LEST WE FORGET
Worst Sea
Disaster of All Time
Everyone has heard of the Titanic, in which 1,500 souls
went
down to a watery grave in the north Atlantic in
1912.
Most have heard about the Lusitania, the
converted World War I
passenger liner
carrying munitions for Allied cause, which was
hit and sunk by an enemy submarine in 1915, with the loss
of 1,200 lives.
Others have heard of the sinkings of the
Empress of Ireland
(1,100 dead), the Athenia (112),
and the Andrea Doria (51).
But
how many have ever heard of the Wilhelm
Gustloff,*
a hospital ship carrying wounded German soldiers and refugees
in the closing days of World War II, which
was torpedoed and
sunk without
warning on January 30, 1945, by a submarine
in the
service of America's Communist ally, the Soviet
Union?
In that disaster, as many as 9,000** persons lost
their lives,
nearly six (6) times as
many as perished aboard the Titanic!
Indeed, more
lives were lost on this one single ship than on
the
Titanic, the Lusitania,
the Athenia, the Andrea Doria and the
Empress of Ireland combined (less
than 4,000)!
The Gustloff was not the
only vessel, however, to earn the dubious
distinction of being a
worse-than-the-Titanic sea disaster.
Second
and third place go to two other German
hospital ships, the Goya
and the General
Steuben, respectively.
A
companion ship to the Wilhelm Gustloff, the Goya,
with fewer
passengers on board—"a
mere" 6,000 to 7,000!—was sunk by
still
another Soviet sub on April 16, 1945.
On February 10, 1945, the
other vessel, the Steuben—named
after
the German general who helped America gain its
independence—
was attacked by
the same submarine which earlier sank the Gustloff,
with the loss of
5,200 women, children and wounded men.
In total, some 20,000 perished in these
never-punished war crimes.
But some of those who committed
these horrendous atrocities were
later awarded medals by the
victorious Allies of World War
II.
* The Wilhelm Gustloff was launched as a cruise
ship for German workers
and their families under the Kraft durch Freude
("Strength Through Joy")
program in 1937. Named for the famous
Swiss National Socialist hero
and martyr, it was converted to use as a
hospital ship during the Second
World War.
** National Geographic Magazine, February
2005