Goya (ship)
Goya in Akers shipyard in Oslo, shortly before completion
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| History | |
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 Norway
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| Name: | Goya |
| Owner: | Johan Ludwig Mowinckel Rederi |
| Builder: | Akers Mekaniske Verksted, Oslo |
| Laid down: | 1939 |
| Launched: | 1940 |
| Completed: | 1940 |
| Fate: | Confiscated by Germany during invasion of Norway |
| History | |
.svg){kind=small} Nazi Germany
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| Name: | Goya |
| Operator: | Kriegsmarine |
| Acquired: | 1940 |
| Fate: | Torpedoed and sunk north of Rixhöft (now Cape Rozewie) on 16 April 1945 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 5,230 Gross Register Tons |
| Length: | 146 m (479 ft) |
| Beam: | 17.4 m (57 ft) |
| Installed power: | Burmeister & Wain 7,600 horsepower (5,700 kW) |
| Speed: | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
Goya was a Norwegian motor freighter. Completed in 1940 for Johan Ludwig Mowinckel Rederi company, she was named after Francisco de Goya. Following the invasion of Norway she was seized by Germany and pressed into service of the Kriegsmarine as a troop transport.
Near the end of the Second World War, the ship took part in Operation Hannibal, the evacuation of German military personnel and civilians from German-held pockets along the Baltic Sea. Loaded with thousands of refugees and Wehrmacht soldiers, the ship was sunk on 16 April 1945 by the Soviet submarine L-3.
Most of the crew and passengers died. The sinking of Goya was one of the biggest single-incident maritime losses of life of the war, and as such one of the largest maritime losses of life in history, with just 183 survivors among roughly 6,700 passengers and crew.
Goya was originally built as a freighter by the Akers Mekaniske Verksted shipyard in Oslo in 1940. The ship was 146 m (475.72 feet) long and 17.4 m (57.08 feet) wide, had a capacity of 5,230 GRT, and a top speed of 18 knots. Following the German occupation of Norway, the ship was seized by Germany and in 1942 refitted as an auxiliary transport for German U-boats. In 1943 she was turned into a depot ship, but the following year she was moved to Memel (modern Klaipėda), where she was used as a target ship for torpedo practice by the 24th U-boat Flotilla.
In 1945, during Operation Hannibal, Goya was used as both an evacuation ship and Wehrmacht troop transport, moving people from the eastern and southern Baltic to the west. Her commanding officer was Captain Plünnecke. Contrary to popular belief, Goya was not a hospital ship but rather an ordinary troop transport.
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