The motor ship goya sunk on April 16, 1945. The largest maritime disaster: the death of the German transport "Goya

The submarine war as an integral part of the Second World War throughout its entire course was distinguished by an unprecedented tragedy - almost greater than the one that accompanied everything that happened on land. First of all, the blame for this lies with the German submariners - the "wolves of Doenitz". It is clear that it would be wrong to indiscriminately accuse all submariners of Nazi Germany of violating the conventions. But it is also wrong to forget that it was they who unleashed an unlimited submarine war.

The bills had to be paid not only by the German sailors, but by the entire people of Germany. This is precisely how - as a tragic consequence of the actions of the German armed forces - the events that took place in the Baltic in the last months of the war should be viewed. At this time, Soviet submariners won three major victories in the Great Patriotic War, and they also became the largest tragedies for German ships of that era. On January 30, the S-13 submarine under the command of Captain 3rd Rank Alexander Marinesko sank the liner "Wilhelm Gustloff" with a displacement of 25,484 gross register tons (along with it, according to official data, 5,348 people died, according to unofficial ones, more than 9,000). Less than two weeks later, the same C-13 sank the Steuben liner with a displacement of 14,690 gross tons (the death toll, according to various sources, was from 1,100 to 4,200 people). And on April 16, 1945, the submarine L-3 "Frunzevets" under the command of Lieutenant Commander Vladimir Konovalov sank the transport "Goya" with a displacement of 5,230 gross register tons.

The attack, along with the transport that sank seven minutes after the first of two torpedoes hit, killed about 7,000 people. In the current list of major marine disasters, the sinking of the Goya ranks first in terms of the number of fatalities, almost five times surpassing the legendary Titanic in this indicator. And one and a half times - the Soviet hospital ship "Armenia": on board this ship, sunk on November 7, 1941 by fascist aircraft, about 5,000 people died, the overwhelming majority of wounded and medical workers.

The attack of "Goya" was the culmination of the last, eighth campaign of the submarine L-3 "Frunzevets" during the Great Patriotic War... She went to it on March 23 from the Finnish port of Turku, where Soviet submarines from the submarine brigade of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet had been based since September 1944. By this time, she was considered the most effective among Soviet submarines in the total sunk ships: by the end of February 1945, their account at the L-3 exceeded two dozen. Most of them were sunk not by torpedoes, but by exposed mines: the boat was an underwater minelayer. Nevertheless, all victories were counted, and L-3, on which the second commander was replaced during the war (the first, captain 3rd rank Pyotr Grishchenko, went up at the end of February 1943, transferring command to his assistant Vladimir Konovalov, served on a boat since 1940), became the leader in the number of sunk ships.

On the eighth cruise, the boat went to the area of ​​the Danzig Bay: the operation of the German fleet "Hannibal", the purpose of which was to evacuate German troops and refugees from East Prussia and from the occupied lands of Poland, where the troops of the Red Army had already entered, was in full swing. Even such catastrophic losses as the sinking of the C-13 transports "Wilhelm Gustloff" and "Steuben" could not interrupt it. Despite the fact that the circumstances of their death indicated the danger of using ships in camouflage colors escorted by warships to evacuate civilians, the Goya transport left in the fifth and last trip as part of Operation Hannibal. And almost immediately came into the field of view of L-3, which was not the first day in wait for ships on the northern approaches to the Danzig Bay. Previous attempts to attack the convoys coming from there were unsuccessful, and therefore, when the Goya transport, accompanied by two patrolmen, appeared in the evening twilight, the boat commander gave the command to attack the convoy. The boat went in pursuit of the target on the surface, since the underwater speed did not allow it to catch up with the transport, and shortly before midnight fired two torpedoes at it from a distance of 8 cables (just under one and a half kilometers). After 70 seconds, two powerful explosions were seen on board the boat: both torpedoes hit the target. Seven minutes later, the transport "Goya", having split in the place where the torpedoes hit, went to the bottom. A total of 183 passengers and crew members managed to escape - they were picked up by other ships.

The Soviet submarine left the scene of the attack without hindrance: shocked by the tragedy, patrol teams rushed to help the survivors, and five depth charges were dropped for ostracis, far from L-3. On the way to the base, the submarine attacked enemy convoys several times, but these attacks did not bring any results. On April 25, "Frunzevets" returned to the base and did not go out on military campaigns again. A month after the Victory, on July 8, 1945, the captain of the 3rd rank captain Vladimir Konovalov, the captain of the boat, was awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union"For the exemplary performance of the command's combat missions, personal courage and heroism shown in battles against the German fascist invaders." It was well understood in the Baltic and beyond that the submarine commander deserved this title, but since he commanded the submarine only since 1943, taking a guard ship under his arm (the title was assigned to the boat on March 1 of the same year), the main factor was the sinking of the Goya ".

In the post-war studies of foreign experts, and in the domestic historical literature of the last two decades, it was fashionable to call the death of such giants as Goya, Wilhelm Gustloff and Steuben nothing more than the crimes of Soviet submariners. At the same time, the authors of such statements forgot that the sunk ships could not be considered hospital or civil. All of them went as part of military convoys and had Wehrmacht and Kriegsmarine servicemen on board, all had military camouflage colors and airborne anti-aircraft weapons and did not have a red cross applied either on board or on deck. All three were legitimate targets for submariners of any country of the anti-Hitler coalition.

It should be understood that from a submarine board any ship, unless it has hospital designations noticeable under any conditions and does not go alone, looks like an enemy ship and is considered a target. The L-3 commander could only guess that on board the "Goya", which before the beginning of participation in the operation "Hannibal" served as a target for the training torpedoes of the "wolves of Doenitz", are not only the military, but also refugees. I could - but I didn't have to. Considering a large transport escorted by two patrol boats, he logically assumed that the ship was military and a legitimate target.

... Today, the cabin of the L-3 submarine takes an honorable place in the exposition of the Victory Park on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow. She was transported here from Liepaja, where she stood at the headquarters of the 22nd submarine brigade until the early 1990s. She appeared there in the early 1970s, when the legendary "Frunzevets" finished his military service, having passed all the stages usual for a diesel-electric submarine: battleship until 1953, then - reclassification into training and service in this capacity until 1956, then - disarmament and service as a training station for damage control and, finally, exclusion on February 15, 1971 from the lists of the fleet for cutting into metal.

The ship outlived its famous commander for four years: Vladimir Konovalov died in 1967, having risen to the rank of Rear Admiral and the post of deputy head of the forge of Russian submariners - the Lenin Komsomol Higher Naval School of Diving. And one must think, his stories about military service and the victories won, more than a dozen cadets-submariners were assured of the justice of the chosen path.

17.04.45 north of the Riksgaft (Rikshoft) lighthouse, located at the base of the Putziger-Nerung spit (Helskaya spit), the submarine L-3 (commander, Hero of the Soviet Union, Captain 3rd Rank Vladimir Konovalov) launched an attack on transport from the convoy. 70 seconds after the launch of the torpedoes, two strong explosions were recorded on the submarine. The target of the submarine "L-3" was the German motor ship "Goya" (5230 brt). The Goya (German "Goya") is a cargo ship built in Oslo, Norway and launched on April 4, 1940.

The ship was confiscated by the Germans after the occupation of Norway by Germany. On board the "Goya", according to F. Ruge, there were more than 7 thousand people (according to M. Morozov, 1,500 soldiers of the 4th tank division Wehrmacht, 385 wounded soldiers, as well as at least 3,500 refugees - civilians). There are other data: “L-3 - under the command of Captain 3rd Rank V.K. about 1300 submariners - officers, cadets and sailors (about 30 submarine crews).
This event is also covered on the Internet in this way - the Goya ship is 145 meters long and 17 meters high. was a modern high-speed cargo ship with two screw engines. The maximum speed is 18 knots. The Germans initially used this ship as a conditional target in the training of submarine crews. But with the deterioration of the situation with the evacuation of refugees and the need to use all possible floating craft to carry out Operation Rettung (Rescue), the ship participated in the evacuation from the rapidly approaching Red Army units. Until the fateful day of April 16, the ship managed to make only four cruises, in which more than 19,500 people were rescued.
Since April 4, 1945, the ship was in the Danzig Bay awaiting loading by refugees and the military .. The bay was under constant shelling of Soviet artillery, one of the shells hit the Goya, lightly wounding the ship's captain Plünnecke. In addition to civilians and wounded soldiers, there were 200 soldiers of the 25th Panzer Regiment of the Wehrmacht on board.
April 15 At 19:00, a convoy consisting of three vessels: Goya, the steamer Kronenfels, built in 1944, 2834 brt. And the sea tug Ägir, left Danzig Bay accompanied by two minesweepers to the city of Swinemunde. ... At about 23-00 the convoy's route was changed, the convoy headed for the city of Copenhagen. The Goya followed slightly north of the others. The vessel was overloaded and overcrowded. Even the passages and stairs were filled with people. The air was heavy, and it was difficult to get to the deck, and even then not always. The ships of the convoy sailed at a speed of about 9 knots so that less fast ships could keep up with them. The cargo ship was not well suited for transporting the wounded. Stretchers with the wounded were lifted aboard with the help of winches and then in the same way they were placed in holds, naturally not adapted for emergency evacuation. Rescue equipment was only enough for a certain number of people. Almost 7,000 people were crowded into the cargo bays, the engine room, and in general wherever you could find free space. Each berth was shared by several people, even the captain was forced to give up his cabin to the refugees. The conditions for the people were terrible, and for the wounded they were simply unbearable. There was a shortage of everything: dressings, medicine, food and drink. At the exit from the Danzig Bay "Goya" was discovered by the Soviet submarine L-3 under the command of Vladimir Konovalov. To catch up with the discovered convoy, Captain Konovalov decides to go on the surface (in the submerged position the boat had no trenches to catch up with the convoy), which, of course, increases the risk of being detected and attacked by the enemy. However, L-3 was lucky, she managed to catch up with the convoy. This was facilitated by a half-hour delay in repairing the engines of the steamer Cronenfels. Choosing the largest transport and at 23-52 L-3 torpedoed it with two torpedoes.
The death of the transport "Goya" in terms of the number of victims is in the first place among sea disasters in the entire history of navigation, ahead of the famous "Titanic" and "Wilhelm Gustloff".
Rescuing people, the convoy's guard ships were able to drop only 5 depth charges at a safe distance from the submarine.
Submarine L-3 continued to remain in the area. see also

The war was drawing to a close. German passenger ships were actively taking out the military, the wounded and the civilian population from East Prussia. For the evacuation, the authorities of Nazi Germany launched Operation Hannibal, during which, according to some estimates, about 2 million people were evacuated.

Several ships during this operation were attacked by Soviet submarines. So, on January 30, 1945, the Soviet submarine S-13 under the command of A.I. Marinesko was sunk by the German cruise ship "Wilhelm Gustloff". Then about 5.3 thousand people died. On February 10, another German passenger liner, General Steuben, fell victim to the Marinesko submarine. This disaster claimed the lives of about 3.6 thousand people.

On April 16, another ship was to leave the Danzig Bay. It was the German transport "Goya". Built at the Akers Mekanika Verksted shipyard in Oslo in 1940, the vessel was intended to carry cargo. On April 4 of the same year, it was launched. However, after Norway was occupied by the Nazis, "Goya" was requisitioned. It was used as a target for submarines, and during the operation "Hannibal" hastily converted to evacuate the military and civilian population. It was ill-suited for transporting passengers. The vessel also did not have separated compartments, which made it vulnerable. In the event of a torpedo hit, it could quickly sink to the bottom.

By mid-April, "Goya" had already completed four trips, carrying a total of about 20 thousand people. This time, the evacuation was more hectic than ever. The approach of the Red Army made us hurry. As soon as on April 16, 1945, the ship anchored in Danzig Bay near the Hel Spit, landing began. "Goya" was supposed to receive about 1.5 thousand German soldiers and officers of the 4th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht, about 400 wounded and 5 thousand refugees. There were more people than usual. The territory was about to be occupied Soviet troops... It was rumored that this transport would be the last. People occupied all the aisles and stairs of the ship. The landing was accompanied by Soviet air raids. One of the bombs hit the bow of the vessel, but this did not lead to damage, due to which the Goya could not go to sea.

Initially, the ship was supposed to sail to the city of Swinemünde in western Poland, but since all ports in the area were filled with refugees, it was decided to head to Copenhagen. At eight o'clock in the evening "Goya" and two more ships (small motor ships "Cronenfels" and "Egir") left the Danzig Bay. The convoy consisted of two minesweepers - M-256 and M-238. The congested transports moved slowly, at about 9 miles per hour (14.5 km / h).

The weather was windy. It was already dark. The convoy rounded the Hel Peninsula, but here it was met by the Soviet submarine L-3, commanded by V.K. Konovalov. She had been patrolling the exit from the Danzig Bay for four days, waiting for German transports.

Submarine L-3 ("Frunzevets") belonged to a series of underwater minelayers of the "Leninets" type. She was laid down on September 6, 1929, and launched on July 8, 1931. At that time, the L-3 was one of the best in its class. By 1945, it was already a guards submarine. She managed to complete several successful operations. By that time, L-3 had sunk about 18 enemy ships with a total tonnage of about 52 thousand tons and seven warships with torpedoes and delivered mines. It was one of the most successful Soviet submarines of the Great Patriotic War. More than once the submarine was blown up by mines, and once it was hit by a ram of German transport. Damaged, she miraculously returned to base. Late at night on April 16, the submarine L-3 was located north of the Riksgaft lighthouse. Having discovered an enemy convoy, the Soviet submariners chose the largest vessel for the attack. It turned out to be "Goya".

Because of the darkness, the Germans did not immediately notice the Soviet submarine. To catch up with the convoy, L-3 had to surface. The pursuit took place on the surface. After several maneuvers, the submarine prepared for an attack. According to the records of Soviet submariners, the convoy was discovered at 00:42. According to German data, the explosion occurred at 23:52.

L-3 fired two torpedoes at Goya. Both hit the target on the port side. There was a panic on the ship. Some began to jump overboard. The Goya's stern sagged, and then the ship's hull broke in half. The lifeboats did not help as the ship quickly sank to the bottom. After the subsequent explosion in the hold, the Goya sank in just seven minutes. Fewer than 200 people out of almost 7 thousand were able to escape.

Escort ships rushed after the submarine. For two and a half hours they hunted for the L-3, dropping five depth charges. They exploded next to the Soviet submarine, but could not destroy it. Returning back, the ships of the convoy picked up the survivors. Some escaped on rafts, but there were few of them. Many died from hypothermia. The death of "Goya" was the largest maritime disaster in terms of the number of casualties in history.

For the attack on the transport "Goya" V.K. Konovalov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but he was one of the last to receive the award among military sailors - on July 8, 1945.

Submarine L-3 was in service until 1953, in 1971 it was dismantled. The L-3 deckhouse and the 45mm cannon are now in Victory Park on Poklonnaya Gora in Moscow.

The cargo ship "Goya" was built at the Akers Mekanika Verksted shipyard in Oslo, Norway, launched on April 4, 1940. The ship was confiscated by the Germans after the occupation of Norway by Germany. At first it was used as a conditional target for the training of German submarine crews. Later, the ship participated in the evacuation of people by sea from the advancing Red Army. A completely unusual camouflage color made it almost invisible.

April 16, 1945 began unsuccessfully for the crew. At the beginning of that terrible morning, enemy bombers suddenly swooped down. The ship's air defense guns fired back violently, but despite this, during the fourth call, the bombers still managed to hit the Goya. The motor ship received a direct hit in the bow. The bomb pierced the deck, wounding several sailors from the gun crew. Captain Plünneke was also wounded by shrapnel.

But, despite the hole in the upper deck, the ship remained afloat. At 9 o'clock in the morning, it took on board another batch of refugees, wounded and soldiers to be sent to Hela. Ferries and boats scurried around the Goya all day. But the Soviet aviation also did not doze, sowing panic among the crew of the ship, its passengers and those who were just getting ready to board. There were already tangible losses among them.

Until 19.00, the ship's lists were announced, but they were not complete, since new people were constantly making their way onto the ship. In total, 6100 people were listed on board, including 1800 soldiers. But these figures are rather arbitrary, since in reality there were at least 7000 people on the "Goya".

With the onset of darkness - it was about 22.00 summer time - the ship went out to sea. Other ships lined up behind him, ready to sail west. The convoy included two more small motor ships - Kronenfels and Aegir. As guards, they were accompanied by two minesweepers - "M-256" and "M-328". The motor ship "Goya" followed a little north of the others.

When the convoy entered the open sea, the tension of the people on board subsided, the fear of Soviet air raids gradually disappeared. But it was replaced by fear of submarines and mines. The vessel was overloaded and overcrowded. Even the passages and stairs were filled with people. The air was heavy, and it was difficult to get to the deck, and even then not always. The convoy ships sailed at a speed of about 9 nautical miles per hour so that less fast ships could keep up with them.

At about 22.30 an observer reported the silhouette of an unknown ship on the starboard side. The M-328 fired several flares, after which the shadow disappeared. An urgent command was received: "Put on life jackets!" However, only 1,500 of them were available on the ship.

At 22.30, the Cronenfels slowed down and stopped for a short time due to a breakdown in the engine room. The other ships of the convoy drifted and waited. The Cronenfels team frantically tried to fix the breakdown with the available means, and, in the end, their efforts were crowned with success. The guard ships all this time circled next to the faulty ship. By 23.30 the convoy, located at the latitude of Rixhöft at the base of the Putziger-Nerung Spit, moved on.

Not a single person suspected at that moment that the Soviet submarine "L-3" under the command of Lieutenant Commander V.K. Konovalova has been following them on their heels for a long time ...

At 23.45, the Goya shuddered from two mighty explosions. The ship swayed strongly, jerked forward, and then the stern sank sharply down. At the same moment, the lights went out. From the darkness came the command: "Save yourself, who can!" A stream of water rushed noisily through the hole through the hole. People rushed about the deck, some jumped overboard.

An indescribable panic broke out on board. Several hundred people were seriously injured. From the holds and from the lower deck, people tried to get to the ladders in order to be above. Many, especially children, were knocked down and crushed by the crowd pressing behind them. The vessel heeled back more and more, the stern was already partially flooded with water. Before the lifeboats were ready, the Goya broke in two and very quickly began to sink to the bottom. In an instant, the people standing on the deck were waist-deep in water. However, before the masts tilted, many threw themselves into the water and swam to the ships, saving their lives.

A column of flames as high as a house burst from the mortally wounded Goya. Following this, an explosion thundered in the hold of the sinking ship. Then everything happened with incredible speed. In a matter of minutes, both halves of the ship disappeared under water. Such a quick sinking of the ship under water is explained by the fact that the ship "Goya" was not passenger and did not have partitions between the compartments, as was prescribed for passenger ships.

The few passengers of the Goya who remained on the surface for some time made out the gloomy silhouette of a submarine on the surface of the water. At the crash site, the wreckage of the ship, corpses floated, cries for help and curses were heard. The water at this time of the year was still icy, therefore, remaining in the water, a person quickly froze and lost strength. Most of the people were lightly dressed, as the ship was extremely stuffy.

Two hours later, the escort ship M-328 picked up the survivors at the crash site. The rescued were almost numb and suffered from hypothermia; they were immediately wrapped in warm blankets and medical assistance... A hundred of them were brought back to life. All those rescued were later transferred to the Cronenfels, which brought them along with the rest of the passengers to Copenhagen. Another escort ship rescued another 83 shipwrecked.

Only these 183 people survived. The remaining six thousand, together with the ill-fated motor ship, remained forever buried in the depths of the sea.

On July 8, 1945, for the exemplary performance of the command's combat missions, personal courage and heroism shown in battles against the Nazi invaders, the Guard Captain 3rd Rank Konovalov Vladimir Konstantinovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

15 major marine disasters of the 20th century September 11th, 2012

Many people mistakenly believe that the Titanic is the worst tragedy that happened on the water. All this is far from the case, he is not even in the top ten. So, let's begin..

1. "Goya" (Germany) - 6900 dead.

On April 4, 1945, the ship "Goya" was docked in the Danzig Bay, waiting for the loading of the military and refugees. The bay was under constant shelling from Soviet artillery, one of the shells hit the Goya, lightly wounding the ship's captain Plünnecke.

In addition to civilians and wounded soldiers, there were 200 soldiers of the 25th Panzer Regiment of the Wehrmacht on board.

At 19:00 a convoy consisting of three ships: "Goya", the steamer Kronenfels ("Kronenfels", built in 1944, 2834 brt.) And the sea tug Egir ("Ägir"), left Danzig Bay, accompanied by two minesweepers M- 256 and M-328 to the city of Swinemunde.

At this time, a Soviet submarine L-3 under the command of Vladimir Konovalov was waiting for German ships at the exit from the Danzig Bay. The largest vessel of the convoy was chosen for the attack. At about 23:00, the convoy's route was changed, the convoy headed for the city of Copenhagen.

Guards submarine "L-3" ("Frunzevets")

To catch up with the "Goya", the Soviet submarine had to go on the surface on diesel engines (in the submerged position, the electric motors could not develop the required speed). L-3 caught up with Goya and at 23:52 successfully torpedoed the ship with two torpedoes. The Goya sank seven minutes after the torpedo attack, killing from 6,000 to 7,000 people, the exact number of people on board remained unknown. The escort ships managed to save 157 people; during the day, other ships found another 28 people alive.

Such a quick sinking of the ship under water is explained by the fact that the Goya was not a passenger ship and did not have partitions between the compartments, as was prescribed for passenger ships.

On July 8, 1945, for exemplary performance of the command's combat missions, personal courage and heroism shown in battles against the Nazi invaders, Guard Captain 3rd Rank Vladimir Konovalov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

Konovalov Vladimir Konstantinovich

2. Junyo-maru (Japan) - 5620 dead.

Junyo-maru is a Japanese cargo ship, one of the "ships of hell". "Ships of Hell" - the name of the ships of the Japanese merchant fleet that transported prisoners of war and workers, forcibly taken from the occupied territories. The Ships of Hell had no special designations. The Americans and the British drowned them on a common basis.

On March 18, 1944, the ship was attacked by the British submarine Tradewind and sank. At that moment on board were 1,377 Dutch, 64 British and Australian, 8 American prisoners of war, as well as 4200 Javanese workers (Romush) sent to the construction railroad in Sumatra. The catastrophe became the greatest for its time, claiming the lives of 5620 people. The 723 survivors were rescued only to be sent to work similar to the construction of the Death Road, where they were also likely to die.

3. Toyama-maru (Japan) - 5600 dead.

Another ship from the list of "ships of hell". The ship was sunk on June 29, 1944 by the American submarine Sturgeon.

4. "Cap Arkona" (Germany) - 5594 dead- (a terrible tragedy, almost all of them were prisoners of concentration camps).

At the end of the war, Reichsfuehrer Himmler issued a secret order for the evacuation of the concentration camps and the extermination of all prisoners, none of whom was to fall into the hands of the Allies alive. On May 2, 1945, on the Cap Arcona liner, the Thielbek cargo ship and the Athen and Deutschland ships stationed in the harbor of Lübeck, the SS troops delivered 1000-2000 concentration camp prisoners on barges: from Stutthof near Danzig, Neuengamme near Hamburg and Mittelbau-Dora near Nordhausen. Hundreds of prisoners died on the way. The captains of the ships, however, refused to accept them, as there were already 11,000 prisoners on their ships, mostly Jews. Therefore, early in the morning of May 3, the barges with the prisoners were ordered to return to the shore.

As half-dead men began to crawl ashore, the SS, Hitler Jugend and the Marines opened fire with machine guns and killed more than 500.350 people survived. At the same time, British planes flew in and began bombing ships with raised white flags. Thielbek drowned in 15-20 minutes. 50 Jews survived. The prisoners on the Athen survived because the ship was ordered to return to Neustadt to retrieve additional prisoners from the Stutthof concentration camp from the barge. It saved the lives of 1998 people.

The striped camp uniforms of the prisoners were clearly visible to the pilots, but the British order number 73 read: "destroy all concentrated enemy ships in the harbor of Lubeck."

“Airplanes suddenly appeared. We clearly saw their identification marks. “These are the British! Look, we are KATSETNIK! We are concentration camp prisoners! “- we shouted and waved our hands at them. We waved our striped camp hats and pointed at our striped clothes, but there was no compassion for us. The British began throwing napalm at the shaking and burning Cap Arcona. On the next approach, the planes descended, now they were at a distance of 15 m from the deck, we could clearly see the pilot's face and thought that we had nothing to fear. But then bombs fell from the belly of the plane ... Some fell on the deck, others into the water ... Machine guns were firing at us and those who jumped into the water. The water around the drowning bodies turned red, ”wrote Benjamin Jacobs in The Dentist of Auschwitz.

Burning Cap Arcona shortly after the start of the attack.

The British continued to shoot at prisoners who launched a boat or simply jumped overboard. 64 rounds were fired at Cap Arcona and 15 bombs were dropped on it. It burned for a long time and people on it burned alive. Most of those who jumped overboard were drowned or killed. 350-500 were saved. A total of 13,000 died, and 1450 survived. The barges, the sea and the coast were littered with corpses.

5. "Wilhelm Gustloff" (Germany) - 5300 dead

At the beginning of 1945, a significant number of people in panic fled from the advancing Red Army. Many of them went to ports on the Baltic Sea coast. To evacuate a huge number of refugees on the initiative of the German admiral Karl Dönitz, a special operation "Hannibal" was carried out, which went down in history as the largest evacuation of the population by sea in history. During this operation, almost 2 million civilians were evacuated to Germany - on large ships like the Wilhelm Gustloff, as well as on bulk carriers and tugs.

Thus, within the framework of Operation Hannibal, on January 22, 1945, Wilhelm Gustloff began to take refugees on board in the port of Gdynia. At first, people were accommodated with special passes - first of all, several dozen submarine officers, several hundred women from the naval auxiliary division, and almost a thousand wounded soldiers. Later, when tens of thousands of people gathered at the port and the situation became more complicated, they began to let everyone in, giving an advantage to women and children. Since the projected number of seats was only 1,500, refugees began to be accommodated on decks, in passages. The female soldiers were even placed in the empty pool. In the last stages of the evacuation, the panic intensified so much that some women in the port, in despair, began to hand over their children to those who managed to get on board, in the hope of rescuing them at least in this way. By the end, on January 30, 1945, the ship's crew officers had already stopped counting refugees, whose number exceeded 10,000.

According to modern estimates, there should have been 10,582 people on board: 918 cadets junior groups 2nd training submarine division, 173 crew members, 373 women from the auxiliary marine corps, 162 seriously wounded military personnel, and 8956 refugees, mainly old people, women and children. When the Wilhelm Gustloff finally departed at 12:30, accompanied by two escort ships, disputes arose between the four senior officers on the bridge. In addition to the commander of the ship, Captain Friedrich Petersen, called up from retirement, the commander of the 2nd training division of submariners and two captains of the merchant fleet were on board, and there was no agreement between them as to which fairway to lead the ship and what precautions take on allied submarines and aircraft. The outer fairway was chosen (German designation Zwangsweg 58). Contrary to the recommendations to go in a zigzag fashion, in order to complicate the attack by submarines, it was decided to go on a straight course at a speed of 12 knots, since the corridor in the minefields was not wide enough and the captains hoped in this way to quickly get out into safe waters; in addition, the ship was running out of fuel. The liner could not reach full speed due to the damage received from the bombing. In addition, the TF-19 torpedoes returned to the port of Gotenhaven, having suffered damage to the hull in a collision with a stone, and only one destroyer "Lion" (Löwe) remained in escort. At 18:00, a message was received about a convoy of minesweepers, which allegedly went towards, and when it was already dark, it was ordered to turn on the running lights to prevent a collision. In reality, there were no minesweepers, and the circumstances of the appearance of this radiogram have remained unclear to this day. According to other sources, the minesweeper section was trawling towards the convoy, and appeared later than the time given in the notification.

When the commander of the Soviet submarine C-13, Alexander Marinesko, saw and fucking brightly lit, contrary to all the norms of military practice, "Wilhelm Gustloff", for two hours he followed him on the surface, choosing a position for an attack. Typically, submarines of the time were unable to catch up with surface ships, but Captain Peterson was slower than design speed, given the significant overcrowding and uncertainty about the state of the ship after years of inactivity and repairs after the bombing. At 19:30, without waiting for the minesweepers, Peterson gave the command to extinguish the lights, but it was too late - Marinesco worked out a plan of attack.

Submarine S-13

At about nine o'clock, the S-13 entered from the coast, where it could least be expected from a distance of less than 1,000 m at 21:04, fired the first torpedo with the inscription "For the Motherland", and then two more - "For Soviet people"And" For Leningrad ". The fourth torpedo, already cocked, "For Stalin," got stuck in the torpedo tube and almost exploded, but it was disarmed, the hatches of the vehicles were closed and submerged.

Captain of the third rank A.I. Marinesko

At 21:16 the first torpedo hit the bow of the ship, later the second blew up an empty pool where the women of the naval auxiliary battalion were, and the last hit the engine room. The passengers' first thought was that they ran into a mine, but Captain Peterson realized that it was a submarine, and his first words were: Das war’s (That's all). Those passengers who did not die from three explosions and did not drown in the cabins of the lower decks, in a panic they rushed to the lifeboats. At that moment, it turned out that by ordering to close, according to the instructions, the watertight compartments in the lower decks, the captain inadvertently blocked part of the team that was supposed to start lowering boats and evacuating passengers. Therefore, in the panic and crush, not only many children and women died, but also many of those who made it to the upper deck. They could not lower the lifeboats, because they did not know how to do this, besides, many davits were iced up, and the ship had already received a strong list. By the joint efforts of the crew and passengers, some of the boats were lowered into the water, and yet there were many people in the icy water. An anti-aircraft gun came off the deck from the strong heel of the ship and crushed one of the boats, already full of people. About an hour after the attack, the Wilhelm Gustloff sank completely.

Two weeks later, on February 10, 1945, the S-13 submarine under the command of Alexander Marinesko sank another large German transport "General Steuben", more on that below.

6. "Armenia" (USSR) - approximately 5,000 dead.

At about 17:00 on November 6, 1941, "Armenia" left the port of Sevastopol, evacuating the military hospital and residents of the city. According to various estimates, there were from 4.5 to 7 thousand people on board. At 2:00 on November 7, the ship arrived in Yalta, where it took on board several hundred more people. At 8:00 the ship left the port. At 11:25 am the ship was attacked by a single German torpedo bomber Heinkel He-111 belonging to the 1st squadron of the I / KG28 air group. The plane entered from the coast and dropped two torpedoes from a distance of 600 m. One of them hit the bow of the ship. In 4 minutes "Armenia" sank. Despite the fact that the transport had the distinctive marks of a medical vessel, “Armenia” violated this status, as it was armed with four 21-K anti-aircraft guns. In addition to the wounded and refugees, there were soldiers and NKVD officers on board. The ship was accompanied by two armed boats and two I-153 fighters. In this regard, "Armenia" was a "legitimate" military target from the point of view of international law.

German medium bomber "Heinkel He-111"

There were several thousand wounded soldiers and evacuated citizens on the ship. The personnel of the main hospital of the Black Sea Fleet and a number of other military and civil hospitals (23 hospitals in total), the leadership of the Artek pioneer camp and part of the party leadership of Crimea were also loaded on the ship. The evacuees were loaded in a hurry, their exact number is not known (just like when the Germans were evacuated from Germany at the end of the war - on ships Wilhelm Gustloff, Goya). Officially in Soviet times, it was believed that about 5 thousand people died, in early XXI century estimates increased to 7-10 thousand people. Only eight were saved.

7. "Ryusei-maru" (Japan) - 4998 dead

The Ryusei Maru is a Japanese ship that was torpedoed by the USS Rasher on February 25, 1944, killing 4,998. Another ship from the list of "ships of hell".

8. "Dona Paz" (Philippines) - 4375 dead

Until the time of the collision, Dona Paz operated twice a week passenger services on the route Manila — Tacloban — Katbalogan — Manila — Qatbal Ogan — Takloban — Manila. The ship sailed on December 20, 1987 on its last voyage. At about 10 pm on the same day, in the area of ​​the Marinduke Island, the ferry collided with the tanker "Vector". This disaster is considered the largest among those that occurred in peacetime.

9. "Lancastria" (UK) - approximately 4,000 dead

Until 1932 "Lancastria" made regular flights from Liverpool to New York, then was used as a cruise ship sailing in the Mediterranean Sea and along the coast of northern Europe.

On October 10, 1932, Lancastria rescued the crew of the Belgian ship Scheldestad, which was sinking in the Bay of Biscay.

In April 1940 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted into a military transport. In a new capacity, it was first used during the evacuation of allied forces from Norway. On June 17, 1940, it was sunk by German aircraft off the coast of France, while more than 4,000 people died, which exceeded the total number of victims of the Titanic and Lusitania crashes.

10. General Steuben (Germany) - 3608 dead

During World War II, until 1944, the liner was used as a hotel for the highest command personnel of the Kriegsmarine in Kiel and Danzig, after 1944 the ship was converted into a hospital and participated in the evacuation of people (mainly wounded soldiers and refugees) from East Prussia from the advancing Red Army.

On February 9, 1945, the Steuben liner left the port of Pillau (now Baltiysk) and headed for Kiel; there were more than 4,000 people on board - 2,680 wounded servicemen, 100 soldiers, about 900 refugees, 270 military medical personnel and 285 crew members. The vessel was accompanied by the destroyer T-196 and the minesweeper TF-10.

The German liner was discovered on the evening of February 9 by the Soviet submarine C-13 under the command of Alexander Marinesko. For four and a half hours, the Soviet submarine pursued the Steuben and finally torpedoed the liner with two torpedoes on the night of February 10 at 00:55. The liner sank after 15 minutes, with more than 3,600 people killed (the following numbers are given: 3,608 died, 659 people rescued).

While torpedoing the liner, the commander of the submarine, Alexander Marinesko, was convinced that in front of him was not a passenger liner, but the military cruiser Emden.

Cruiser Emden for comparison.

After returning to the base in Finnish Turku, Marinesco learned that this was not so from local newspapers.

Until December 1944, Steuben made 18 flights, evacuating a total of 26,445 wounded and 6,694 refugees.

11. Tilbeck (Germany) - approximately 2,800 dead

Died near Cap Arcona (see item 4)

12. Salzburg (Germany) - approximately 2,000 dead

On September 22, 1942, the submarine M-118 (commander - Lieutenant-Commander Sergei Stepanovich Savin) headed to position number 42 (the area of ​​Cape Burnas) from Poti. The boat's task was to obstruct enemy navigation and sink its ships.

On October 1, 1942, the Salzburg transport was part of the Yuzhny convoy that left Ochakov for the Romanian port of Sulina. The convoy also included the Bulgarian steamship Tsar Ferdinand (which two years later, on October 2, 1944, was sunk by the French submarine FS Curie). After the convoy passed the traverse of Odessa, the Romanian gunboats Lokotenent-Commander Verses Eugen, Sublokotenent Gikulescu Ion and the minesweeper MR-7 took him under protection. Aerial surveillance of the situation was conducted by the Arado Ar 196 seaplane (some sources mention Cant-501z) of the Romanian Air Force.

"Salzburg" went with a load of 810 tons of scrap metal (according to other sources, it was carrying coal). In addition, on board there were from 2,000 to 2,300 Soviet prisoners of war.

Due to the danger of being attacked by Soviet submarines, which were constantly on duty in this area, the convoy went near the coast, and the escort ships covered it more seaward.

Submarine M-118

At 13.57, an explosion is heard at the starboard side of the second Salzburg, and a column of water is raised above the superstructure and masts.

The cover ships began to search for a boat towards the sea from the convoy, but to no avail. At this time, the captain of the Salzburg received an order to throw the ship aground. However, already 13 minutes after the explosion, the ship lands on the ground with its hull. Only the masts and the pipe remain above the water.

"Lokotenent Commander Poems Eugen" continued to accompany the Bulgarian transport, while "Sublokotenent Gikulescu Ion" and the minesweeper approached the distressed "Salzburg".

At this time, the M-118, which during the attack was between the coast and the convoy, began to move, and the pilots of the patrol aircraft noticed the muddy trail stirred up by the screws. When the headquarters received a signal about the detection of a submarine, the minesweeper was ordered to overtake the convoy and protect it from a possible new attack, and the "Sublocotenent Gikulescu Ion" headed to the place of the detection of the submarine. From the air, the boat was hunted by a German seaplane BV-138 from the 3rd Squadron of the 125th Reconnaissance Air Group. After a series of depth charges were dropped from the Romanian gunboat, they reported oil stains on the water and floating wooden debris.

Seaplane BV-138

At 15.45 the commander of the convoy with gunboat"Lokotenent Commander Poems Eugen" sent another radiogram to the headquarters, in which he reported that the "Salzburg" sank in shallow water, only masts and superstructures remained above the water, and bad weather, strong wind and rough seas, as well as a lack of rescue funds greatly complicate the conduct of rescue operations. Only after this message at 4.45 pm German boat minesweepers "FR-1", "FR-3", "FR-9" and "FR-10" were sent from Bugaz to the place of the sinking of the vessel, and at 17.32 they reported that “. .70 Russians are hanging on the masts. "

The Romanian command of the area's naval forces turned to the help of local fishermen, who were alerted and sent to sea. Fishermen rescued 42 prisoners of war from the water.

At 20.00, the Bulgarian steamer "Tsar Ferdinand" and escort ships entered the port of Sulina, delivering part of the rescued, including 13 members of the Salzburg crew, 5 German artillerymen from the calculation of the anti-aircraft installation of the deceased ship, 16 guards and 133 prisoners of war.

The boat minesweepers "FR-1", "FR-3", "FR-9" and "FR-10" saved another 75 prisoners of war.

All in all, 6 Germans and 2,080 Soviet prisoners of war died on the Salzburg transport.

M-118 never went on the air, never returned to the base.

13. "Titanic" (Great Britain) - 1514 dead.

Everyone knows about him anyway ..

14. "Hood" (Great Britain) - 1415 dead.

He died heroically in the battle in the Danish Strait - a naval battle of World War II between the ships of the Royal Navy of Great Britain and the Kriegsmarine (naval forces of the Third Reich). The British battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Hood tried to prevent the famous German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prince Eugen from breaking through the Danish Strait into the North Atlantic.

At 05-35 on 24 May, the Prince of Wales lookouts spotted the German squadron 17 miles (28 km) away. The Germans knew about the enemy's presence from hydrophone readings and soon also noticed the masts of British ships on the horizon. Vice Admiral Holland had a choice: either continue escorting the Bismarck while waiting for the battleships of Admiral Tovey's squadron to arrive, or attack on his own. Holland decided to attack and in 05-37 gave the order to approach the enemy. at 05-52 "Hood" opened fire from a distance of approximately 13 miles (24 km). "Hood" full swing continued rapprochement with the enemy, trying to reduce the time of getting under the hinged fire. Meanwhile, the German ships took aim at the cruiser: the first 203-mm projectile from the Prince Eugen hit the middle part of the Hood, next to the 102-mm aft mount and caused a massive fire in the stock of shells and missiles. At 05:55, Holland ordered a 20-degree turn to the left so that the aft towers could fire at the Bismarck.

At about 06:00, not yet completing the turn, the cruiser was hit by a volley from the Bismarck from a distance of 8 to 9.5 miles (15 to 18 km). Almost immediately, a gigantic fountain of fire appeared in the area of ​​the mainmast, after which a powerful explosion occurred, tore the cruiser in half.

German battleship "Bismarck"

The Hood's stern sank quickly. The bow rose and swayed in the air for some time, after which it sank too (in last moment the doomed crew of the bow tower fired another volley). The Prince of Wales, half a mile away, was covered in the wreckage of Hood.

The cruiser sank in three minutes, taking with it 1,415 people, including Vice Admiral Holland. Only three sailors survived, who were picked up by the destroyer HMS Electra, which came up two hours later.

15. "Lusitania" (Great Britain) - 1198 dead

On May 5 and 6, the German submarine U-20 sank three ships, and the Royal Navy sent out a warning to all British ships: "Submarines are active off the southern coast of Ireland." Captain Turner received this message twice on May 6 and took all precautions: the watertight doors were closed, all windows were battened down, the number of observers was doubled, all boats were uncovered and thrown overboard to speed up the evacuation of passengers in case of danger.

On Friday 7 May at 11:00 am, the Admiralty relayed another message and Turner corrected course. He probably thought that the submarines should be on the high seas and would not approach from the coast, and the Lusitania would be protected by its proximity to land.

At 13:00, one of the sailors of the German U-20 submarine noticed a large four-pipe vessel ahead. He informed Captain Walter Schwiger that he had noticed a large four-tube ship sailing at a speed of about 18 knots. The boat had little fuel and only one torpedo, the captain was about to return to base, when the boat noticed that the ship was slowly turning to starboard towards the boat.

U-20 captain Walter Schwiger (will die in 2.5 years along with the U-88 submarine off the coast of Denmark)

The Lusitania was approximately 30 miles (48 km) off the Irish coast when she fell into fog and reduced her speed to 18 knots. She went to the port of Queenstown - now Cob - in Ireland, which was 43 miles (70 km) away.

At 14:10, the lookout spotted an approaching torpedo from the starboard side. A moment later, the torpedo hit the starboard side under the bridge. The explosion tossed a pillar of debris of steel sheathing and water upward, followed by a second, more powerful explosion, causing the Lusitania to lurch violently to starboard.

The Lusitania's radio operator was constantly sending out a distress signal. Captain Turner ordered to leave the ship. Water flooded the longitudinal compartments of the starboard side, causing a 15-degree roll to starboard. The captain tried to turn the Lusitania to the Irish coast, hoping to run it aground, but the ship did not obey the helm, as the torpedo explosion interrupted the steam lines of the steering control. In the meantime, the ship continued to move at a speed of 18 knots, which caused water to flow inside faster.

After about six minutes, the Lusitania's tank began to sink. The roll to starboard greatly complicated the launching of the lifeboats.

U-20 on the Danish coast in 1916. Torpedoes exploded in the bow, destroying the ship.

A large number of rescue boats capsized while loading or were overturned by the movement of the ship when they touched the water. The Lusitania carried 48 lifeboats — more than enough for the entire crew and all passengers — but only six boats were safely lowered — all from the starboard side. Several foldable lifeboats were washed off the deck as the liner plunged into the water.

Despite the measures taken by Captain Turner, the liner did not reach the coast. Panic arose on board. By 14:25, Captain Schwiger lowered the periscope and went to sea.

Captain Turner remained on the bridge until he was washed overboard by the water. An excellent swimmer, he lasted three hours in the water. From the movement of the ship, water got into the boiler rooms, some boilers exploded, including those that were under the third pipe, because of which it collapsed, the rest of the pipes collapsed a little later. The vessel traveled about two miles (3 km) from the site of the torpedo attack to the place of death, leaving a trail of debris and people behind it. At 14:28, the Lusitania capsized with the keel up and sank.

Comparison of the "Lusitania" and the submarine that destroyed it. Drawing from the magazine "Nature and People", 1915

The liner sank in 18 minutes 8 miles (13 km) from Kinsale. 1,198 people died, including nearly a hundred children. The bodies of many of the victims were buried in Queenstown in Kinsale, the city at the site of the death of the Lusitania.

On January 11, 2011, at the age of 95, Audrey Pearl, the last surviving passenger of the liner, who was only three months old at the time of his death, died.