13. The loss of MV Goya was one of the worst days of World War II in terms of casualties
MV Goya (MV stands for Motor Vessel) was a freighter in the Norwegian service, seized by the Germans after their successful invasion of Norway in the early days of the Second World War. The Germans used the vessel to support operations in the Baltic region throughout the war. By 1944 the ship was used to support U-Boat operations both as a depot and as a target ship, attacked by German submarines using dummy torpedoes. In 1944 the ship was fitted out as a troop transport, in preparation for evacuating German units and support groups retreating before the Soviets. By the spring of 1945, Goya was evacuating German units as part of the Kriegsmarine’s Operation Hannibal, between Danzig and Kiel.
Goya was attacked by Soviet aircraft, hit by at least one bomb, and emerged relatively undamaged. Its escorts were not so lucky, and Goya was forced to slow to maintain the integrity of the convoy in which it was sailing. A Soviet minelaying vessel then launched torpedoes against the convoy, two of which struck Goya, which broke apart in the explosions and sank in less than five minutes, most of its passengers immersed in the frigid Baltic. The Soviets made no attempt to rescue survivors, and between 6,000 and 7,000 German refugees and evacuating, troops were killed in the explosions or died of hypothermia. Less than 200 survived the disaster.
