Boatnerd Discussion Forum

The Gustloff was one of several vessels transporting refugees from the approaching Red Army. At least one other was sunk with considerable loss of life.

The RMS Lancastria should also be mentioned in this context. The liner was evacuating British civilians and military personnel from France in June of 1940 when it was bombed and capsized off of St. Nazaire, France. The best estimate of loss of life is about 4,000 as no one was really sure how many were onboard, and who they were. The death toll would exceed that of the RMS Titanic and Lusitania combined.

Agreed, it's good to see that tragedy remembered. The Sea Hunters did an excellent episode on the Wilhelm Gustloff including interviewing a couple of survivors. The episode is available on one of the DVDs on Netflix if anyone is interested. As to why it's relatively unknown, I don't think the Germans wanted to advertise an incident like that, and not sure how sympathetic of a reaction it would have received in the rest of the world at that time. And in the context of the massive loss of life going on everywhere in Europe in Jan. 1945, not sure how noteworthy the incident would have been.

Very much like the Sultana at the end of the Civil War. Deadliest maritime disaster in American waters (1800+ dead) yet as it happened 3 weeks after Appomatox, it was hardly newsworthy at the time and today the wreck sits unmarked under a Tennessee soybean field and virtually unknown to the American public as a whole. The 150th anniversary of that disaster is coming up in a couple months...

I think that is due in part of it being a vessel that was owned by Nazi Germany and the people who lost their lives were considered nazis. The Soviet commander who sank her even got a medal for it. It's a tragic loss, but due to her nationality many people don't know or care

Thanks to Skip Gillham for remembering the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff in today's news section. Perhaps due to the carnage of the Second World War, this sinking has remained almost unknown to most. With a death toll at least 7 1/2 times that of the better known Lusitania it is hard to believe that the torpedoing of this liner escapes notice-at least in the United States.