The ''Hansa'' was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

passenger ship, in use on the route between the Swedish mainland and Visby. She was torpedoed and sunk by a Soviet submarine in 1944, during World War II.

Career and sinking

The ''Hansa'' was a passenger steamship built in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

in 1899 for Ångfartygs AB Gotland, of Visby. She was built along luxury yacht lines and had dining room for 40 guests. In addition to sailing between the mainland and Visby, she also called at a number of other ports such as Danzig, Tallinn and

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, during the 1930s. On 24 November 1944, the ''Hansa'' was torpedoed and sunk between Nynäshamn and Visby by a Soviet submarine. At 05:57 a torpedo caused a large explosion, and the ship sank within a few minutes; 84 people died and two survived, including the then Swedish Army captain

Arne Mohlin Lieutenant General Arne Herman Mohlin (9October 1909 – 2May 1992) was a Swedish Army officer. Mohlin served as Chief of the Army Staff and the General Staff Corps from 1961 to 1963 and he was commanding officer of the VI Military Dist ...

. The two survivors were rescued by the Swedish minesweepers ''Landsort'' and ''Arholma''. Investigations after the war pointed to the Soviet submarine ''L21'' as being responsible for the sinking.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hansa (1899) Ships built in Stockholm 1899 ships Passenger ships of Sweden Maritime incidents in November 1944 World War II shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea Ships sunk by Soviet submarines Gotland Soviet Union–Sweden relations 1944 in Sweden Sweden in World War II Shipwrecks of Sweden