Accident type | : Explosion |
Vessel involved | : MV Goya |
Location | : Baltic Sea |
Date | : April 16, 1945 |
Casualties | : 6000 people died |
VESSEL INFO:
Name | : MV Goya |
Built in | : 1940 |
Tonnage | : 5,230 GRT |
Length | : 146 m (479 ft) |
Beam | : 17.4 m (57 ft) |
The Goya was a Norwegian motor freighter, completed in 1940 for Johan Ludwig Mowinckel Rederi company. Following the invasion of Norway it was seized by Germany and pressed into service of the Kriegsmarine as a troop transport.
Near the end of the Second World War, the ship took part in Operation Hannibal, that is evacuation of German military personnel and civilians from German-held pockets along the Baltic Sea.
Loaded with thousands of refugees and Wehrmacht soldiers, the ship was sunk on 16 April 1945 by Soviet submarine L-3. This disaster is largely believed to be the second-worst in maritime history, based on the number of casualties, with just 183 survivors among roughly 6,700 passengers and crew.
Source: Wikipedia