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Description

MV Wilhelm Gustloff was a German military transport ship which was sunk on 30 January 1945 by Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea while evacuating German civilian refugees from East Prussia , Lithuania , Latvia , Poland and Estonia [3] and military personnel from Gotenhafen (Gdynia ) as the Red Army advanced. By one estimate,[4] [5] 9,400 people died, which makes it the largest loss of life in a single ship sinking in history.
Originally constructed as a cruise ship for the Nazi Strength Through Joy (Kraft durch Freude) organization in 1937, Wilhelm Gustloff had been requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine (German navy) in 1939. She served as a hospital ship in 1939 and 1940. She was then assigned as a floating barracks for naval personnel in Gotenhafen before being armed and put into service to transport evacuees in 1945.

Description

MV Wilhelm Gustloff was a German military transport ship which was sunk on 30 January 1945 by Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea while evacuating German civilian refugees from East Prussia , Lithuania , Latvia , Poland and Estonia [3] and military personnel from Gotenhafen (Gdynia ) as the Red Army advanced. By one estimate,[4] [5] 9,400 people died, which makes it the largest loss of life in a single ship sinking in history.
Originally constructed as a cruise ship for the Nazi Strength Through Joy (Kraft durch Freude) organization in 1937, Wilhelm Gustloff had been requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine (German navy) in 1939. She served as a hospital ship in 1939 and 1940. She was then assigned as a floating barracks for naval personnel in Gotenhafen before being armed and put into service to transport evacuees in 1945.