The SS ''Karlsruhe'' was a German cargo ship from 1905 of the

Hamburg America Line The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), known in English as the Hamburg America Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, in 1847. Among those involved in its development were prominent citi ...

, which was sunk on 13 April 1945 with great loss of life by Soviet aircraft, during

Operation Hannibal Operation Hannibal was a German naval operation involving the evacuation by sea of German troops and civilians from the Courland Pocket, East Prussia, West Prussia and Pomerania from mid-January to May 1945 as the Red Army advanced during the Ea ...

History

The ship was built in 1905 at

Schichau Seebeckwerft Schichau Seebeckwerft (often abbreviated SSW) was a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Bremerhaven. The name comes from the 1988 merger of Schichau with Seebeckwerft. History The original company Schichau was founded in 1837 by Fe ...

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the R ...

for the Hamburg America Line. In 1918 Thomas Kier, formerly captain of the , became captain of the Karlsruhe. In 1935 the ship was acquired by Ernst Russ Reederei.

Last voyage

On 11 April 1945, the Karlsruhe took 1,083 refugees on board in

Pillau Baltiysk (russian: Балти́йск; german: Pillau; Old Prussian: ''Pillawa''; pl, Piława; lt, Piliava; Yiddish: פּילאַווע, ''Pilave'') is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, ...

and left the port at around 20:00 for the

Hel Peninsula Hel Peninsula (; pl, Mierzeja Helska, Półwysep Helski; csb, Hélskô Sztremlëzna; german: Halbinsel Hela or ''Putziger Nehrung'') is a sand bar peninsula in northern Poland separating the Bay of Puck from the open Baltic Sea. It is l ...

, where the ship arrived on 12 April 1945 in the morning. There, a convoy was formed with the steamers , SS ''Karlsruhe'' and three minesweepers, which departed at around 09:00 for

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. The overloaded Karlsruhe was not able to keep up with the required speed of the convoy of 9 knots, and could only run a good 7 knots, and fell behind. On 13 April 1945, she was attacked by Soviet planes north of

Stolpmünde Ustka (pronounced ; csb, Ùskô; german: Stolpmünde) is a spa town in the Middle Pomerania region of northern Poland with 17,100 inhabitants (2001). It is part of Słupsk County in Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is located on the Slovincian Coast ...

and hit with a torpedo. The ship broke in two and sank within three to four minutes. The minesweepers of the 25th minesweeping flotilla, M 294 (''

Kapitänleutnant ''Kapitänleutnant'', short: KptLt/in lists: KL, ( en, captain lieutenant) is an officer grade of the captains' military hierarchy group () of the German Bundeswehr. The rank is rated OF-2 in NATO, and equivalent to Hauptmann in the Heer an ...

'' Volberts) and M 341 (''

Oberleutnant zur See ''Oberleutnant zur See'' (''OLt zS'' or ''OLZS'' in the German Navy, ''Oblt.z.S.'' in the ''Kriegsmarine'') is traditionally the highest rank of Lieutenant in the German Navy. It is grouped as OF-1 in NATO. The rank was introduced in the Imper ...

'' Henry Peter Rickmers) were able to save only 150 of the approximately 1083 refugees (M294: 63 - M341: 87). The other 933 passengers perished.

Discovery of the wreck and speculations

The well-preserved wreck was found and inspected by Polish divers in July 2020. Speculation persists some crates inside may contain art/ornaments looted from the

Catherine Palace The Catherine Palace (russian: Екатерининский дворец, ) is a Rococo palace in Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), 30 km south of St. Petersburg, Russia. It was the summer residence of the Russian tsars. The Palace is part of the ...

Amber Room The Amber Room ( rus, Янтарная комната, r=Yantarnaya Komnata, german: Bernsteinzimmer, pl, Bursztynowa komnata) was a chamber decorated in amber panels backed with gold leaf and mirrors, located in the Catherine Palace of Tsar ...

in 1941, taken to

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was na ...

and lost in 1945. Divers subsequently discovered that the crates on the ship contained military equipment and personal belongings. https://www.9news.com.au/world/amber-room-mystery-looted-by-nazis-continues-after-wreck-dive-eighth-wonder-of-the-world/68da8803-af97-474c-b6c1-b0089818b21b

References

Sources

wrecksiteReuters on the location of the ship
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karlsruhe (1905) Ships of the Hamburg America Line Maritime incidents in April 1945 1905 ships Merchant ships of Germany Steamships of Germany World War II shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea Ships sunk by Soviet aircraft