A quiz question · medium
Why does the Wilhelm Gustloff, sunk on 30 January 1945, hold history's grimmest maritime record?
Evacuating East Prussia with over 10,000 aboard — six times capacity — she was torpedoed in the frozen Baltic. The toll is roughly six times the Titanic's.
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The Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff on 30 January 1945, the Deadliest Ship Sinking in History Evacuating refugees and military personnel from East Prussia ahead of the Red Army, the liner Wilhelm Gustloff sailed with an estimated 10,000 people aboard — six times her design capacity. Three Soviet torpedoes sank her in the freezing Baltic in about an hour. Roughly 9,000 died, thousands of them children: the deadliest sinking of a single ship in history, and for decades one of the least discussed.
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