MV Wilhelm Gustloff

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "MV Wilhelm Gustloff" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Wilhelm Gustloff as a hospital ship, before being converted into an armed military transport. Docked in Danzig, 23 September 1939.
History
Germany
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 ℛ︁ℳ︁
Yard number	511
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	1 September 1939
Identification	Radio ID (DJVZ)
Fate	Requisitioned into the Kriegsmarine on 1 September 1939
Germany
Name	Lazarettschiff D (Hospital Ship D)
Operator	Kriegsmarine (German navy)
Acquired	1 September 1939
In service	1939–1940
Out of service	20 November 1940
Notes	Converted to floating barracks beginning 20 November 1940, including repainting from hospital ship colours to standard navy grey
Germany
Name	Wilhelm Gustloff
Operator	Kriegsmarine
Acquired	20 November 1940
In service	1940–1945
Out of service	30 January 1945
Fate	Torpedoed and sunk on 30 January 1945 by Soviet submarine S-13
Notes	Used as floating barracks for the Second Submarine Training Division until the vessel returned to active service ferrying civilians and military personnel as part of Operation Hannibal
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Cruise ship
Tonnage	25,484 GRT
Length	208.5 m (684 ft 1 in)
Beam	23.59 m (77 ft 5 in)
Height	56 m (183 ft 9 in)
Draught	6.5 m (21 ft 4 in)
Decks	5
Installed power	9,500 hp (7,100 kW)
Propulsion	4 × 8-cylinder MAN diesel engines 2 × 4-blade propellers
Speed	15.5 kn (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph)
Range	12,000 nmi (22,000 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Capacity	1,465 passengers (as designed) in 489 cabins
Crew	417 cruise ship 20 officers, 145 enlisted (naval)[citation needed]
Armament	3 × 105 mm (4.1 in) anti-aircraft guns 8 × 20 mm (0.79 in) anti-aircraft cannons[2]

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 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,^[3][4] 9,400 people died, making 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 fitted with anti-aircraft guns and put into service to transport evacuees in 1945.