SS General von Steuben SS " General von Steuben was a German luxury passenger liner . She was launched as the München ( sometimes spelled Muenchen ) , renamed in 1930 as the General von Steuben ( after the famous German officer of the American Revolutionary War ) , and renamed again in 1938 as Steuben " . On 10 February 1945 the liner was torpedoed by the Soviet submarine S - 13 during Operation Hannibal and sank with a loss of over four thousand lives . Early History . In 1923 , the " München " was the first German trans - Atlantic passenger liner both to be launched , and to enter New York Harbor , since the end of World War I . She arrived in July 1923 on her maiden trans - Atlantic voyage . 1930 Fire & Sinking . On February 11 , 1930 after docking and discharging passengers and most of its crew from a voyage from Bremen , Germany , a fire broke out in a paint locker which quickly spread to another storage hold ; the massive fire and explosion resulted in a five - alarm fire with all fire equipment in New York City being sent to the burning ship . The fire could not be controlled and it sank next to the wharf it was docking at . In one of the largest shipping salvage efforts of its time , the " München " was raised , towed to a dry dock , repaired , and returned to service . Shortly afterwards the ships owner renamed it the " General von Steuben . " World War II . She was commissioned in 1939 as a Kriegsmarine accommodation ship . In 1944 she was pressed into service as an armed transport ship , taking German troops to eastern Baltic ports and returning wounded troops to Kiel . Operation Hannibal . Along with the and many other vessels , she was part of the largest evacuation by sea in modern times . This evacuation surpassed the British retreat at Dunkirk in both the size of the operation and the number of people evacuated . Yet it , like the sinking of the " Gustloff " by the submarine " S - 13 " , to be mentioned later , is one of the least - known major operations of World War II . By early January 1945 , Grossadmiral Karl Dönitz realized that Germany was soon to be defeated . Wishing to save his submariners , he radioed a coded message on 23 January 1945 to the Baltic Sea port Gotenhafen ( the Polish city and port of Gdynia under German occupation ) to evacuate to the West under the code name " Operation Hannibal " . Submariners were then schooled and housed in ships lying in the Baltic ports , with most of them at Gotenhafen . Among them were the , the , the " Hansa " , and the " Wilhelm Gustloff " . This justified the rationale behind Dönitz ' s decision to mount Operation Hannibal . Notwithstanding the losses suffered during the operation , the fact remains that over two million people were evacuated ahead of the Soviet Army ' s advance into East Prussia and Danzig ( now Gdańsk , Poland ) . Evacuation . In the winter of 1945 East Prussia n refugees headed west , away from the city of Königsberg and ahead of the Soviet Army ' s advance into the Baltic states and East Prussia . These refugees and thousands like them fled to the Baltic seaport at Pillau ( now Baltiysk , Russia ) , hoping to board ships that would carry them to the relative safety of western Germany . The " Steuben " was in the fleet of ships sent for the purpose . Final voyage . On 9 February 1945 , the 14 , 660 - ton liner sailed from Pillau in the bay of Danzig for Swinemünde ( now Świnoujście , Poland ) . On board were 2 , 800 wounded German soldiers ; 800 civilians ; 100 returning soldiers ; 270 navy medical personnel ( including doctors , nurses and auxiliaries ) ; 12 nurses from Pillau ; 64 crew for the ship ' s anti - aircraft guns , 61 naval personnel , radio operators , signal men , machine operators , and administrators , and 160 merchant navy crewmen : a total of 4 , 267 people . Just after midnight , two torpedoes from the Soviet submarine S - 13 hit the " Steuben " . According to survivors , she sank within about 20 minutes . Between three and four thousand people died in the sinking . About 300 survivors were saved by torpedo boat T - 196 and brought to Kolberg ( now Kołobrzeg , Poland ) . Wreck . The wreck was found and identified in May 2004 by Polish Navy hydrographical vessel ORP " Arctowski " . Pictures and graphics appear in a 2005 article in " National Geographic " . The wreck lies on its port side at about 70 m depth , and the hull reaches up to 50 m depth . The ship is largely intact .