MV Goya

Goya in the Akers shipyard in Oslo, Norway, shortly before her completion
History
Norway
NameGoya
OwnerJohan Ludwig Mowinckel Rederi
BuilderAkers Mekaniske Verksted, Oslo
Laid down1939
Launched4 April 1940
Completed1940
FateSeized by Germany during invasion of Norway
History
Nazi Germany
NameGoya
OperatorKriegsmarine
Acquired1940
FateSunk, 16 April 1945
General characteristics
Tonnage5,230 Gross Register Tons
Length146 m (479 ft)
Beam17.4 m (57 ft)
Installed powerBurmeister & Wain 7,600 horsepower (5,700 kW)
Speed18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)

Goya was a Norwegian motor freighter used as a troop transport by Nazi Germany and sunk with a massive loss of life near the end of World War II.

Completed in 1940 for the Johan Ludwig Mowinckel Rederi company, the ship was named after Spanish artist Francisco Goya. Following Germany's invasion of Norway that year, she was seized by the Kriegsmarine and pressed into service as a troop transport.

Near the end of the war, Goya took part in Operation Hannibal, the evacuation of German military and civilian personnel from remaining pockets held by the Germans along the Baltic Sea. Loaded with thousands of refugees, the ship was sunk on 16 April 1945 by the Soviet submarine L-3. Most of the crew and passengers died in the sinking.

The sinking of Goya was one of the biggest single-incident maritime losses of life of the war, and one of the largest such losses in history, with just 183 survivors out of roughly 6,700 passengers and crew.