SS Cap Arcona ( 1927 ) The Cap Arcona was a large German luxury ocean liner , formerly of the Hamburg - South America line . It transported passengers between Germany and South America until 1940 when it was taken over by the German Navy . Late in the war , the ship was used for the evacuation of Germans from East Prussia . While heavily - laden with prisoners from Nazi concentration camp s , she was sunk in 1945 by the Royal Air Force . About 5 , 000 people died . The sinking of the " Cap Arcona " was one of the biggest single - incident maritime losses of life during the war and , as such , one of the largest maritime losses of life in history . History . The 27 , 561 Ton " Cap Arcona " , named after Cape Arkona on the island of Rügen in Mecklenburg - Vorpommern , was launched in 1927 . She was considered one of the most beautiful ships of the time , was the largest German ship on the South American run , and carried upper - class travelers and steerage - class emigrants , mostly to South America . Naval service . In 1940 , the " Cap Arcona " was taken over by the " Kriegsmarine " ( the German Navy ) , painted overall grey and used in the Baltic Sea as an accommodation ship in Gotenhafen ( formerly Gdynia , Poland ) . In 1942 , she was used as a stand - in for the doomed in the German film version of the disaster . On 31 January 1945 , the Kriegsmarine reactivated her for Operation " Hannibal " , where she was used to transport 25 , 795 German soldiers and civilians from East Prussia to western Germany . These trips were made very dangerous by mines and Soviet submarines . On 30 January , the MV " Wilhelm Gustloff " , carrying a total of 10 , 582 passengers and crew , was torpedoed by the Soviet submarine S - 13 and sank in forty minutes . An estimated 9 , 400 died . In the early morning of February 11 , the same submarine S - 13 torpedoed the 14 , 666 - ton SS " General von Steuben " on its way to Copenhagen with military and civilian passengers ; 3 , 500 were lost . On 20 February , the " Cap Arcona " ' s captain Johannes Gertz shot himself in his cabin in Copenhagen rather than face another trip back to Gdynia . On 30 March 1945 , the " Cap Arcona " finished its third and last trip between Poland and Copenhagen carrying 9 , 000 soldiers and refugees , but her turbines were completely worn out . They were repaired only partially and her days of long - distance travel were over . She was decommissioned , returned to her owners Hamburg - Süd and ordered out of Copenhagen Harbor to Neustadt Bay . As a prison ship . Towards the end of April 1945 , the Germans assembled a small fleet of ships in the Bay of Lübeck , comprising the liners " Cap Arcona " and SS " Deutschland " , and the smaller vessels " Thielbek " and " Athen " . Since the steering motors were out in the " Thielbek " and the turbines were out in the " Cap Arcona " , the " Athen " was used to transfer prisoners from Lübeck to the larger ships and between ships . By the end of the month , these ships held more than 10 , 000 prisoners from the Neuengamme concentration camp and its subcamps , and two barges came from Stutthof and Mittelbau - Dora camps . The order to transfer the prisoners from the camps to the prison ships came from Gauleiter Karl Kaufmann in Hamburg , who was himself acting on orders from Berlin . Later , during a war crimes tribunal , Kaufmann claimed that the prisoners were destined for Sweden . However , at the same trial , Georg - Henning Graf von Bassewitz - Behr , Hamburg ' s last Higher SS and Police Leader ( HSSPF ) , said that the prisoners were in fact slated to be killed " in compliance with Himmler ' s orders " . It has been suggested that the plan called for scuttling the ships with the prisoners alive and aboard , while Kurt Rickert , who had worked for Bassewitz - Behr , testified at the Hamburg War Crimes Trial that he believed that the vessels were to be sunk by U - boat or Luftwaffe aircraft . Eva Neurath , who was present in Neustadt , and whose husband survived the catastrophe , reported that she was told by a police officer that the ships held convicts and were scheduled to be blown up . On 30 April 1945 , two Swedish ships , " Magdalena " and " Lillie Matthiessen " , sailed from Lübeck , the first with 223 western European prisoners , for the most part French - speaking , who were transferred from the " Thielbek " to the " Magdalena " , and the second with 225 women from Ravensbrück on board for transportation to hospitals in Sweden . On 2 May 1945 , the British Second Army reached the towns of Lübeck and Wismar . No . 6 Commando , 1st Special Service Brigade commanded by Brigadier Derek Mills - Roberts , and 11th Armoured Division , commanded by Major - General George P . B . Roberts , entered Lübeck without resistance . On that day Mr . De Blonay of the International Committee of the Red Cross informed Major - General Roberts that 7 , 000 - 8 , 000 prisoners were aboard ships in the Bay of Lübeck . Sinking . On 3 May 1945 , three days after Hitler ' s suicide and only one day before the unconditional surrender of the German troops in Northwestern Germany at Lüneburg Heath to Field Marshal Montgomery , the " Cap Arcona " , the " Thielbek " , and the passenger liner " Deutschland " were attacked as part of general attacks on shipping in the Baltic Sea by RAF Typhoons of 83 Group of the 2nd Tactical Air Force . The aircraft were from No . 184 Squadron , No . 193 Squadron , No . 263 Squadron , No . 197 Squadron RAF , and No . 198 Squadron . Besides four 20 mm cannon these Hawker Typhoon Mark 1B fighter - bombers carried eight HE High Explosive " 60 lb " RP - 3 unguided rockets or two bombs . Pilots of the attacking force stated that they were unaware that the ships were laden with explosives and prisoners who had survived the camps . Some sources suggest elements of British command knew of the occupants , but failed to pass the information on . The RAF commanders ordering the strike reportedly thought that the ships carried escaping SS officers , possibly fleeing to German - controlled Norway with a dilapidated wreck . Equipped with lifejackets from locked storage compartments , most of the SS guards were able to jump overboard from the " Cap Arcona " , and there are rumours that despite the water temperature of only 7 °C , they were busy shooting any prisoners who tried to escape . German trawlers sent to rescue " Cap Arcona " s crew members and guards managed to save 16 sailors , 400 SS men , and 20 SS women . Most of the prisoners who tried to board the trawlers were beaten back , while those who reached shore were shot down . The prisoners who managed to swim ashore were mainly gunned down by the SS . Only 350 of the 4 , 500 former concentration camp inmates who had been aboard the " Cap Arcona " survived . RAF Pilot Allan Wyse of No . 193 Squadron later recalled , " We used our cannon fire at the chaps in the water . . . we shot them up with 20 mm cannons in the water . Horrible thing , but we were told to do it and we did it . That ' s war . " Severely damaged and set on fire , the " Cap Arcona " eventually capsized . The death toll was estimated at 5 , 000 people . Photos of the burning ships , listed as " Deutschland " , " Thielbek " , and " Cap Arcona " , and of emaciated survivors swimming in the very cold Baltic Sea , around 7 °C ( 44 . 6 °F ) , were taken on a reconnaissance mission over the Bay of Lübeck by F - 6 Mustang ( the photo - reconnaissance version of the P - 51 ) of the USAAF ' s 161st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron around 5 : 00 pm , shortly after the attack . On 4 May 1945 , a British reconnaissance plane took photos of the two laid wrecks , " Thielbek " and " Cap Arcona " , the Bay of Neustadt being shallow . The capsized hulk of the " Cap Arcona " later drifted ashore , and the beached wreck was broken up in 1949 . For weeks after the attack , the bodies of victims washed ashore , where they were collected and buried in mass graves at Neustadt in Holstein , Scharbeutz and Timmendorfer Strand . Parts of skeletons were washed ashore over the next thirty years , until the last find in 1971 . The prisoners were from at least 30 nationalities : American , Belarussian , Belgian , Canadian , Czechoslovakian , Danish , Dutch , Estonian , Finnish , French , German , Greek , Hungarian , Italian , Latvian , Lithuanian , Luxembourger , Norwegian , Polish , Romanian , Russian , Spanish , Swiss , Ukrainian , Yugoslavian and others .