Wilhelm Gustloff Wilhelm Zahn

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wilhelm gustloff hospital ship in danzig, 23 september 1939


korvettenkapitän wilhelm zahn , merchant marine captain friedrich petersen 2 senior officers aboard wilhelm gustloff when on 30 january 1945 assigned task of transporting assortment of passengers east west of germany. passengers included 8,000–9,000 german war refugees, 1,000 members of second submarine training division (2. unterseeboots-lehrdivision), 400 women members of auxiliary navy corps, nazi party officials , injured servicemen.


although zahn had highest rank on ship, petersen, merchant marine captain, had formal command of vessel, fact ran counter sensibilities of zahn, unwilling accept petersen s authority. @ same time, zahn had military priorities differed of civilian captain petersen since did not have legal authority impose decisions on civilian captain, 2 men ran conflict concerning details of how plot path wilhelm gustloff take. problems arose between 2 officers regarding ship s speed , taking of safety precautions related avoiding attacks submarines present in area @ time.


zahn commander , military transport leader of second submarine training division wanted effect standard navy war procedure during transport of naval trainees included cruising @ high speed , submarine avoidance precautions such travelling near coast ship in total darkness. zahn s plans met resolute opposition captain petersen.


zahn drawing u-boat experience , aware of british anti-submarine tactics in atlantic included minimum cruising speed limit of 15 knots british commercial vessels, necessary safely outrun u-boats, , proposed petersen. petersen mindful of damage ship had sustained in aerial bombardment year before , did not believe subsequent repairs hull effective , had doubts ship s hull had structural integrity withstand stresses imposed speed proposed zahn. therefore insisted ship s speed not exceed 12 knots.


however, zahn knew wilhelm gustloff rated @ 16 knots top speed , annoyed @ petersen s insistence keeping @ lower speed limit of 12 knots, made ship easier target submarines. point of disagreement between 2 captains shape of route. zahn supported zigzag submarine avoidance path while petersen proposed linear path minimise travel time. petersen proposed cruising in deep waters , lights on avoid collision minesweeping ships reported being present in area @ time.


eventually 2 captains agreed on zigzag course. did not prevent sinking of ship soviet submarine.








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