Ally

In 1943 the German Kriegsmarine took command of the Goya. She was stationed in the harbour of Memel, East Prussia, and was used as a - " Zielschiff der U-Boot-Waffe". It means, 'she was used as a target ship for U-boat training.'

From late autumn 1944 on, the Goya, as a refugee ship, crossed the Baltic 4 times, evacuating 19,785 people from East Prussia. On April 16, 1945, some 7000 soldiers and refugees were aboard. North of Hela (a peninsula near Danzig), at 23.56, she was hit by two Russian torpedoes, fired by the mine-laying submarine L 3, commanded by Captain Third Grade Konstantinovitch Konovalov. Depending on which source one refers to, the Goya sank within four to seven minutes and, of the more than 7000 persons aboard, only 183 or 334 persons were saved. For the record, she went down in 7 minutes, taking 6666 souls with her.

Over a period of several weeks, the bodies of thousands of dead washed up on the beaches, much to the shock and horror of the local population who had to deal with this dreadful situation. The victims were buried in the cemeteries of Neustadt, Timmendorferstrand, and other communities in the area.

The Goya was a freighter and was built and launched in Oslo, Norway, in 1942.