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MV Goya
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MV Goya
Goya was a Norwegian motor freighter used as a troop transport by Nazi Germany and sunk with a massive loss of life near the end of World War II.
Completed in 1940 for the Johan Ludwig Mowinckel Rederi company, the ship was named after Spanish artist Francisco Goya. Following Germany's invasion of Norway that year, she was seized by the Kriegsmarine and pressed into service as a troop transport.
Near the end of the war, Goya took part in Operation Hannibal, the evacuation of German military and civilian personnel from remaining pockets held by the Germans along the Baltic Sea. Loaded with thousands of refugees, the ship was sunk on 16 April 1945 by the Soviet submarine L-3. Most of the crew and passengers died in the sinking.
The sinking of Goya was one of the biggest single-incident maritime losses of life of the war, and one of the largest such losses in history, with just 183 survivors out of roughly 6,700 passengers and crew.
Goya was originally built as a freighter by the Akers Mekaniske Verksted shipyard in Oslo, Norway, in 1940. The ship was 146 metres (479 ft) long and 17.4 metres (57 ft) wide, had a capacity of 5,230 GRT, and a top speed of 18 knots. Following the German occupation of Norway, the ship was seized by Germany and in 1942 refitted as an auxiliary transport vessel for German U-boats. In 1943, Goya was turned into a depot ship (tender), providing support to smaller vessels, but the following year was moved to Memel (present-day Klaipėda, Lithuania), where she was used as a target ship for torpedo practice by the 24th U-boat Flotilla.
In 1945, during Operation Hannibal, Goya was used as an evacuation ship, moving people west from the eastern and southern Baltic. Her commanding officer was Captain Plünnecke. Goya was marked as a hospital ship and carried over 1,000 hospital beds for very seriously wounded and immobile soldiers.
On 16 April 1945, Goya was sailing from Hel, around the Hel Peninsula and across the Baltic Sea to Kiel in western Germany. Besides Goya, the convoy included two smaller vessels (Kronenfels and steam tug Aegir), and two minesweeper convoy escorts, M-256 and M-328. Goya was just one of over 1,000 ships commissioned to participate in the Operation Hannibal evacuations organised by Kriegsmarine Commander-in-Chief Karl Dönitz. The ship (meant to accommodate 850 crew members), was crowded with over 7,000 evacuees, military personnel, and wounded soldiers.
Four hours after leaving the port of Hel, and while close to the southern tip of the Hel Peninsula, the convoy was attacked by Soviet bombers. During the air raids, a bomb they dropped hit Goya (causing minimal damage). After rounding the Hel Peninsula, and leaving Gdansk Bay, several miles north of Cape Rixhöft (Cape Rozewie), the convoy was sighted by Soviet minelayer submarine L-3, which also carried torpedoes. While Goya normally was faster than submarines, the convoy was slowed by engine problems on the Kronenfels, which in turn necessitated a 20-minute stop for repairs. At (exactly) four minutes before midnight (local time), L-3 Captain Vladimir Konovalov gave the order to fire a spread of four torpedoes. Two of these hit Goya; one struck amidships, the second exploded in the stern, sending an immense plume of fire and smoke into the sky. The impact of the torpedoes was so great that the ship's masts collapsed (onto refugees sleeping on the top deck). Within moments,[vague] the ship broke in two, with fire consuming its upper portions. Shortly after midnight (and less than four minutes after torpedo impact) Goya sank, drowning thousands in their beds.
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MV Goya
Goya was a Norwegian motor freighter used as a troop transport by Nazi Germany and sunk with a massive loss of life near the end of World War II.
Completed in 1940 for the Johan Ludwig Mowinckel Rederi company, the ship was named after Spanish artist Francisco Goya. Following Germany's invasion of Norway that year, she was seized by the Kriegsmarine and pressed into service as a troop transport.
Near the end of the war, Goya took part in Operation Hannibal, the evacuation of German military and civilian personnel from remaining pockets held by the Germans along the Baltic Sea. Loaded with thousands of refugees, the ship was sunk on 16 April 1945 by the Soviet submarine L-3. Most of the crew and passengers died in the sinking.
The sinking of Goya was one of the biggest single-incident maritime losses of life of the war, and one of the largest such losses in history, with just 183 survivors out of roughly 6,700 passengers and crew.
Goya was originally built as a freighter by the Akers Mekaniske Verksted shipyard in Oslo, Norway, in 1940. The ship was 146 metres (479 ft) long and 17.4 metres (57 ft) wide, had a capacity of 5,230 GRT, and a top speed of 18 knots. Following the German occupation of Norway, the ship was seized by Germany and in 1942 refitted as an auxiliary transport vessel for German U-boats. In 1943, Goya was turned into a depot ship (tender), providing support to smaller vessels, but the following year was moved to Memel (present-day Klaipėda, Lithuania), where she was used as a target ship for torpedo practice by the 24th U-boat Flotilla.
In 1945, during Operation Hannibal, Goya was used as an evacuation ship, moving people west from the eastern and southern Baltic. Her commanding officer was Captain Plünnecke. Goya was marked as a hospital ship and carried over 1,000 hospital beds for very seriously wounded and immobile soldiers.
On 16 April 1945, Goya was sailing from Hel, around the Hel Peninsula and across the Baltic Sea to Kiel in western Germany. Besides Goya, the convoy included two smaller vessels (Kronenfels and steam tug Aegir), and two minesweeper convoy escorts, M-256 and M-328. Goya was just one of over 1,000 ships commissioned to participate in the Operation Hannibal evacuations organised by Kriegsmarine Commander-in-Chief Karl Dönitz. The ship (meant to accommodate 850 crew members), was crowded with over 7,000 evacuees, military personnel, and wounded soldiers.
Four hours after leaving the port of Hel, and while close to the southern tip of the Hel Peninsula, the convoy was attacked by Soviet bombers. During the air raids, a bomb they dropped hit Goya (causing minimal damage). After rounding the Hel Peninsula, and leaving Gdansk Bay, several miles north of Cape Rixhöft (Cape Rozewie), the convoy was sighted by Soviet minelayer submarine L-3, which also carried torpedoes. While Goya normally was faster than submarines, the convoy was slowed by engine problems on the Kronenfels, which in turn necessitated a 20-minute stop for repairs. At (exactly) four minutes before midnight (local time), L-3 Captain Vladimir Konovalov gave the order to fire a spread of four torpedoes. Two of these hit Goya; one struck amidships, the second exploded in the stern, sending an immense plume of fire and smoke into the sky. The impact of the torpedoes was so great that the ship's masts collapsed (onto refugees sleeping on the top deck). Within moments,[vague] the ship broke in two, with fire consuming its upper portions. Shortly after midnight (and less than four minutes after torpedo impact) Goya sank, drowning thousands in their beds.
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