpedo boats was forced to head back leaving Gustloff with only one torpedo boat as its companion. The commander at the time, Lieutenant Wilhelm Zahn suggested that the ship should take the route of shallow water close to the beach and sail without any lights on.

However, Captain Gustloff Friedrich Petersen decided to take the opposite route by going through deep waters that were known to be free from the mines. At 6 o'clock in the evening, Petersen was informed that the convoy of German minesweepers was heading their way and in order to avoid collisions, Petersen activated the ship's navigation light.

This means that Wilhelm Gustloff will be easily detectable in the darkness. But this move also caused the ship to be detected by the Soviet S-13 submarine under the lead of Captain Alexander Marinesko.

The submarine tailed the ship for almost 2 hours before placing itself to the side of the Gustloff harbor, the location where the attack was expected. Not long after 9 o'clock, Gustloff was hit by three torpedos.

The explosion has resulted in engine impairment, loss of generator, and cutting off all types of communication. The Wilhelm Gustloff ship sunk in the darkness.

The crew ships on the deck quickly used the rescue boat but unfortunately only 9 made it down. Others were stuck on the side of the ship. On the lower deck, the path on the stairs was blocked by a group of people who tried to escape from the incoming water.

After 40 mins of the attack, Wilhelm Gustloff was at a standstill and not long after, the ship totally lost control and went deep into the ocean together with thousands of lives stuck in the ship. The rest of them were left stranded in the freezing Baltic ocean.

Most of them that managed to get on the rescue boat died later of hypothermia. It was rather late for the torpedo boats, minesweepers, and other boats to arrive at the scene, and only managed to rescue 1,200 people that were left.

The real figure of the number of casualties from this incident was unknown but some believed it was anywhere between 6,500 to 9,600 people. Among those who died were almost 1,000 officers and German navies.

From 373 female navies that were onboard, only 3 survived the attack.

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