Hansa ~ 24 November 1944

The Hansa was a passenger steamship built in Stockholm in 1899 for Ångfartygs AB Gotland, of Visby. It was built along luxury yacht lines and had dining room for 40 guests. In addition to sailing between the mainland and Visby, it also called at a number of other ports such as Danzig, Tallinn and Riga during the 1930s.

On November 24, 1944, between Nynäshamn and Visby, the Hansa was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine at 05:57. The torpedo caused a large explosion, and the ship sank within a few minutes. 84 people died and two survived were rescued by the Swedish minesweepers Landsort and Arholma.

Both survivors stated the U-boat surfaced after the sinking and searched the area for over 1-1/2 hours with searchlights. They felt the U-boat must have known it had sunk a passenger liner within Swedish waters, yet it was not reported to base.

For over 30 years, several attempts to locate the wreck of the Hansa failed as data available at that time pointed to the wrong geographical position. Some years ago, with modern technology, its actual location was determined. A sea-Owl was sent down for taking photos and collecting whatever litter could be found surrounding the wreck. Sizable pieces of the torpedoes were found, thus determining the torpedo was used solely in the Stalenetz Class.

In 1998 divers found a Soviet U-boat which had sunk several Swedish merchant ships in 1942. Following this find, the Russian government stated they had no interest in the wreck, though the Mv Volgabalt was seen anchored over it the following day. When the Swedish Coast Guard went to the scene to investigate, the Volgabalt claimed to have "engine troubles" and shortly thereafter pulled up anchor and left.

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