MORBID FRIDAY

Who's afraid of sailing the ocean blue?  I've crossed the Pacific on a large ship.  No problem, I loved it.  I went free of charge; compliments of the U.S. government.  Nothing morbid about that.  (Cough!)

Here's morbid.  This event occurred in January, 1945.  It was the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff.  The ship was built by Adolph Hitler as a pleasure cruise ship for government workers and dignitaries.  Hitler wanted to show the joyful side of his government, the Third Reich.  She took her maiden voyage in 1938. 

Once the war got going, the ship was turned into a floating barracks and a hospital ship. After a year or two, the shipped was fitted with armament and became part of the German war fleet.  

In the later part of World War II, as the Russians were closing in on Germany, it began being used to transport some troops and well-to-do Germans to safer areas along the Baltic Sea coastline.   

Wilhelm Gustloff was fitted for 2,000 passengers plus it's crew of almost 500.  Panic set in during that January of '45 because of the advancing Russians and almost five times the passenger limit were boarded.  The captain sailed for deep water with a mine sweeper leading his way.   It was bitter cold and foggy so he ordered her running lights lit.  

A Russian submarine spotted the large ship fitted with armament. The Wilhelm Gustloff was a sitting duck.  It is estimated that over 9,000 perished as she sank.  Most of the life boats were frozen in place and were useless.  

This was the largest loss of life by a single ship in maritime history.