Lost large ships in the world. The largest peacetime shipwreck in history. Wreck of the ship "Admiral Nakhimov"

Ship crashes: 7 largest tragedies (photo, video) © wikimedia.org

Collision of the liner "Admiral Nakhimov"

9th place. Collision of the Soviet liner "Admiral Nakhimov" with the dry-cargo ship "Petr Vasev" on August 31, 1986 in the Black Sea. Both captains were convicted. The captain of the ship "Petr Vasev", trusting in the system of automated radar plotting of a course (CAD), did not change direction and speed until the critical distance from the "Admiral Nakhimov" was found. Another important factor is that the captains of the ships could not establish communication with each other before agreeing who should yield to whom. The dry cargo ship rammed a passenger steamer at an angle of 110 degrees. In 8 minutes "Admiral Nakhimov" sank under the water. 423 crew members were killed.

8th place is occupied by "Novorossiysk" - a Soviet battleship received by the USSR due to reparations from the Italian military fleet. On October 29, 1955, the ship "Novorossiysk" was sunk, blown up by a mine in the Black Sea, however, there is a version, classified by the Soviet Union, according to which the battleship exploded as a result of the actions of Italian sabotage groups. The Italian government did not want to leave the pride of the national fleet in the hands of the enemy, so they staged a sabotage on Novorossiysk. The disaster killed 604 crew members.

In 7th place is the American ship "Eastland" which sank on July 24, 1915 on Lake Michigan. The cruise ship was designed for 1000 passengers, however, 2500 tickets were sold on board. After the captain ordered to give up the mooring line, the ship slowly fell to starboard, the passengers began to panic. The overcrowded passenger steamer tumbled to the port side, from the overcrowded cargo in the form of an extra one and a half thousand passengers. 845 people died. According to the court decision, the mechanic was to blame for unevenly filling the ballasts.

The 6th place is occupied by the ferry "Estonia", which sank on September 28, 1994 in the Gulf of Finland. At 1:15 on the ferry, the bow visor came off, causing water to enter the cargo hold. In 35 minutes "Estonia" completely sank. 852 people became victims of the tragedy.

Shipwreck of the steamer "Empress of Ireland

On the 5th place is the shipwreck of the giant luxury steamer "Empress of Ireland", which collided with a cargo ship filled with coal, on May 29, 1914. The ship "Storstad" rammed a passenger liner to the starboard side at an angle of 35 degrees. The hole was five meters deep on the Empress of Ireland. After the collision, the captain of the passenger ship shouted into the megaphone to the commander of the cargo ship: "Give full speed forward", but the captain of the "Storstad" said: "The engines are running at full power backwards, I can not do anything." A few minutes later, the cargo ship stepped back, removing the bow from the side of the Empress of Island, and water gushed through a hole of 30 square meters. m. The steamer sank. 1012 passengers were killed.

The 4th place is occupied by the disaster that occurred during the collision of the passenger liner "Titanic" with a huge block of ice on April 14, 1912. The reason for the ship's wreck is insufficient visibility and imprudence of the captain, who ignored 7 ice warnings and ordered to start the steamer at full speed. 23:39 the observer reported from the tower about the fact of finding an iceberg right along the course. The captain ordered to deviate to the port side, thereby putting the starboard side under attack. Through the hole, water began to flow into the compartments of the ship. Panic began on the ship, the passengers of the third class, who were in the lower compartments, could not find a way out of the narrow corridors. As a result of the crash, 1496 people died, 712 survivors were picked up by the passing steamer "Karpatia".

The third place is occupied by the ferry "Yoola", which sank off the coast of the Gambia on September 26, 2002. The cause of the wreck is the overload of the vessel. The ship, designed for 580 passengers, accommodated more than 2000 people. A strong gust of wind overturned the overloaded ferry. "Joola" carried away 1,863 people to the bottom.

The second place is occupied by the French military ship "Mont Blanc", which collided with the Norwegian ship "Imo" on December 6, 1917 in the port of Halifax. On board the Mont Blanc there were 2,300 tons of the most powerful chemical explosives. A Norwegian ship rammed into the starboard side of a Frenchman in a massive explosion before the nuclear age. The port was completely destroyed by the explosion. 1963 people were killed, 2000 people were missing.

The 1st place in the rating of the most global maritime disasters is occupied by the ferry "Don Paz", which collided with an oil tanker on December 20, 1987. A major fire begins, most of the passengers, trapped in a fiery trap, burned to death on the lower decks of the ship. Eighty tons of oil spilled into the sea and ignited. Both ships sank in 20 minutes. The reason is the inexperience of the sailor who drove the ferry "Don Paz", whose captain was watching TV in his cabin during the collision with the oil tanker. 4375 people died.

The world is familiar with a multitude of shipwrecks, shocking in their scale and horror of what happened. Russian history knows a lot of terrible shipwrecks that resulted in significant human casualties.

Top worst shipwrecks of the 20th century

As you know, modern ships are equipped with means designed to save human life. However, this was not always the case. Especially many major shipwrecks occurred in the last century.

Some water disasters have occurred far out to sea, and some have occurred in the coastal strip due to collisions with reefs. The consequences can be frightening. Here are some of the worst shipwrecks in human history.

Steamer "Sultana" (SS Sultana)

The wooden paddle steamer "Sultana" was built at the American shipyard in Cincinnati and launched in 1863. The ship suffered a disaster on April 27, 1865 on the Mississippi River near Memphis due to a steam boiler explosion.

Soldiers freed from captivity were transported on a steamer. 1653 people became victims of the disaster, 741 people were saved. This shipwreck is the largest disaster of the 19th century in terms of the number of victims.

Ferry "Donja Paz"

One of the largest shipwrecks of the 20th century happened in 1987 - we are talking about the passenger ferry "Donja Paz". For more than two decades, he regularly transported people, cruising along the coast of the Philippines and Japan.

Having collided with a tanker, the ferry literally broke in half. There was a fire, passengers were killed in the fire. The number of victims of this terrible shipwreck is 4375 people.

Liner "Wilhelm Gustloff"

The cruise ship "Wilhelm Gustloff" belonged to one of the largest tour operator companies in the Third Reich. It was launched in 1937. The ship departed 50 cruises, and the cost of tickets was so low that even the working class could afford to travel on board.

During the Second World War, the liner served as a hospital, and later became a barracks for submariners. In early 1945, the ship was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine. According to official figures, 5348 people died in that shipwreck. Historians also call a different number of victims - at least 9 thousand people.

Wreck of the Titanic

Who doesn't know about the Titanic? It seems that everyone has heard about this sensational shipwreck. The vessel made only one voyage, which ended in disaster in 1912. Titanic, according to the site, is included in the ranking of the largest ships.

1,513 people became victims of the shipwreck. Only 711 passengers were saved. The Titanic disappeared under water in 160 minutes. This terrible catastrophe was reflected in the cinema: in 1997, the film of the same name was directed by James Cameron. The main roles in the film were played by Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Cruise ship "Costa Concordia"

Costa Concordia is one of the largest European motor ships. The sea disaster occurred on the night of January 13-14, 2012 in the Tyrrhenian Sea, near the Italian island of Giglio, while cruising in the western Mediterranean. There were 4,229 people on board when the board hit the reefs and capsized. The crash killed 32 people.

6 people found guilty of Costa Concordia crash

The main culprit was the liner captain Francesco Schettino, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison. After this incident, the rules of maritime navigation and the passage of pre-trip instructions for passengers were tightened.

The worst shipwrecks in Russian history

Russian history knows several major shipwrecks, and all of them resulted in huge human casualties. One cannot but recall the crash of “Armenia”, “Admiral Nakhimov” and “Novorossiysk”. A terrible tragedy for our country and the whole world was the sinking of the Kursk submarine, the shipwreck of the Bulgar and Komsomolets.

"Armenia" sank in the fall of 1941 near the Crimea in just four minutes. The vessel transported evacuated residents and wounded Red Army soldiers. Five thousand people died, and only 8 passengers were able to survive.

One of the largest water disasters in the USSR was the crash of the Admiral Nakhimov. He went from Novorossiysk to Sochi, carrying 1243 people. Due to the fact that the steamer rammed the grain carrier, it had a hole, and it sank in 7 minutes. This shipwreck occurred at the end of August 1986, and then 423 people died.

The name "Novorossiysk" in the USSR was given to a ship that had previously belonged to the Italian Navy. At the end of October 1955, an explosion occurred in the bow of the ship, due to which a hole of 150 square meters was formed. meters. "Novorossiysk" sank along with 604 people on board.

The ferry "Estonia" in September 1994, leaving the port of Tallinn, got into a storm, lost its bow, which caused it to collapse and drown. The rescue operation was complicated by a natural disaster, as a result of which 852 people were missing and killed.

Our contemporaries know about the tragedy that happened with the Kursk nuclear submarine. The crash occurred in August 2000 due to explosions on board. The crew consisted of 118 people, there were no survivors.

In July 2011, there was another terrible shipwreck in Russian history - the sinking of the motor ship "Bulgaria", which was cruising along the Volga. With a capacity of 140 people, there were 208 passengers on board. The dead were about 120 people, including many children.

The submarine Komsomolets was wrecked in the Norwegian Sea. It happened in April 1989 - the cause was a fire in the aft compartment. The crew consisted of 69 people, only 27 crew members managed to survive.

The worst water disaster in human history

Perhaps the worst water disaster in the history of mankind was the shipwreck of the German ship "Goya" in 1945. Its victims were about 7 thousand people.

The collapse of "Goya" is called the bloodiest catastrophe. It happened during the Second World War. The ship was used as an evacuation ship. At night, a Soviet submarine overtook the Goya and attacked the ship. After 10 minutes the ship "Goya" together with all the passengers went under water. On land, major accidents with fatalities occurred at least as often. We invite you to learn more about the worst disasters in history.
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No matter how far scientific and technological progress has gone, catastrophes have happened, do happen, and, probably, will continue to happen for a long time. Some of them could have been avoided, but most of the worst events in the world were inevitable because they happened at the behest of Mother Nature.

Worst plane crash ever

Collision of two Boeing 747

Mankind does not know of a more terrible plane crash than the one that occurred on March 27, 1977 on the island of Tenerife, which belongs to the Canary group. On this day, at the Los Rodeo airport, there was a collision of two Boeing-747s, one of which belonged to the KLM company, the other to Pan American. This terrible tragedy claimed 583 lives. The reasons that led to this misfortune are a fatal and paradoxical coincidence of circumstances.

Los Rodeos airport was seriously congested on this ill-fated Sunday. The dispatcher spoke with a strong Spanish accent and radio communications suffered from severe interference. Because of this, the commander of the Boeing KLM misinterpreted the command to interrupt the flight, which became the fatal cause of the collision of two maneuvering aircraft.

Only a few passengers managed to escape through the holes in the Pan American plane. Another Boeing lost its wings and tail, which led to a fall one hundred and fifty meters from the crash site, after which it was pulled for another three hundred meters. Both flying cars caught fire.

There were 248 passengers on board the Boeing KLM, none of whom survived. The Pan American plane killed 335 people, including the entire crew, as well as the famous model and actress Yves Meyer.

The worst of man-made disasters

On July 6, 1988, the worst disaster in the history of oil production occurred in the North Sea. It happened on the oil platform "Ріper Alpha", which was built in 1976. The number of victims was 167 people, the company suffered a loss of about three and a half billion dollars.

The most offensive thing is that the number of victims could have been much less, if not for the usual human stupidity. There was a large gas leak, followed by an explosion. But instead of stopping the oil supply immediately after the start of the accident, the maintenance personnel waited for a command from the management.

The countdown went on for minutes, and soon the entire platform of the Occidental Petroleum Corporation was engulfed in flames, even the living quarters were on fire. Those who could have survived the blast were burned to death. Only those who managed to jump into the water survived.

Worst water accident

When the topic of tragedies on the water is touched upon, the movie "Titanic" involuntarily comes to mind. Moreover, there really was such a catastrophe. But this shipwreck is not the worst in human history.

Wilhelm Gustloff

The sinking of the German ship "Wilhelm Gustloff" is considered to be the biggest disaster that happened on the water. The tragedy took place on January 30, 1945. The culprit was a submarine of the Soviet Union, which knocked out a motor ship that could accommodate almost 9,000 passengers.

This, at that time, the perfect product of shipbuilding, was made in 1938. It seemed unsinkable and contained 9 decks, restaurants, a winter garden, climate control, gyms, theaters, dance floors, swimming pools, a church and even Hitler's rooms.

Its length was more than two hundred meters, it could swim half the planet without refueling. The ingenious creation could not sink without outside interference. And it happened in the person of the crew of the S-13 submarine, which was commanded by A. I. Marinesko. Three torpedoes were fired into the legendary ship. In a matter of minutes, he found himself in the abyss of the waters of the Baltic Sea. All crew members were killed, including about 8000 representatives of the German military elite who had been evacuated from Danzig.

Wreck of "Wilhelm Gustloff" (video)

Greatest environmental tragedy

Dry Aral Sea

Among all environmental disasters, the leading place is occupied by the drying up of the Aral Sea. At its best, it was the fourth largest lake in the world.

The disaster occurred due to the unreasonable use of water, which was used to watered gardens and fields. The shrinkage was due to the rash political ambitions and actions of the leaders of those times.

Gradually, the coastline moved far into the depths of the sea, which led to the extinction of most species of flora and fauna. In addition, droughts began to become more frequent, the climate changed significantly, shipping became impossible, and more than sixty people were left without work.

Where did the Aral Sea disappear: strange symbols on the dried bottom (VIDEO)

Nuclear disaster

What could be worse than a nuclear catastrophe? The lifeless kilometers of the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl region are the embodiment of these fears. The accident happened in 1986, when one of the power units of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in the early April morning.

Chernobyl 1986

This tragedy claimed several hundred lives of evacuators, thousands died over the next ten years. And how many people were forced to leave their homes, only God knows ...

The children of these people are still born with developmental abnormalities. The atmosphere, land and water around the nuclear power plant are contaminated with radioactive substances.

The radiation level in this region is still thousands of times higher than the norm. How much time must pass for people to settle in these places, no one knows. The scale of this disaster is still not fully known.

The Chernobyl accident 1986: Chernobyl, Pripyat - liquidation (VIDEO)

Catastrophe over the Black Sea: Tu-154 of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation crashed

The crash of the Tu-154 of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

Not so long ago, there was a disaster of the Tu-154 aircraft of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, heading for Syria. She claimed the lives of 64 talented artists of the Alexandrov ensemble, nine well-known leading TV channels, the head of a charitable organization - the famous Doctor Lisa, eight military men, two civil servants, and all crew members. In total, 92 people died in this terrible plane crash.

On this tragic morning in December 2016, the plane refueled in Adler, but unexpectedly crashed immediately after takeoff. The investigation took a long time, because it was necessary to know what was the cause of the Tu-154 disaster.

The commission investigating the causes of the accident, among the circumstances that led to the crash, named the aircraft overload, crew fatigue and the low professional level of training and organization of the flight.

Results of the investigation of the Tu-154 disaster of the Russian Ministry of Defense (VIDEO)

Submarine "Kursk"

The crash of the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, which killed 118 people on board, occurred in 2000 in the Barents Sea. This is the second largest accident in the history of the Russian submarine fleet after the disaster on the B-37.

On August 12, preparations for the training attacks began, as planned. The last confirmed actions on the boat were recorded at 11.15.

A few hours before the tragedy, the crew commander was reported about the cotton, which he did not pay attention to. Then the boat was violently shaken, which was associated with the turning on of the antenna of the radar station. After that, the boat captain did not get in touch anymore. At 23.00 the situation on the submarine was declared as emergency, which was reported to the leadership of the fleet and the country. The next morning, as a result of prospecting work, "Kursk" was found at the bottom of the sea at a depth of 108 m.

The official version of the cause of the tragedy is the explosion of a training torpedo, which occurred as a result of a fuel leak.

Submarine Kursk: what really happened? (VIDEO)

Wreck of the ship "Admiral Nakhimov"

The crash of the passenger steamer "Admiral Nakhimov" took place in August 1981 near Novorossiysk. On board the ship were 1234 people, 423 of whom lost their lives on that unfortunate day. It is known that Vladimir Vinokur and Lev Leshchenko were late for this flight.

At 11:12 pm, the steamer collided with the dry-cargo ship "Petr Vasev", as a result of which the electric generator was flooded and the light on the "Nakhimov" was lost. The ship became uncontrollable and continued to move forward by inertia. As a result of the collision, a hole of up to eighty square meters was formed in the starboard side. Panic began among the passengers, many climbed to the port side and thus went down into the water.

There were almost a thousand people in the water, who, moreover, got dirty with fuel oil and paint. Eight minutes after the collision, the steamer sank.

Steamer Admiral Nakhimov: ship wreck - Russian Titanic (VIDEO)

Oil platform that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico

The worst environmental disasters in the world in 2010 were supplemented by another one that happened in the Gulf of Mexico, eighty kilometers from Louisiana. This is one of the most dangerous man-made accidents for the environment. It happened on April 20 on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform.

As a result of the rupture of pipes, about five million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico.

A patch of 75,000 square meters was formed in the bay. km, which amounted to five percent of its entire area. The disaster killed 11 people, 17 were injured.

Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico (VIDEO)

Wreck of "Concordia"

On January 14, 2012, the list of the worst incidents in the world was supplemented by one more. Near Tuscany, Italy, the Costa Concordia cruise ship crashed into a rock ledge, leaving a seventy-meter hole in it. At this time, most of the passengers were in the restaurant.

The right side of the liner began to plunge into the water, then it was thrown onto a sandbank 1 km from the crash site. There were more than 4,000 people on the ship, who were evacuated all night, but not all were saved: 32 people still died and a hundred were injured.

Costa Concordia - a wreck through the eyes of eyewitnesses (VIDEO)

The eruption of Krakatoa in 1883

Natural disasters show how insignificant and helpless we are in the face of natural phenomena. But all the worst disasters in the world are nothing compared to the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano, which occurred in 1883.

On May 20th, a large pillar of smoke could be seen over the Krakatoa volcano. At that moment, even at a distance of 160 kilometers from him, the windows of houses trembled. All nearby islands were covered with a thick layer of dust and pumice.

The eruptions continued until August 27. The latest explosion was the culmination, as a result of which sound waves passed, circling the entire planet several times. The ships sailing in the Sunda Strait at that moment stopped showing the compasses correctly.

These explosions led to the submersion of the entire northern part of the island. The seabed has risen as a result of the eruptions. A lot of ash from the volcano remained in the atmosphere for another two to three years.

The tsunami, whose height was thirty meters, washed away about three hundred settlements and killed 36,000 people.

The most powerful eruption of the Krakatoa Volcano (VIDEO)

1988 earthquake in Spitak

On December 7, 1988, the list of "The best disasters in the world" was replenished with another one that occurred in the Armenian Spitak. On this tragic day, tremors literally in half a minute "wiped out" this city from the face of the earth, destroyed Leninakan, Stepanavan and Kirovakan beyond recognition. In total, twenty-one cities and three hundred and fifty villages were affected.

In Spitak itself, the earthquake had a force of ten points, a nine-point element hit Leninakan, and an eight-point element on Kirovakan, and almost the entire rest of Armenia was hit by a six-point element. Seismologists have calculated that during this earthquake, energy was released, corresponding to the force of ten atomic bombs that exploded. The wave caused by this tragedy was recorded by scientific laboratories almost all over the world.

This natural disaster killed 25,000 people, 140,000 - health, and 514,000 - a roof over their heads. Forty percent of the republic's industry was out of order, schools, hospitals, theaters, museums, houses of culture, roads and railways were destroyed.

The military, doctors, public figures of the whole country and abroad, both near and far, were called to help. Humanitarian aid was actively collected all over the world. Tents, field kitchens and first-aid posts were deployed throughout the area affected by the tragedy.

The saddest and most instructive thing in this situation is that the scale and victims of this terrible disaster could be many times less if the seismic activity of this region were taken into account and all buildings were erected taking into account these features. The lack of preparedness of the rescue services also contributed.

Tragic days: earthquake in Spitak (VIDEO)

2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami - Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka

In December 2004, a devastating tsunami of terrible force, caused by an underwater earthquake, hit the coasts of Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and other countries. Huge waves devastated the area and killed 200,000 people. The most offensive thing is that most of the dead are children, since in this region there is a high proportion of children per population, besides, children are physically weaker and less able to resist water than an adult.

The largest losses were suffered by the province of Aceh in Indonesia. Almost all buildings were destroyed there, 168,000 people died.

Geographically, this earthquake was huge. Moved up to 1200 kilometers of rock. The shift occurred in two phases with an interval of two to three minutes.

The number of casualties was so high because there was no general warning system along the entire coast of the Indian Ocean.

There is nothing more terrible than disasters and tragedies that deprive people of life, shelter, health, destroy industry and everything that a person has worked for for many years. But it often turns out that the number of victims and destruction in such situations could have been much lower if everyone conscientiously treated their professional duties, in some cases it was necessary to foresee an evacuation plan and a warning system for local residents in advance. Let's hope that in the future, humanity will find a way to avoid such terrible tragedies or reduce the damage from them.

Tsunami in Indonesia 2004 (VIDEO)

Recommended for you

Many people mistakenly believe that the Titanic is the worst tragedy that happened on the water. All this is far from the case, he is not even in the top ten. So, let's begin..
1. "Goya" (Germany) - 6900 dead.
On April 4, 1945, the ship "Goya" was docked in the Danzig Bay, awaiting the loading of the military and refugees. The bay was under constant shelling from Soviet artillery, one of the shells hit the Goya, lightly wounding the ship's captain Plünnecke.
In addition to civilians and wounded soldiers, there were 200 soldiers of the 25th Panzer Regiment of the Wehrmacht on board.
At 19:00, a convoy consisting of three ships: "Goya", the steamer Kronenfels ("Kronenfels", built in 1944, 2834 brt.) And the sea tug Egir ("Ägir"), departed from Danzig Bay, accompanied by two minesweepers M- 256 and M-328 to the city of Swinemunde.

At this time, a Soviet submarine L-3 under the command of Vladimir Konovalov was waiting for German ships at the exit from the Danzig Bay. The largest vessel of the convoy was chosen for the attack. At about 23:00 the convoy's route was changed, the convoy headed for the city of Copenhagen.
Guards submarine "L-3" ("Frunzevets")

To catch up with the "Goya", the Soviet submarine had to go on the surface on diesel engines (in the submerged position, the electric motors could not develop the required speed). L-3 caught up with the Goya and at 23:52 successfully torpedoed the ship with two torpedoes. The Goya sank seven minutes after the torpedo attack, killing from 6,000 to 7,000 people, the exact number of people on board remained unknown. The escort ships managed to save 157 people; during the day, other ships found another 28 people alive.
Such a quick sinking of the ship under water is explained by the fact that the Goya was not a passenger ship and did not have partitions between the compartments, as was prescribed for passenger ships.
On July 8, 1945, for exemplary performance of the command's combat missions, personal courage and heroism shown in battles against the Nazi invaders, Guard Captain 3rd Rank Vladimir Konovalov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
Konovalov Vladimir Konstantinovich
2. Junyo-maru (Japan) - 5620 dead.

"Junyo-maru" is a Japanese cargo ship, one of the "ships of hell". "Ships of Hell" - the name of the ships of the Japanese merchant fleet that transported prisoners of war and workers, forcibly taken from the occupied territories. The Ships of Hell had no special designations. The Americans and the British drowned them on a common basis.
On March 18, 1944, the ship was attacked by the British submarine Tradewind and sank. At that moment, on board were 1377 Dutch, 64 British and Australian, 8 American prisoners of war, as well as 4200 Javanese workers (Romush), sent to the construction of the railway in Sumatra. The catastrophe became the greatest for its time, claiming the lives of 5620 people. 723 survivors were rescued only to be sent to work similar to the construction of the Death Road, where they were also likely to die.
3. Toyama-maru (Japan) - 5600 dead.

Another ship from the list of "ships of hell". The ship was sunk on June 29, 1944 by the American submarine Sturgeon.
4. "Cap Arkona" (Germany) - 5594 dead- (a terrible tragedy, almost all of them were prisoners of concentration camps).

At the end of the war, Reichsfuehrer Himmler issued a secret order for the evacuation of the concentration camps and the destruction of all prisoners, none of whom was to fall into the hands of the Allies alive. On May 2, 1945, on the Cap Arcona liner, the Thielbek cargo ship and the Athen and Deutschland ships stationed in the harbor of Lübeck, the SS troops delivered 1000-2000 concentration camp prisoners on barges: from Stutthof near Danzig, Neuengamme near Hamburg and Mittelbau-Dora near Nordhausen. Hundreds of prisoners died on the way. The captains of the ships, however, refused to accept them, since there were already 11,000 prisoners on their ships, mostly Jews. Therefore, early in the morning of May 3, the barges with the prisoners were ordered to return to the shore.
As the half-dead men began to crawl ashore, the SS, Hitler Jugend and the Marines opened fire with machine guns and killed more than 500.350 people survived. At the same time, British planes flew in and began bombing ships with raised white flags. Thielbek sank in 15-20 minutes. 50 Jews survived. The prisoners on the Athen survived because the ship was ordered to return to Neustadt to retrieve additional prisoners from the Stutthof concentration camp from the barge. It saved the lives of 1998 people.
The striped camp uniforms of the prisoners were clearly visible to the pilots, but the English order number 73 read: "destroy all concentrated enemy ships in the harbor of Lubeck."
“Airplanes suddenly appeared. We clearly saw their identification marks. “These are the British! Look, we are KATSETNIK! We are prisoners of concentration camps! “- we shouted and waved our hands at them. We waved our striped camp hats and pointed at our striped clothes, but there was no compassion for us. The British began throwing napalm at the shaking and burning Cap Arcona. On the next approach the planes descended, now they were at a distance of 15 m from the deck, we could clearly see the pilot's face and thought that we had nothing to be afraid of. But then bombs fell from the belly of the plane ... Some fell on the deck, others into the water ... Machine guns were firing at us and those who jumped into the water. The water around the drowning bodies turned red, ”wrote Benjamin Jacobs in The Dentist of Auschwitz.
Burning Cap Arcona shortly after the start of the attack.
The British continued to shoot at prisoners who launched a boat or simply jumped overboard. 64 rounds were fired at Cap Arcona and 15 bombs were dropped on it. It burned for a long time and people on it burned alive. Most of those who jumped overboard were drowned or killed. 350-500 were saved. A total of 13,000 died, and 1450 survived. The barges, the sea and the coast were littered with corpses.
The next day, May 4, the Germans surrendered to Field Marshal Montgomery.
5. "Wilhelm Gustloff" (Germany) - 5300 dead

At the beginning of 1945, a significant number of people in panic fled from the advancing Red Army. Many of them went to ports on the Baltic Sea coast. To evacuate a huge number of refugees, on the initiative of the German admiral Karl Dönitz, a special operation "Hannibal" was carried out, which went down in history as the largest evacuation of the population by sea in history. During this operation, almost 2 million civilians were evacuated to Germany - on large ships like the Wilhelm Gustloff, as well as on bulk carriers and tugs.
Thus, within the framework of Operation Hannibal, on January 22, 1945, Wilhelm Gustloff began to take refugees on board in the port of Gdynia. At first, people were accommodated with special passes - first of all, several dozen submarine officers, several hundred women from the naval auxiliary division, and almost a thousand wounded soldiers. Later, when tens of thousands of people gathered in the port and the situation became more complicated, they began to let everyone in, giving an advantage to women and children. Since the projected number of seats was only 1,500, refugees began to be accommodated on decks, in passages. The female soldiers were even placed in the empty pool. In the last stages of the evacuation, the panic intensified so much that some women in the port, in despair, began to hand over their children to those who managed to get on board, in the hope of rescuing them at least in this way. By the end, on January 30, 1945, the ship's crew officers had already stopped counting refugees, whose number exceeded 10,000.
According to modern estimates, there should have been 10,582 people on board: 918 cadets of the junior groups of the 2nd training division of submarines, 173 crew members, 373 women from the auxiliary naval corps, 162 seriously wounded military personnel, and 8956 refugees, mainly old people, women and children. When the Wilhelm Gustloff finally departed at 12:30, accompanied by two escort ships, disputes arose between the four senior officers on the bridge. In addition to the commander of the ship, Captain Friedrich Petersen, called up from retirement, the commander of the 2nd training division of submariners and two captains of the merchant fleet were on board, and there was no agreement between them as to which fairway to lead the ship and what precautions take on allied submarines and aircraft. The outer fairway was chosen (German designation Zwangsweg 58). Contrary to the recommendations to go in a zigzag fashion, in order to complicate the attack by submarines, it was decided to go on a straight course at a speed of 12 knots, since the corridor in the minefields was not wide enough and the captains hoped in this way to quickly get out into safe waters; in addition, the ship was running out of fuel. The liner could not reach full speed due to the damage received from the bombing. In addition, the TF-19 torpedoes returned to the port of Gotenhafen, having suffered damage to the hull in a collision with a stone, and only one destroyer "Lion" (Löwe) remained in escort. At 18:00, a message was received about a convoy of minesweepers, which allegedly went towards, and when it was already dark, it was ordered to turn on the running lights to prevent a collision. In reality, there were no minesweepers, and the circumstances of the appearance of this radiogram have remained unclear to this day. According to other sources, the minesweeper section was trawling towards the convoy, and appeared later than the time given in the notification.
When the commander of the Soviet submarine S-13, Alexander Marinesko, saw and went crazy brightly lit, contrary to all the norms of military practice, "Wilhelm Gustloff", for two hours he followed him on the surface, choosing a position for an attack. Typically, submarines of the time were unable to catch up with surface ships, but Captain Peterson went slower than design speed, given the significant overcrowding and uncertainty about the state of the ship after years of inactivity and repairs after the bombing. At 19:30, without waiting for the minesweepers, Peterson gave the command to extinguish the lights, but it was too late - Marinesco worked out a plan of attack.
Submarine S-13

At about nine o'clock, the S-13 entered from the coast, where it could least of all be expected from a distance of less than 1,000 m at 21:04, fired the first torpedo with the inscription "For the Motherland", and then two more - "For the Soviet people" and "For Leningrad ". The fourth, already cocked torpedo "For Stalin", got stuck in the torpedo tube and almost exploded, but it was neutralized, the hatches of the vehicles were closed and the boat was submerged.
Captain of the third rank A. I. Marinesko
At 21:16 the first torpedo hit the bow of the ship, later the second blew up an empty pool where the women of the naval auxiliary battalion were, and the last one hit the engine room. The passengers' first thought was that they ran into a mine, but Captain Peterson realized that it was a submarine, and his first words were: Das war’s (That's all). Those passengers who did not die from the three explosions and did not drown in the cabins on the lower decks rushed to the lifeboats in panic. At that moment, it turned out that by ordering to close, according to the instructions, the watertight compartments in the lower decks, the captain inadvertently blocked part of the crew, which was supposed to start lowering boats and evacuating passengers. Therefore, in the panic and crush, not only many children and women died, but also many of those who made it to the upper deck. They could not lower the lifeboats, because they did not know how to do this, besides, many davits were iced up, and the ship had already received a strong list. By the joint efforts of the crew and passengers, some of the boats were lowered into the water, and yet there were many people in the icy water. An anti-aircraft gun came off the deck from the strong heel of the ship and crushed one of the boats, already full of people. About an hour after the attack, the Wilhelm Gustloff sank completely.
Two weeks later, on February 10, 1945, the C-13 submarine under the command of Alexander Marinesko sank another large German transport "General Steuben", more on that below.
6. "Armenia" (USSR) - approximately 5,000 dead.

At about 17:00 on November 6, 1941, "Armenia" left the port of Sevastopol, evacuating the military hospital and residents of the city. According to various estimates, there were from 4.5 to 7 thousand people on board. At 2:00 on November 7, the ship arrived in Yalta, where it took on board several hundred more people. At 8:00 the ship left the port. At 11:25 a.m. the ship was attacked by a single German torpedo bomber Heinkel He-111 belonging to the 1st Squadron of the I / KG28 air group. The plane entered from the coast and dropped two torpedoes from a distance of 600 m. One of them hit the bow of the ship. In 4 minutes "Armenia" sank. Despite the fact that the transport had the distinctive marks of a medical vessel, “Armenia” violated this status, as it was armed with four 21-K anti-aircraft guns. In addition to the wounded and refugees, there were soldiers and NKVD officers on board. The ship was accompanied by two armed boats and two I-153 fighters. In this regard, "Armenia" was a "legitimate" military target from the point of view of international law.
German medium bomber "Heinkel He-111"

There were several thousand wounded soldiers and evacuated citizens on the ship. The personnel of the main hospital of the Black Sea Fleet and a number of other military and civil hospitals (23 hospitals in total), the leadership of the Artek pioneer camp and part of the party leadership of Crimea were also loaded on the ship. The loading of the evacuees went in a hurry, their exact number is not known (just like when the Germans were evacuated from Germany at the end of the war - on the ships Wilhelm Gustloff, Goya). Officially, in Soviet times, it was believed that about 5 thousand people died, at the beginning of the XXI century the estimates were increased to 7-10 thousand people. Only eight were saved.
7. "Ryusei-maru" (Japan) - 4998 dead

The Ryusei Maru is a Japanese ship that was torpedoed by the USS Rasher on February 25, 1944, killing 4,998 people. Another ship from the list of "ships of hell".
8. "Dona Paz" (Philippines) - 4375 dead

Until the time of the collision, Dona Paz operated twice a week passenger services on the route Manila — Tacloban — Katbalogan — Manila — Katbalogan — Tacloban — Manila. The ship sailed on December 20, 1987 on its last voyage. At about 10 pm on the same day, in the area of Marinduke Island, the ferry collided with the tanker "Vector". This disaster is considered the largest among those that occurred in peacetime.
9. "Lancastria" (UK) - approximately 4,000 dead

Until 1932, "Lancastria" made regular flights from Liverpool to New York, then was used as a cruise ship sailing in the Mediterranean Sea and along the coast of northern Europe.
On October 10, 1932, Lancastria rescued the crew of the Belgian ship Scheldestad, which was sinking in the Bay of Biscay.
In April 1940 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted into a military transport. In a new capacity, it was first used during the evacuation of allied forces from Norway. On June 17, 1940, it was sunk by German aircraft off the coast of France, while more than 4,000 people died, which exceeded the total number of victims of the Titanic and Lusitania crashes.
10. General Steuben (Germany) - 3608 dead

During World War II, until 1944, the liner was used as a hotel for the highest command personnel of the Kriegsmarine in Kiel and Danzig, after 1944 the ship was converted into a hospital and participated in the evacuation of people (mainly wounded soldiers and refugees) from East Prussia from the advancing Red Army.
On February 9, 1945, the Steuben liner left the port of Pillau (now Baltiysk) and headed for Kiel; there were more than 4,000 people on board - 2,680 wounded servicemen, 100 soldiers, about 900 refugees, 270 military medical personnel and 285 crew members. The vessel was accompanied by the destroyer T-196 and the minesweeper TF-10.
The German liner was discovered on the evening of February 9 by the Soviet submarine C-13 under the command of Alexander Marinesko. For four and a half hours, the Soviet submarine pursued the Steuben and finally torpedoed the liner with two torpedoes on the night of February 10 at 00:55. The liner sank 15 minutes later, killing more than 3600 people (the following figures are given: 3608 died, 659 people rescued).
While torpedoing the liner, the commander of the submarine, Alexander Marinesko, was convinced that in front of him was not a passenger liner, but the military cruiser Emden.
Cruiser Emden for comparison.

After returning to the base in Finnish Turku, Marinesco learned that this was not so from local newspapers.
Until December 1944, Steuben made 18 flights, evacuating a total of 26,445 wounded and 6,694 refugees.
11. Tilbeck (Germany) - approximately 2,800 dead

Died near Cap Arcona (see item 4)
12. Salzburg (Germany) - approximately 2,000 dead

On September 22, 1942, submarine M-118 (commander - Lieutenant-Commander Sergei Stepanovich Savin) headed to position number 42 (the area of Cape Burnas) from Poti. The boat's task was to obstruct enemy navigation and sink its ships.
On October 1, 1942, the Salzburg transport was part of the Yuzhny convoy that left Ochakov for the Romanian port of Sulina. The convoy also included the Bulgarian steamship Tsar Ferdinand (which two years later, on October 2, 1944, was sunk by the French submarine FS Curie). After the convoy passed the traverse of Odessa, the Romanian gunboats Lokotenent-Commander Verses Eugen, Sublokotenent Gikulescu Ion and the minesweeper MR-7 took him under protection. Aerial observation of the situation was conducted by the seaplane Arado Ar 196 (some sources mention Cant-501z) of the Romanian Air Force.
"Salzburg" went with a load of 810 tons of scrap metal (according to other sources, it was carrying coal). In addition, on board there were from 2,000 to 2,300 Soviet prisoners of war.
Due to the danger of being attacked by Soviet submarines, which were constantly on duty in this area, the convoy went near the coast, and the escort ships covered it more seaward.
Submarine M-118

At 13.57, an explosion is heard at the starboard side of the second Salzburg, and a column of water is raised above the superstructure and masts.
The cover ships began to search for a boat towards the sea from the convoy, but to no avail. At this time, the captain of the Salzburg received an order to throw the ship aground. However, already 13 minutes after the explosion, the ship lands on the ground with its hull. Only the masts and the pipe remain above the water.
Lokotenent Commander Poetry Eugen continued to accompany the Bulgarian transport, while Sublokotenent Gikulescu Ion and the minesweeper approached the distressed Salzburg.
At this time, the M-118, which during the attack was between the coast and the convoy, began to move, and the pilots of the patrol aircraft noticed the muddy trail stirred up by the screws. When the headquarters received a signal about the detection of the submarine, the minesweeper was ordered to overtake the convoy and protect it from a possible new attack, and the "Sublocotenent Gikulescu Ion" headed to the place of the detection of the submarine. A German seaplane BV-138 from the 3rd Squadron of the 125th Reconnaissance Air Group hunted for the boat from the air. After a series of depth charges were dropped from the Romanian gunboat, they reported oil stains on the water and floating wooden debris.
Seaplane BV-138

At 15.45, the convoy commander from the gunboat Lokotenent-Commander Poems Eugen sent another radiogram to the headquarters, in which he reported that the Salzburg had sunk in shallow water, only the masts and superstructures remained above the water, and bad weather, strong wind and excitement at sea, as well as the lack of life-saving equipment greatly complicate the conduct of rescue operations. Only after this message at 4.45 pm the German boat minesweepers "FR-1", "FR-3", "FR-9" and "FR-10" were sent from Bugaz to the place of the sinking of the vessel, and at 17.32 they reported that “. .70 Russians are hanging on the masts. "
The Romanian command of the area's naval forces turned to the help of local fishermen, who were alerted and sent to sea. Fishermen rescued 42 prisoners of war from the water.
At 20.00, the Bulgarian steamer "Tsar Ferdinand" and the escort ships entered the port of Sulina, delivering part of the rescued, including 13 members of the Salzburg crew, 5 German artillerymen from the calculation of the anti-aircraft installation of the deceased ship, 16 guards and 133 prisoners of war.
The boat minesweepers "FR-1", "FR-3", "FR-9" and "FR-10" saved another 75 prisoners of war.
All in all, 6 Germans and 2080 Soviet prisoners of war were killed on the Salzburg transport.
M-118 did not go on the air anymore, did not return to the base.
13. "Titanic" (Great Britain) - 1514 dead.
We told our readers about it in detail in the articles:

14. "Hood" (Great Britain) - 1415 dead.

He died heroically in the battle in the Danish Strait - a naval battle of World War II between the ships of the Royal Navy of Great Britain and the Kriegsmarine (naval forces of the Third Reich). The British battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Hood tried to prevent the famous German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prince Eugen from breaking through the Danish Strait into the North Atlantic.
At 05-35 on 24 May, the Prince of Wales lookouts spotted the German squadron 17 miles (28 km) away. The Germans knew about the enemy's presence from hydrophone readings and soon also noticed the masts of British ships on the horizon. Vice Admiral Holland had a choice: either to continue escorting the Bismarck, awaiting the arrival of the battleships of Admiral Tovey's squadron, or to attack on his own. Holland decided to attack and in 05-37 gave the order to approach the enemy. at 05-52 "Hood" opened fire from a distance of approximately 13 miles (24 km). "Hood" in full swing continued rapprochement with the enemy, trying to reduce the time of getting under the attached fire. Meanwhile, the German ships took aim at the cruiser: the first 203-mm projectile from the "Prince Eugen" hit the middle part of the "Hood", next to the 102-mm aft mount and caused a massive fire in the stock of shells and missiles. At 05:55, Holland ordered a 20-degree turn to the left so that the aft towers could fire at the Bismarck.
At about 06:00, not yet completing the turn, the cruiser was hit by a volley from the Bismarck from a distance of 8 to 9.5 miles (15 to 18 km). Almost immediately, a gigantic fountain of fire appeared in the area of the mainmast, after which a powerful explosion occurred, tore the cruiser in half.
German battleship "Bismarck"

The Hood's stern sank quickly. The bow part rose and swayed in the air for some time, after which it sank too (at the last moment the doomed crew of the bow tower made another volley). The Prince of Wales, half a mile away, was covered in the wreckage of Hood.
The cruiser sank in three minutes, taking with it 1,415 people, including Vice Admiral Holland. Only three sailors survived, who were picked up by the destroyer HMS Electra, which came up two hours later.
15. "Lusitania" (Great Britain) - 1198 dead

The Lusitania left Pier 54 in New York on Saturday afternoon, May 1, 1915.
On 5 and 6 May, the German U-20 sank three ships, and the Royal Navy issued a warning to all British ships: "Subs are active off the southern coast of Ireland." Captain Turner received this message twice on May 6 and took all precautions: watertight doors were closed, all windows were battened down, the number of observers was doubled, all boats were uncovered and thrown overboard to expedite the evacuation of passengers in case of danger.
On Friday 7 May at 11:00 am, the Admiralty relayed another message and Turner corrected course. Probably, he thought that the submarines should be on the high seas and would not approach from the coast, and the Lusitania would be protected by its proximity to land.
At 13:00, one of the sailors of the German U-20 submarine noticed a large four-pipe vessel ahead. He informed Captain Walter Schwiger that he had noticed a large four-pipe ship sailing at a speed of about 18 knots. The boat had little fuel and only one torpedo, the captain was about to return to base, when the boat noticed that the ship was slowly turning to starboard towards the boat.
U-20 captain Walter Schwiger (will die in 2.5 years along with the U-88 submarine off the coast of Denmark)
The Lusitania was approximately 30 miles (48 km) off the Irish coast when she fell into fog and reduced her speed to 18 knots. She went to the port of Queenstown - now Cob - in Ireland, to which there were 43 miles (70 km) of travel.
At 14:10, the lookout spotted an approaching torpedo from the starboard side. A moment later, the torpedo hit the starboard side under the bridge. The explosion tossed a column of debris of steel cladding and water upward, followed by a second, more powerful explosion, due to which the Lusitania began to lurch violently to starboard.
The Lusitania's radio operator was constantly sending out a distress signal. Captain Turner ordered to leave the ship. Water flooded the longitudinal compartments of the starboard side, causing a 15-degree heel to starboard. The captain tried to turn the Lusitania to the Irish coast, hoping to run it aground, but the ship did not obey the helm, as the torpedo explosion interrupted the steam lines of the steering control. In the meantime, the ship continued to move at a speed of 18 knots, which caused water to flow inside faster.
After about six minutes, the Lusitania's tank began to sink. The roll to starboard made the launching of the lifeboats very difficult.
U-20 on the Danish coast in 1916. Torpedoes exploded in the bow, destroying the ship.

A large number of rescue boats capsized during loading or were overturned by the movement of the ship when they touched the water. The Lusitania carried 48 lifeboats — more than enough for the entire crew and all passengers — but only six boats were safely lowered — all from the starboard side. Several foldable lifeboats were washed off the deck as the liner plunged into the water.
Despite the measures taken by Captain Turner, the liner did not reach the coast. Panic arose on board. By 14:25, Captain Schwiger lowered the periscope and went to sea.
Captain Turner remained on the bridge until he was washed overboard by the water. An excellent swimmer, he lasted three hours in the water. From the movement of the vessel, water got into the boiler rooms, some boilers exploded, including those that were under the third pipe, because of which it collapsed, the rest of the pipes collapsed a little later. The vessel traveled about two miles (3 km) from the site of the torpedo attack to the site of death, leaving a trail of debris and people behind it. At 14:28, the Lusitania capsized with its keel up and sank.
Comparison of the "Lusitania" and the submarine that destroyed it. Drawing from the magazine "Nature and People", 1915

The liner sank in 18 minutes 8 miles (13 km) from Kinsale. 1,198 people died, including nearly a hundred children. The bodies of many of the victims were buried in Queenstown in Kinsale, the city at the site of the Lusitania's death.
On January 11, 2011, at the age of 95, Audrey Pearl, the last surviving passenger of the liner, who was only three months old at the time of his death, died.