Documenting one of the greatest though least-known maritime catastrophes in history, this chilling program dives deep to get the story behind the Baltic Sea disaster of World War II. In the final months and weeks of World War II, when the German passenger liner Wilhelm Gustloff was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine in January 1945, more than 9000 people, the vast majority of them civilian refugees from fighting on the Eastern Front, were sent to the bottom of the icy Baltic Sea. It was the worst maritime disaster in history - claiming more than six times as many lives as the Titanic - yet it remains relatively unheard of.
Equally obscure are the similar stories of the evacuation ships Goya (on which 7000 might have died) and Steuben (perhaps 4000). Twenty thousand people lose their lives, perhaps half of them women and children. For more than 60 years, these were catastrophes the world knew nothing about.
Now, in Ghosts of the Baltic Sea, renowned undersea explorer Dr. Robert Ballard - the man who found Titanic, USS Yorktown and the battleship Bismarck - joins four German survivors on a journey back in time. Together they travel to the bottom of the cold, dark Baltic to bring the world the chilling story of the greatest maritime disasters in history.

Written & Produced by Jon Goodman ; A Partisan/Blackstrap/Odyssey Production for History and National Geographic Channel

Related Documentaries

Sinking Hitler's Supership
The Sea Hunters: Relics of WWII
Shipwreck Detectives
Drain the Oceans: Series 1
Disasters at Sea: Series 1
Shipwreck Secrets: Series 1
Deep Wreck Mysteries
James Cameron's Expedition : Bismarck
Nazi Sunken Sub
Battleship Scharnhorst

Related Downloads :

{related-news}