MV Wilhelm Gustloff

German military transport ship; built as a cruise ship

Key facts

Name: Wilhelm Gustloff
Namesake: Wilhelm Gustloff
Owner: German Labour Front ( Deutsche Arbeitsfront )
Operator: Hamburg Süd
Port of registry: Hamburg , Germany
Builder: Blohm & Voss
Cost: 25 million ℛ ︁ ℳ ︁
Laid down: 1 August 1936
Launched: 5 May 1937
Completed: 15 March 1938
Maiden voyage: 24 March 1938
In service: 1938–1939
Out of service

Article

MV Wilhelm Gustloff was a German military transport ship, sunk on 30 January 1945 by Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea while evacuating civilians and military personnel from East Prussia and the German-occupied Baltic states, and German military personnel from Gotenhafen (Gdynia), as the Red Army advanced. By one estimate, 9,343 people died, making its sinking the deadliest maritime disaster in modern history.

Originally constructed as a cruise ship for the Nazi Strength Through Joy (Kraft durch Freude) organization in 1937, Wilhelm Gustloff was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine (German navy) in 1939. She served as a hospital ship from 1939 to 1940, and then as a floating barracks for naval personnel in Gotenhafen until 1945, when she was fitted with anti-aircraft guns and used to transport evacuees.