I seem to recall having read that the greatest loss of life in a single ship sinking was several thousand in a Russian ship of some sort, possibly during WW II.
I don’t remember any more details than that (Russian, WW II). Any ideas???
It might be this, but I think there’s more to it than that…
*SS GOYA
(April 16, 1945) A passenger ship (5,230 tons) of the Hamburg America Line, it was taken over by the German Navy to help in the evacuations from the Bay of Danzig (Germany’s ‘Dunkirk’ in which over two million people were evacuated). It had taken on board the remnants of the 35th Tank Regiment and thousands of pleading refugees. When sixty miles off the port of Stolpe near Cape Rozewie, she was attacked by the Russian submarine L-3 commanded by Captain Vladimir Konovalov. Two torpedoes were fired, hitting the Goya amidships. Immediately the ship broke in half and sank in about four minutes. Of the estimated 6,385 people on board, only 183 were rescued. For this episode, Konovalov was awarded the medal, ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’. *
From: http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/maritime.html
I think I saw somewhere that Captain Konalov was involved in an equally superlative and revolting incident within a month of this. I’ll update if I find it.
I think that might be it. I do recall it occurring close to the end of the war. I just had the Commies in the role as prey instead of predator.
Are you looking for the name of the Russian ship, or the ship disaster that took the most lives?
This is from a book called Darkest Hours by Jay Robert Nash (Wallaby 1977; Nelson-Hall 1976). It is “The Great Book of Worldwide Disasters”. Lists deaths of all wars, disasters, plagues, etc. from the the beginning of recorded history to the mid 70s. Lotsa human misery in one handy volume:
Jan. 30, 1945 7,700 Deaths: “The 25,484-ton German holiday cruiser [Wilhelm Gustloff], built in 1937, was torpedoed by a Russian submarine outside the port of Danzig; on board were 8,700 passengers of which 1,000 survived.”
The Titanic is listed at 1,517 deaths.
It does not list the S.S. Goya.
Sofa Kings’s site says this:
*WILHELM GUSTLOFF
(Jan.30, 1945) The greatest sea tragedy of all time. The 25,484 ton German luxury cruise liner was built to carry 1,465 passengers and a crew of 400. The ship, now converted to a 500 bed hospital ship, set sail from the port of Danzig overcrowded with 6,050 persons including 918 naval officers and men, 373 German Women Naval Auxiliaries and 162 wounded soldiers, all fleeing from the advancing Red Army. Just before midnight, as the ship ploughed her way through the icy waters of the Baltic Sea, the ship was hit by three torpedoes from the Russian submarine S-13 (a German designed boat) commanded by Alexander Marinesko. It sank in about fifteen minutes with the loss of over 5,100 lives. Rescue boats picked from the stormy seas 964 survivors many of whom were landed at Sassnitz and taken on board the Danish hospital ship Prince Olaf which was anchored in the harbour. The exact number of drowned will never be known, as many more refugees were picked up from small boats as the Wilhelm Gustloff headed for the open sea, and were never counted. Many of the 964 persons rescued from the sea, died later, and it is likely that at least 7,000 souls perished. *
“Wilhelm Gustloff” is indeed the one I saw listed in the factoid some months ago.
Other sea disasters almost as bad:
1948 Chinese army evacuation ship explodes, 6000 dead
1987 Phillipine ferry sinks, 4000 dead.