When they talk about the largest sea disasters, everyone immediately remembers the famous "Titanic". The crash of this passenger liner opened the 20th century, claiming the lives of 1,496 passengers and crew. However, the largest maritime disasters occurred during the Second World War and were associated with military operations at sea.
So on November 7, 1941, the Soviet motor ship "Armenia" was sunk by German aviation near the coast of Crimea. As a result of this disaster, according to various estimates, from 5 to 10 thousand people died (according to modern data). Only 8 managed to escape, the ship sank almost instantly in just four minutes. Almost four years later, the retaliation boomerang has returned to Germany. The war, which had been unleashed by Nazi Germany, was now reaping its bloody harvest from German ports in the Baltic Sea.
Soviet submariners sank a number of German transports, the number of victims in this case, as in the case of the "Armenia", was enormous. The most famous attack by Alexander Marinesko, the commander of the S-13 submarine, who sank the Nazi 10-deck passenger liner Wilhelm Gustloff on January 30, 1945, which served as a floating barracks for the Kriegsmarine submarine school for four years during the war. Together with the transport, from 5 to 9 thousand people died. On February 9, Marinesko sank another large liner, General Steuben, which had been converted into a hospital ship during the war. Along with the ship, about 3,600 people died, while during the attack Marinesko himself believed that the German light cruiser Emden was torpedoing, that this was not the case, he learned only after returning from the campaign.
Dry cargo ship "Goya" at the shipyard in Oslo
It was Marinesco's attack on "Wilhelm Gustloff" that is considered the most famous, but in terms of the number of victims, another attack by Soviet submariners could compete with it. So on the night of April 16, 1945, the Soviet submarine L-3 sank the German transport ship Goya in the Baltic Sea. About 7 thousand people died on board this ship, which also makes this catastrophe one of the largest maritime disasters in world history. In connection with the chaos reigning in Germany and the beginning of the Soviet offensive on Berlin, this catastrophe passed almost unnoticed, without causing any resonance. At the same time, as in the case of the Soviet motor ship "Armenia" and the German liner "Wilhelm Gustloff", sunk in January 1945, it is not possible to establish the exact number of victims of these disasters.
"Goya" was a fairly large dry cargo ship, length - 146 meters, width - 17.4 meters, displacement - 7200 tons, it could reach a maximum speed of 18 knots (up to 33 km / h). The ship was built in Oslo, Norway at the Akers shipyard just days before the invasion. The launching of the ship took place on April 4, 1940, and on April 9, German troops invaded Norway. After the occupation of the country, the Germans requisitioned a new dry cargo ship. During the war years, they used it for quite a long time as a conditional target for the training of German submarine crews, until in 1944 it was converted into a military transport, the ship was armed with several anti-aircraft guns.
In 1945, the ship took part in the major naval operation "Hannibal", which was organized by the Nazi command. It was an operation to evacuate the German population and troops from the territory of East Prussia, in view of the offensive of the Red Army, which lasted from January 13 to April 25, 1945. The operation was initiated by the commander of the Nazi German Navy, Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, and began on January 21, 1945. It is believed that over two million people were evacuated by the Baltic Sea to the western regions of Germany within four months as part of this operation. In terms of the number of people and troops transported, Operation Hannibal is considered the largest sea evacuation in the world.
By mid-April 1945, the Goya transport had already taken part in four campaigns, having evacuated 19,785 people from East Prussia. On average, the ship carried 5,000 people, but on its fifth voyage, it took on board many more people. The ship anchored in the Danzig Bay near Gotenhafen (today Gdynia) in April 1945, it is believed that more than 7 thousand people who fled from East Prussia could have embarked on board the former bulk carrier. In the current situation, no one kept an accurate count of the people taken on board. The German units barely held their positions, the entire territory of East Prussia was about to be occupied by Soviet troops. There were rumors that the Goya would be the last large ship to take part in the evacuation, so as many people as possible wanted to get on board, which only intensified the panic effect during loading.
Transport "Goya" in camouflage livery
In addition to the civilian population and wounded servicemen, there were 200 soldiers on board the ship from the 25th tank regiment of the 7th tank division of the Wehrmacht, more than 7 thousand people in total. At the same time, the military transport "Goya" was one of the most unsuitable ships for evacuating people, its past affected, the ship was built as a dry cargo ship and was intended exclusively for the transportation of various cargoes by sea. Requirements for safety and unsinkability were much lower than those of passenger ships, which were also massively used for evacuation; in total, about 1000 different ships took part in Operation Hannibal.
There were so many people on board that they occupied literally every meter of free space, they sat in the corridors and on the stairs. More than a thousand people who could not find a place in the interior of the transport, crowded on its upper deck in the cold rain. Each free bed accommodated 2-3 people. Even the captain of the ship was forced to give up his cabin to the refugees. The wounded were placed mainly in holds, which were in no way adapted for emergency evacuation. At the same time, there was not enough medicine, drink, food and dressings on board. Rescue equipment was also not enough for everyone.
Four hours after leaving the port at the southern tip of the Hel Peninsula, the Goya was attacked by Soviet aircraft. During the bombing, at least one bomb hit the ship, it pierced the deck and exploded in the bow, injuring several sailors from the calculation of the anti-aircraft gun. At the same time, the destruction was minimal and the ship did not receive serious damage. At the same time, the transport "Goya" went as part of a convoy, which also included two small motor ships "Cronenfels" and "Egir", as well as two minesweepers "M-256" and "M-328".
Already at dusk on April 16, 1945, this convoy was discovered by the captain of the Soviet submarine L-3 "Frunzovets" Vladimir Konovalov. The boat became part of the Baltic Fleet even before the war - November 5, 1933. It was a Soviet diesel-electric mine-torpedo submarine, the third ship of the series II of the Leninets type. During the Great Patriotic War, the boat made 8 campaigns (7 combat), made 16 torpedo attacks and made up to 12 mine laying. As a result of torpedo attacks, two ships were reliably destroyed, the results of two more attacks need to be clarified. At the same time, 9 ships were sunk and at least one more ship was damaged at the minefields set by the boat.
By April 16, L-3 had been patrolling the exit from the Danzig Bay for four days, expecting to meet German transports here. The boat found an enemy convoy consisting of three transports and two escort ships north of the Riksgaft lighthouse. The target of the attack, Vladimir Konovalov, chose the largest enemy ship. To attack the ship, the submarine had to surface, since the submarine could not pursue the convoy in a submerged position, the speed would then be insufficient. Although the convoy also moved rather slowly, maintaining a speed of about 9 knots, which corresponded to the speed of the slowest vessel - the motor ship "Cronenfels". At the same time, the convoy observed a blackout and was darkened.
The attack was simplified by the fact that at 22:30 the motor ship "Cronenfels" drifted due to a breakdown in the engine room, all the ships of the convoy were forced to stop. The crew of the ship was frantically working to fix the breakdown, while two minesweepers circled next to the faulty ship. The convoy moved on only an hour later, it started moving at 23:30. During this time, Vladimir Konovalov made all the necessary maneuvers and brought his L-3 boat to attack the most important target as part of the convoy he discovered.
He fired two or four torpedoes at the ship (information on this subject varies). It is reliably known that two torpedoes hit the transport. The Germans recorded the explosions at 23:52. One torpedo hit the engine room of the Goya, the second exploded in the bow. The explosions were so powerful that the masts of the ship fell on the deck, columns of fire and smoke rose into the sky. A few minutes later - by midnight - the ship sank completely, breaking into two parts before. After the attack, the escort ships chased the Soviet submarine for some time, but Vladimir Konovalov managed to get away from the pursuit.
The convoy ships were able to save only 185 people alive, 9 of them died after being rescued from injuries and hypothermia. The rest did not manage to escape, the ship sank too quickly, since initially it could not provide the level of safety and buoyancy that was characteristic of passenger and military ships, and the damage received turned out to be too serious. Moreover, the water at this time of the year was still very cold, especially at night. The people who remained on the water quickly froze and lost their strength. Most of them were dressed lightly enough, as the ship, especially in the interior, was extremely stuffy, and the ship was crowded with people. About 7 thousand people went to the bottom with the ship. Only a few weeks remained until the end of the war.
Captain 3rd rank Konovalov near his boat. A snapshot of the summer of 1945.
By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 8, 1945 for exemplary performance of combat missions of the command, personal courage and heroism shown in battles with the Nazi invaders, the guard captain of the 3rd rank Konovalov Vladimir Konstantinovich was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the order Lenin and the Gold Star medal. In many ways, this award was associated with the successful attack on the Goya transport at the very end of the war.
Submarine L-3 "Frunzenets" remained in service until 1953, in 1971 it was dismantled. At the same time, the cabin of the L-3 boat, together with a 45-mm gun from it, is currently located in Moscow, it is installed in Victory Park on Poklonnaya Gora and is included in the exposition of the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War.
